Desiging susa: An interactive artwork that stimulates sustainable behaviour

Abstract

The consequences of climate change are becoming visible more and more, also in The Netherlands. Most people consider the environment to be important and want to act sustainable, but they find it hard to really take action. “Where should I start?” “What is actually sustainable and what not?” “What can I do within my budget?” are questions that arise. As a designer, I became aware of the overflow of products that are meant to make our lives better but at the same time harm the environment, which motivated me towards this graduation project. Research shows that stuff scores the highest in the impact top 10 of the average Dutch consumer (Porcelijn, 2017). Therefore, the initial goal of this project was to make consumers aware of the impact their purchases have on the environment and stimulate them to buy less. Literature research is done towards our shopping behaviour and what can be done to motivate sustainable behaviour related to the purchase of product. This research revealed that, in the long term, activating intrinsic motivation is more successful than providing extrinsic motivation in the form of rewards for example. One way to stimulate intrinsic motivation of consumers to act more environmental friendly is to give them positive feedback about the sustainable behaviour already performed. This enlarges their environmental self-identity, which is defined as: the extend to which one sees him/her self as a sustainable person. (van der Werff, 2016). Since the effect of the positive feedback is bigger when feedback is given on multiple categories of sustainable behaviour (such as waste, energy usage, transportation etc.) instead of one category, a shift in this project is made from products alone towards more sustainable behaviour in general. Thereafter, existing initiatives to stimulate sustainable behaviour are evaluated by comparing them to the findings in the literature research and interviews are held to get a more clear image of consumer experiences. Based on this research, three possible design directions are being presented and the direction of positive feedback is chosen. The final goal of this project is defined as motivating consumers to act more sustainable
by enlarging the environmental self-identity with positive feedback on sustainable behaviour from the past. The second phase is the ideation phase where in which brainstorms are done for possible solutions towards the chosen direction. A generative session is organised to involve the target group in the design process. With the results and insights of the brainstorm and this session, three concepts are formed which are formed and tested by the use of Google forms. The results are evaluated and the concept of sustainable art is chosen, whereby the user tracks his/her sustainable behaviour by creating an artwork on the wall. In the third phase, iterations are made to the concept and two more tests are executed, whereby the concept developed into the final design: SusA. SusA is designed to make the user more conscious about their sustainable behaviour, and provide positive feedback for all the sustainable actions by creating an artwork on the wall. It stimulates interaction between the user and house mates and/or guests, and makes users aware of how much of a sustainable person they already are. The product comes with an smart phone application, where pictures and tips can be shared with friends, statistics of one’s sustainable behaviour can be found and inspiration for sustainable actions in the different categories is available. To conclude, suggestions are given to introduce SusA to the market, the concept is evaluated and recommendations are made for further research and development.