What a designer can change: a proposal for a categorisation of artefact-related aspects

Abstract

This paper proposes a categorisation of artefact-related aspects that in different ways set people's preconditions for acting with technology. The categorisation can serve as a starting point for discussing which aspects are relevant to consider from a Design for Sustainable Behaviour perspective. The categorisation sorts these aspects into different layers: from the over-arching layer of enabled activity, through artefact type(s), operative functions, interactive functions, and finally communicative functions. Using examples from research studies, and a selection of theory and methods, we argue for an increased focus on all artefact-related aspects. Moreover, it is essential to move between layers to ensure a consistent design that in every layer provides preconditions for sustainable behaviour. The paper also discusses benefits of redesigning the artefacts people use in their everyday activities, instead of designing artefacts that stimulate new types of conservation activities.

Design for Circular Behaviour: Considering Users in a Circular Economy

“…The application in this paper is to understand how design to encourage more circular behaviour at an individual level can help as part of a wider system transition. Although crucially, as noted by Selvefors et al [38], it is not possible to design behaviour, it is only possible to design the preconditions which define how somebody may behave. Meaning that behaviour change alone is not a reliable enough method as the only route to system change.…”

Designed to support or impede energy conservation? How design characteristics influence people's energy use

“…Third, the paper considers the characteristics in relation to their level of generality in regards to the design of an appliance by structuring the characteristics according to the layers of design proposed by Selvefors et al (2016). While others commonly discuss one characteristic separately (see for example McCalley and Midden, 1998;McCalley et al, 2011) or several characteristics independently of each other (Thornander et al, 2011) the findings in this paper highlight the need to address the different characteristics in relation to each other as they interact to create preconditions for use.…”

“…A procedure for analysing interview data described by Miles and Huberman (1994) was followed in which data segments were clustered into themes and subsequently grouped in subthemes. A categorisation of artefact-related aspects proposed by Selvefors et al (2016) was used as a basis for organising the identified design characteristics according to five hierarchically ordered layers: communicative functions, interactive functions, operative functions, artefact type(s), and the overall layer enabled activity. This particular categorisation was used as it hierarchically arranges artefact-related aspects into different layers of design that influence people's preconditions for interacting with technology in different ways.…”

“…This section introduces the identified characteristics and exemplifies how they influence people's energy use, and why they often impede energy conservation. Following the categorisation of layers of design proposed by Selvefors et al (2016), the uncovered characteristics will be reviewed in relation to appliances' communicative functions, interactive functions, and operative functions as well as artefact type(s) and enabled activity. The interrelation between the different characteristics and potential design opportunities will be discussed in Section 5.…”

Design Guidelines Developed from Environmental Assessments: A Design Tool for Resource-Efficient Products

“…For instance, the user makes the decision to separate materials for recycling, take products to a recycling center, or notably, not putting it in general waste containers [17]. Nevertheless, it is not possible to design behavior; it is only possible to the influence people's ability to act with artifacts by designing for behavior [75].…”