Design for sustainability is contextualised within the modern worldview, which undermines notions of human meaning that accord with sustainability. A fundamental design research approach is presented, which responds to calls for more radical approaches to sustainability that account for deeper notions of human meaning – notions that are lacking within dominant technological approaches. Two artefacts have been designed in response to philosophical perspectives that relate to the technological erosion of human meaning. It is argued that this form of fundamental design research could inform a higher education agenda that substantively contributes towards the development of more effective, rather than merely more efficient approaches to design for sustainability.