Making the user more efficient: Design for sustainable behaviour

User behaviour is a significant determinant of a product’s environmental impact; while engineering advances permit increased efficiency of product operation, the user’s decisions and habits ultimately have a major effect on the energy or other resources used by the product. There is thus a need to change users’ behaviour. A range of design techniques developed in diverse contexts suggest opportunities for engineers, designers and other stakeholders working in the field of sustainable innovation to affect users’ behaviour at the point of interaction with the product or system, in effect ‘making the user more efficient’. Approaches to changing users’ behaviour from a number of fields are reviewed and discussed, including: strategic design of affordances and behaviour-shaping constraints to control or affect energyor other resource-using interactions; the use of different kinds of feedback and persuasive technology techniques to encourage or guide users to reduce their environmental impact; and context-based systems which use feedback to adjust their behaviour to run at optimum efficiency and reduce the opportunity for user-affected inefficiency. Example implementations in the sustainable engineering and ecodesign field are suggested and discussed.

Exploring design patterns for sustainable behaviour

Products and services explicitly intended to influence users’ behaviour are increasingly being proposed to reduce environmental impact and for other areas of social benefit. Designing such interventions often involves adopting and adapting principles from other contexts where behaviour change has been studied. The ‘design pattern’ form, used in software engineering and HCI, and originally developed in architecture, offers benefits for this transposition process. This article introduces the Design with Intent toolkit, an idea generation method using a design pattern form to help designers address sustainable behaviour problems. The article also reports on exploratory workshops in which participants used the toolkit to generate concepts for redesigning everyday products—kettles, curtains, printers and bathroom sinks/taps—to reduce the environmental impact of use. The concepts are discussed, along with observations of how the toolkit was used by participants, suggesting usability improvements to incorporate in future versions.

Designing motivation or motivating design? Exploring Service Design, motivation and behavioural change

Motivation researcher Edward Deci has suggested that if we want behavioural change to be sustainable, we have to move past thinking of motivation as something that we ‘do’ to other people and see it rather as something that we as Service Designers can enable service users to ‘do’ by themselves. In this article, Fergus Bisset explores the ways in which Service Designers can create more motivating services. Dan Lockton then looks at where motivating behaviour via Service Design often starts, with the basic ‘pinball’ and ‘shortcut’ approaches. We conclude by proposing that if services are to be sustainable in the long term, we as Service Designers need to strive to accommodate humans' differing levels of motivation and encourage and support service users' sense of autonomy within the services we design.

Design for sustainability: making green behaviour easy

Design can enable sustainable behaviour by understanding everyday needs rather than treating people as the problem.

Design for repair: empowering consumers to fix the future

By understanding how everyday devices work, individuals can – with the help of a growing online community – enjoy extending the life of products and drive socially responsible design.

The Elastic Octopus: A Catalogue of Failures for Disrupting Design Eduction

Elastic Octopus was inspired by a perceived increased reluctance in student attitudes towards taking risks and failure in design innovation. In particular, recent trends in funding and risk-aversion in earlier phases of education where failures are discouraged has limited the potential for ground breaking innovative thinking. This experimental design project was conceived to tackle the failure reluctance trend by developing a team based cross-disciplinary masters level design innovation studio module where students would succeed in relation to their capacity to demonstrate failure. Principally this involved creating a permission giving process where ambitious design experiments are developed in order to encourage the transgression of edges and boundaries. This was achieved by adapting a number of creative design methods including blue-sky thinking, back casting and design exorcisms to challenge and de-programme failure aversion. Succeeding through failure involved transitioning from meta-themes through to experimental contexts where failures could be attempted as a way of exploring the limits of technologies, structures, mental models, human engagement and other factors critical to success. We hope that insights gained from this disruptive educational module can offer unexpected benefits for students ranging from increased failure resilience, through to narrative generation and context forming skills while at the same time providing wider value in discussing how designers deal with failure.

O design de produto como suporte a campanhas publicitárias

Dissertação de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Design de Produto, apresentada na Universidade de Lisboa - Faculdade de Arquitectura.

Design de equipamento médico

Dissertação de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Design de Produto, apresentada na Universidade de Lisboa - Faculdade de Arquitectura.

The Academic-enterprise experiences framework as a guide for design education

The establishment of support platforms for the development of a new culture in design education, in order to achieve both research exploitation and its results, as an approach to the industrial community, challenges higher education institutions to rethink their functioning, divided between investigation on their own initiative or on demand, and its usefulness / practical application. At the same time, through design education, how can they be the engine that aggregates all these frequently antagonistic interests? Polytechnic institutes are predisposed to collaboration and interdisciplinarity. In our course of Technology and Design of Furniture, the availability of a production unit, testing laboratories, and expertise in engineering, design and marketing, encourage the development of a holistic project. In order to develop such knowledge, we adapt three important ways of thinking in designing interactions influenced by the traditional approach, namely, 1) identifying and understanding a design problem, i.e. a market need, 2) defining the design process and knowing what can be used for design education, i.e. opportunities for design education, and 3) sustainability of this framework and design projects' alignment with education in the same field. We explain our approach by arguing from the academicenterprise experiences perspective. This concept is proposed as a way to achieve those three ways of thinking in design education. Then, a set of interaction attributes is defined to explain how engineering and product design education can enhance meaningful relations with manufacturers, stakeholders and society in general. A final discussion is presented with the implications and benefits of this approach. The results suggest that through academic-enterprise partnerships in design, several goals such as students' motivation, product design innovation and potential for knowledge transfer to industries can be achieved.

Design of products to honor people post mortem

The cemeterial units, are places of social practices of everyday life and worship and the tomb where nostalgia can be externalized and the memory of the deceased revered. In Western societies we can find a category of artifacts meant to evoke the memory or honor the dead. In this paper we we mention three examples of products that enabled a reflection on the concepts that gave rise to their ways, and that risks to fit them into a new "material culture", in that it may have created a break with the traditional system codes and standards shared by companies, and its manifestations in relation to the physical creation of this category of products. This work offers a reflection on the Design Products.What probably makes it special is the field where it is located: the design of products in one post mortem memory. Usually made of granite rock or marble, have the form of plate or tablet, open book or rolled sheet. On one side have a photograph of the person who intend to honor and inscriptions. The thought of inherent design of this work put on one side the intricate set of emotions that this type of product can generate, and other components more affordable, and concerning the form, function and object interactions with users and with use environments. In the definition of the problem it was regarded as mandatory requirements: differentiation, added value and durability as key objectives.The first two should be manifested in the various components / product attributes. The aesthetic and material/structural durability of product necessarily imply the introduction of qualifying terms and quantitative weights, which positively influence the generation and evaluation of concepts based on the set of 10 principles for the project that originated a matrix as a tool to aid designing products. The concrete definition of a target audience was equally important. At this stage, the collaboration of other experts in the fields of psychology and sociology as disciplines with particular ability to understand individuals and social phenomena respectively was crucial. It was concluded that a product design to honor someone post mortem, should abandon the more traditional habits and customs to focus on identifying new audiences. Although at present it can be considered a niche market, it is believed that in the future may grow as well as their interest in this type of products.

Development and evaluation of hydrocarbon sorbent materials with the aid of chemometrics

Hydrocarbon spills on roads are a major safety concern for the driving public and can have severe cost impacts both on pavement maintenance and to the economy through disruption to services. The time taken to clean-up spills and re-open roads in a safe driving condition is an issue of increasing concern given traffic levels on major urban arterials. Thus, the primary aim of the research was to develop a sorbent material that facilitates rapid clean-up of road spills. The methodology involved extensive research into a range of materials (organic, inorganic and synthetic sorbents), comprehensive testing in the laboratory, scale-up and field, and product design (i.e. concept to prototype). The study also applied chemometrics to provide consistent, comparative methods of sorbent evaluation and performance. In addition, sorbent materials at every stage were compared against a commercial benchmark. For the first time, the impact of diesel on asphalt pavement has been quantified and assessed in a systematic way. Contrary to conventional thinking and anecdotal observations, the study determined that the action of diesel on asphalt was quite rapid (i.e. hours rather than weeks or months). This significant finding demonstrates the need to minimise the impact of hydrocarbon spills and the potential application of the sorbent option. To better understand the adsorption phenomenon, surface characterisation techniques were applied to selected sorbent materials (i.e. sand, organo-clay and cotton fibre). Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) and thermal analysis indicated that the main adsorption mechanism for the sorbents occurred on the external surface of the material in the diffusion region (sand and organo-clay) and/or capillaries (cotton fibre). Using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), it was observed that adsorption by the interfibre capillaries contributed to the high uptake of hydrocarbons by the cotton fibre. Understanding the adsorption mechanism for these sorbents provided some guidance and scientific basis for the selection of materials. The study determined that non-woven cotton mats were ideal sorbent materials for clean-up of hydrocarbon spills. The prototype sorbent was found to perform significantly better than the commercial benchmark, displaying the following key properties: • superior hydrocarbon pick-up from the road pavement; • high hydrocarbon retention capacity under an applied load; • adequate field skid resistance post treatment; • functional and easy to use in the field (e.g. routine handling, transportation, application and recovery); • relatively inexpensive to produce due to the use of raw cotton fibre and simple production process; • environmentally friendly (e.g. renewable materials, non-toxic to environment and operators, and biodegradable); and • rapid response time (e.g. two minutes total clean-up time compared with thirty minutes for reference sorbents). The major outcomes of the research project include: a) development of a specifically designed sorbent material suitable for cleaning up hydrocarbon spills on roads; b) submission of patent application (serial number AU2005905850) for the prototype product; and c) preparation of Commercialisation Strategy to advance the sorbent product to the next phase (i.e. R&D to product commercialisation).

Consumers’ concepts of materials

User needs and wants dictate the way in which products are designed, produced, used and disposed of. Western society in particular has become very consumer driven and the waste resulting from such activity has the potential to be disastrous. The creation of emotional attachment with possessions is one way of approaching sustainable consumer-product relationships. The aim of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of the interaction and emotional attachment that consumers have and develop with their products. It outlines literature relating to consumer emotion and experience in relation to products, and how pleasurable product user relationships can be prolonged. It is evident from the literature that the roles of materials in the emotional attachment consumers have with products needed to be further explored. A study was conducted to determine consumers. concepts of six materials currently used in product design. This involved participants being given a Concept Prompt Probe with textual prompts to assist in discussion about the materials in question. The discussions between the 15 participant groups of two people, one male and one female, were then transcribed and coded ready for analysis. The study findings demonstrate consumers. concepts of the six materials. The findings show both physical and emotional consumer concepts of the materials. It is, however, the interaction of these concepts that is the most significant finding of this research. Each material concept is not only judged emotionally by consumers in its own right but in relation to other concepts as well. The interaction of the consumers. concepts of materials can considerably effect the emotional judgement made about the material and the appropriateness of its application. This research makes a significant contribution to knowledge regarding the effect materials have on the consumers by identifying how materials can prompt emotional judgements and thereby alter the product user experience.

Visceral hedonic rhetoric

Emotional responses can incite and entice consumers to select a particular product from a row of similar items and thus have a considerable impact on purchase decisions. Consequently, more and more companies are challenging designers to address the emotional impact of their work and to design for emotion and consumerproduct relationships. Furthermore, the creation of emotional attachment to one’s possessions is one way of approaching a sustainable consumer-product relationship. The aim of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of the instantaneous emotional attachment that consumers form with products and its subsequent implications for product development. The foci of the study are visceral design, consumer hedonics and product rhetoric. Studied in a conglomerate they become an area of new investigation: visceral hedonic rhetoric. In this context, the term “visceral hedonic rhetoric” is defined as the properties of a product that persuasively elicit the pursuit of pleasure at an instinctual level of cognition. This study explores visceral hedonic rhetoric evident in the design of interactive products and resides within the context of emotional design research. It employs an empirical approach to understand how consumers respond hedonically on a visceral level to rhetoric in products. Specifically, it examines visceral hedonic responses given by thirty participants to the stimuli of six mobile telephones, six Mp3 players and six USB memory flash drives. The study findings demonstrate a hierarchy of visceral hedonic rhetoric evident in interactive products. This hierarchy of visceral hedonic attributes include: colour, size, shape, intrigue, material, perceived usability, portability, perceived function, novelty, analogy, brand, quality, texture and gender. However, it is the interrelationships between these visceral hedonic attributes that are the most significant findings of this research. Certain associations were revealed between product attribute combinations and consumer perception. The most predominant of these were: gender bias associated with colour selection; the creation of intrigue through a vibrant attention-grabbing colour; perceived ease of use and function; product confidence as a result of brand familiarity and perceived usability; analogous association through familiarity with similar objects and shapes; and the association of longevity with quality, novelty or recent technology. A significant outcome of the research is the distillation of visceral hedonic rhetoric design principles, and a tool to assist designers in harnessing the full potential of visceral hedonic rhetoric. This study contributes to the identification of the emerging research field of visceral hedonic rhetoric. Application of this study’s findings has the potential to provide a hedonic consumer-product relationship that is more meaningful, less disposable and more sustainable. This theory of visceral hedonic rhetoric is not only a significant contribution to design knowledge but is also generally transferable to other research domains, as later suggested in future research avenues.

General characteristics of anticipated user experience (AUX) with interactive products

Providing a positive user experience (UX) has become the key differentiator for products to win a competition in mature markets. To ensure that a product will support enjoyable experiences for its users, assessment of UX should be conducted early during the design and development process. However, most UX frameworks and evaluation techniques focus on understanding and assessing user’s experience with functional prototypes or existing products. This situation delays UX assessment until the late phases of product development which may result in costly design modifications and less desirable products. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate anticipated user experience (AUX) to address this issue. Twenty pairs of participants were asked to imagine an interactive product, draw their product concept, and anticipate their interactions and experiences with it. The data was analyzed to identify general characteristics of AUX. We found that while positive AUX was mostly related to an imagined/desired product, negative AUX was mainly associated with existing products. It was evident that the pragmatic quality of product was fundamental, and significantly influenced user’s anticipated experiences. Furthermore, the hedonic quality of product received more focus in positive than negative AUX. The results also showed that context, user profile, experiential knowledge, and anticipated emotion could be reflected in AUX. The understanding of AUX will help product designers to better foresee the users’ underlying needs and to focus on the most important aspects of their positive experiences, which in turn facilitates the designers to ensure pleasurable UX from the start of the design process.