How can the design of glanceable displays and reporting dashboards motivate individuals to engage in sustainable decision-making by visually communicating how incremental actions, taken over time, accumulate to produce meaningful contributions towards societal efforts aimed at mitigating climate change?
Individuals have limited visual offerings that provide an understanding of their personal impact on the larger climate change system, as the information provided in these media sources is often too broad and unengaging. It is difficult to imagine that citizens would willingly want to alter their behaviors when climate change information can, and should, create moments of awareness where citizens understand how their decisions and actions factor into the larger context. Designers have an opportunity to create citizen-centric visualization tools that not only offer environmentally-minded individuals the moments of clarity and understanding they need but provide means by which individuals can identify — and ‘see’ precisely — where their contributions impact the larger system of climate change.
Glanceable displays offer users ‘in-the-moment’ information requiring low cognitive load while delivering visual consumption activity across household appliances. This form of information delivery provides individual residents with an opportunity to gain influential information regarding current energy and water consumption at a glance. This glanceable information is then translated into cumulative consumption data that is collected over time. This information is delivered to residents through a reporting dashboard allowing users to view aggregate and disaggregate consumption patterns at scale (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), compare household patterns to patterns within their community, and set consumption goals for the future.
This project provides new opportunities for designers to consider visualization strategies at scale in various information environments. Considering moments where design can intervene within a home system, this project serves as a road map for designers and citizens to visualize moments of interaction leading to sustainable behaviors within that home system. Looking closely at those moments to strategize where visual information delivery could serve as intervention equips designers to provide clarity to citizens who wish to place their individual efforts within a scalable system.
My focus for this project centered on decision-making and sustainable behaviors in the home. I specifically wanted to investigate how a home system within could readily inform residents about their water and energy consumption while influencing short and long-term decisions that lead to sustainable behaviors. My design process consisted of many questions about what this home system could offer and how it could be scalable. My initial interest in interconnectivity and the communication of networked objects led me to question the possible visual offerings of home appliance displays and a central reporting dashboard.
Referencing the energy efficient appliances and applications currently available to users, my intent was to develop a visual language consisting of icons, color indicators, and messages that would be familiar to users. These visual studies explore how that development influences user’s decisions and prompts sustainable behaviors. The following visual trials serve to provide and support eco-friendly options within a multi-layer system delivering information at scale.
How can the design of a glanceable display system in the home deliver user feedback and information in-the-moment to promote consumption awareness and sustainable decisions?
How might the design of the reporting dashboard deliver messages to support sustainable behaviors and inspire community building?
How might the design of the reporting dashboard display progress over time for residents to track household patterns of consumption, set sustainability goals, and plan future goals?
Scenario: A Day in the Life
My research suggests that a home can be transformed into a motivational hub where citizens can feel that their sustainable efforts are contributing to mitigating climate change. By considering that every action has a ripple effect, this integrated system offers citizens an understanding of how household energy and water consumption can be viewed at scale. While energy efficient appliances and eco-friendly mobile applications offer sustainable options for consumption, there are few options for citizens to gain insight how their consumption data compare over time and on a community scale.
My investigation shows that graphic designers play a significant role in communicating scale within complex systems. Not only focusing on developing a visual language but more importantly offering representations that help citizens identify their placement within a larger context. Graphic designers have an opportunity to develop a visual system that serves to prompt and motivate citizens to make environmentally conscious decisions and continue to behave sustainably. As scale continues to shift, designers and citizens can participate in a collective effort to communicate and understand how sustainable actions, taken over time, can accumulate to create an impact at scale.
Through designing a system encompassing glanceable moments, incremental reports, community comparison, and goal setting, I’ve found that each of these areas can and should be further developed. By establishing a cohesive visual standard along with guidelines by which to abide by, the design of these areas can be tested for efficacy and impact. While my research and design studies present a possible multi-layer system offering a view of individual citizens’ sustainable efforts at scale, further exploration can be done to develop visual representations communicating water and energy consumption over time and within communities.
How can the design of glanceable displays and reporting dashboards motivate individuals to engage in sustainable decision-making by visually communicating how incremental actions, taken over time, accumulate to produce meaningful contributions towards societal efforts aimed at mitigating climate change?
Recent media portrays climate change as a direct cause of human factors. For example, California Governor Jerry Brown addresses climate change to an audience in Stuttgart, Germany by saying “Unfortunately, no one’s in charge—everyone is creating the problem, and unless everyone contributes to the solution, then the job won’t get done.” As media continues to place the blame on the public at large, the individual citizen is left confused and frustrated about how their individual contributions can make a difference in the wider, systemic problem of climate change.
Individuals have limited visual offerings that provide an understanding of their personal impact on the larger climate change system, as the information provided in these media sources is often too broad and unengaging. It is difficult to imagine that citizens would willingly want to alter their behaviors when climate change information can, and should, create moments of awareness where citizens understand how their decisions and actions factor into the larger context. Designers have an opportunity to create citizen-centric visualization tools that not only offer environmentally-minded individuals the moments of clarity and understanding they need but provide means by which individuals can identify — and ‘see’ precisely — where their contributions impact the larger system of climate change.
Glanceable displays offer users ‘in-the-moment’ information requiring low cognitive load while delivering visual consumption activity across household appliances. This form of information delivery provides individual residents with an opportunity to gain influential information regarding current energy and water consumption at a glance. This glanceable information is then translated into cumulative consumption data that is collected over time. This information is delivered to residents through a reporting dashboard allowing users to view aggregate and disaggregate consumption patterns at scale (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), compare household patterns to patterns within their community, and set consumption goals for the future.
This project provides new opportunities for designers to consider visualization strategies at scale in various information environments. Considering moments where design can intervene within a home system, this project serves as a road map for designers and citizens to visualize moments of interaction leading to sustainable behaviors within that home system. Looking closely at those moments to strategize where visual information delivery could serve as intervention equips designers to provide clarity to citizens who wish to place their individual efforts within a scalable system.
Fogg Behavioral Model with Dan Ariely’s Building Blocks for Behavior Change
Design Studies:
My focus for this project centered on decision-making and sustainable behaviors in the home. I specifically wanted to investigate how a home system within could readily inform residents about their water and energy consumption while influencing short and long-term decisions that lead to sustainable behaviors. My design process consisted of many questions about what this home system could offer and how it could be scalable. My initial interest in interconnectivity and the communication of networked objects led me to question the possible visual offerings of home appliance displays and a central reporting dashboard.
Referencing the energy efficient appliances and applications currently available to users, my intent was to develop a visual language consisting of icons, color indicators, and messages that would be familiar to users. These visual studies explore how that development influences user’s decisions and prompts sustainable behaviors. The following visual trials serve to provide and support eco-friendly options within a multi-layer system delivering information at scale.
How can the design of a glanceable display system in the home deliver user feedback and information in-the-moment to promote consumption awareness and sustainable decisions?
How might the design of the reporting dashboard deliver messages to support sustainable behaviors and inspire community building?
How might the design of the reporting dashboard display progress over time for residents to track household patterns of consumption, set sustainability goals, and plan future goals?
Scenario: A Day in the Life
My research suggests that a home can be transformed into a motivational hub where citizens can feel that their sustainable efforts are contributing to mitigating climate change. By considering that every action has a ripple effect, this integrated system offers citizens an understanding of how household energy and water consumption can be viewed at scale. While energy efficient appliances and eco-friendly mobile applications offer sustainable options for consumption, there are few options for citizens to gain insight how their consumption data compare over time and on a community scale.
My investigation shows that graphic designers play a significant role in communicating scale within complex systems. Not only focusing on developing a visual language but more importantly offering representations that help citizens identify their placement within a larger context. Graphic designers have an opportunity to develop a visual system that serves to prompt and motivate citizens to make environmentally conscious decisions and continue to behave sustainably. As scale continues to shift, designers and citizens can participate in a collective effort to communicate and understand how sustainable actions, taken over time, can accumulate to create an impact at scale.
Through designing a system encompassing glanceable moments, incremental reports, community comparison, and goal setting, I’ve found that each of these areas can and should be further developed. By establishing a cohesive visual standard along with guidelines by which to abide by, the design of these areas can be tested for efficacy and impact. While my research and design studies present a possible multi-layer system offering a view of individual citizens’ sustainable efforts at scale, further exploration can be done to develop visual representations communicating water and energy consumption over time and within communities.