A Protocol to Address User Behavior in the Eco-Design of Consumer Products

Cor, Emmanuelle; Zwolinski, Peggy

doi:10.1115/1.4030048

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Montazeri, et al [21] created napkin dispensers that displayed the quantity of napkins used, and validated in a field study each design's effectiveness at reducing consumption. Cor and Zwolinski [7] tested four coffee makers intended to encourage electricity conservation. They found that the eco-feedback design (which reported energy consumed while making coffee) and the goal setting design (which provided a target value for energy consumption) were perceived as more useful and less intrusive than a written-information design (which offered instructions for turning off the coffee maker) or a smart design (which switched off the coffee maker automatically).…”

Section: Design For Sustainable Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More specifically, we examine eco-feedback designs [6] which aim to promote pro-environmental behavior in users by making them aware of their resource consumption and its consequential environmental impact. Compared to other strategies of designing for sustainable user behavior such as "behavior steering" which encourages behavior change via embedded product constraints or affordances, and "smart" designs which automatically take actions to enforce behavior change, eco-feedback has the advantages of being less intrusive [7], easier to implement [8], and has higher potential to raise users' environmental awareness [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating User Emotional Responses to Eco-Feedback Designs

Bao

Hughes

Burnell

et al. 2018

Journal of Mechanical Design

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Emotional responses to a product can be critical in influencing how the product will be used. This study explores the emotions that arise from users' interaction with eco-feedback products, and investigates links between emotions and users' resource conservation behaviors. In-lab experiments were conducted with 68 participants of varying backgrounds. Each participant was shown sketches of four conceptual designs of eco-feedback products and reported how they would feel and behave in different scenarios using the products. Two styles of eco-feedback design, quantitative and figurative, were compared to each other and were compared to neutral designs, which had little or no feedback information. Results showed that taking resource conservation actions such as turning off lights was highly correlated with negative emotions toward wasting resources, such as guilt, upset, embarrassment, and annoyance. Users' evaluations of esthetics, usefulness, and overall quality of eco-feedback products, however, were highly correlated with positive emotions toward resource conservation, described as satisfied, proud, interested, and joyful. Figurative designs were observed to evoke much stronger emotions among younger participants than older ones. Ultimately, we hope our findings are useful to the designers of eco-feedback products.

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Section: Design For Sustainable Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating User Emotional Responses to Eco-Feedback Designs

Bao

Hughes

Burnell

et al. 2018

Journal of Mechanical Design

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“…MacDonald and She conducted an in lab experiment mimicking a realistic purchasing scenario to reveal user preferences for the sustainable trigger features of toasters [22]. Cor and Zwolinski tested the effectiveness of four coffee maker designs in encouraging energy and water conservation behaviors as well as acceptance by users [23]. Sohn et al tested the immediate user reaction to design attributes of products that promote pro-environmental behaviors [24].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four versions of each of the products above were designed to include each of the following eco-feedback prompts: These design prompts were chosen based on existing ecofeedback design literature cited in this paper [23,24,26]. They were created with the intention of displaying different levels of data quantitativeness and emotion evocation.…”

Section: Eco-feedback Promptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-Feedback Designs: A Balance Between the Quantitative and the Emotional

Bao

Shaukat

Elantary

et al. 2016

Volume 7: 28th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology

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Eco-feedback design is a strategy for encouraging sustainable behavior by making users aware of the resources they consume. Reminding users of their resource usage can help them understand the environmental impacts of their actions and evoke feelings such as sympathy or responsibility for the environment. This study investigated two aspects of presenting resource usage information in eco-feedback designs: the quantitative clarity of the information, and the strength of emotion evoked by the designs. This paper examines how these two aspects of eco-feedback influence users’ perception and preference for the designs. Four design prompts with different levels of quantitative clarity and emotion were used to generate 16 designs. An online survey with these designs was distributed among students at four universities in two countries. Results from 216 valid responses showed evidence that both the quantitative and emotional aspects are important to the eco-feedback designs. The survey also gathered data about respondents’ knowledge about resource consumption. Results suggested that students in technical majors were generally better at estimating resource consumption, and tended to prefer designs with more quantitative data. In contrast, students in non-technical majors generally made less accurate estimates and tended to prefer designs that evoke stronger emotions. These findings could inform designers on how to make more effective eco-feedback designs to promote sustainable behaviors.

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“…The consumption prediction is closer to reality compared to the standard averaged energy consumption profiles. Cor et al (2014), Cor & Zwolinski (2015) developed a protocol to integrate user behaviour into the ecodesign of low-complexity consumer products. The protocol is composed of the following steps: (1) identify critical environmental aspects in use; (2) support designers to select a design strategy for sustainable behaviour after analysis of the use phase; and (3) test the selected strategy with product-in-use observations.…”

Section: Confirmation With the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Research perspectives in ecodesign

et al. 2020

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Ecodesign has gained significant traction in recent years ranging from academic research to business applications at a global scale. Initial emphasis on the environmental aspect of design has evolved to include economic and social aspects, with projects ranging from small-scale products to large-scale industrial systems. In this paper, the authors re-analyse 10 of their major ecodesign research projects of the past ten years to identify five categories of challenges and promising future directions for ecodesign research. This paper is primarily a retrospective position paper based on the authors’ experience of actual design studies, providing also a relevant literature review and summary of design practices.

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A Protocol to Address User Behavior in the Eco-Design of Consumer Products

Cited by 16 publications

References 32 publications

Investigating User Emotional Responses to Eco-Feedback Designs

Investigating User Emotional Responses to Eco-Feedback Designs

Eco-Feedback Designs: A Balance Between the Quantitative and the Emotional

Research perspectives in ecodesign

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