Abstract: Nature is an information sourcebook of behaviour, function, colour and shape which can inspire visual design and invention. Studying the form and functional characteristics of a natural object can provide inspiration for product design and help to improve the marketability of manufactured products. The inspiration can be triggered either by direct observation or captured by three-dimensional (3D) digitising techniques to obtain superficial information (geometry and colour). An art designer often creates a concept in the form of a two-dimensional (2D) sketch while engineering methods lead to a point cloud in 3D. Each has its limitations in that the art designer commonly lacks the knowledge to build a final product from a 2D sketch and the engineering designer’s 3D point clouds may not be very beautiful. We propose a method for Product Design from Nature (PDN), coupling aesthetic intent and geometrical characteristics, exploring the interactions between designers and nature’s systems in PDN. We believe that this approach would considerably reduce the lead time and cost of product design from nature.

Key words: conceptual design, bio-inspiration design, designer sketch inspiration, forms aesthetic, design from nature