GreenID

High Performance Vienna Gesellschaft fĂźr angewandtes Informationsdesign GmbH

hub vienna 1070 Wien, Lindengasse 56 / 18-19 Martin Foessleitner fon +43 699 1 526 91 90 welcome@hi-pe.at www.hi-pe.at FN 189846k DVR 1049003 UID: ATU 48652907

Papers / 23. Februar 2012

GefÜrdert aus Mitteln der Stadt Wien durch die ZIT – Die Technologieagentur der Stadt Wien GmbH, ein Unternehmen der Wirtschaftsagentur Wien.

Content Making Information Sustaianble

4 –7

Design for Eternity

8 –9

Sustainable Typography

10 –13

Technical Information for Sustainability

14 –17

Seeing is Believing

18 –25

The 3 big indicators of sustainable development

26 –29

Betterday

30 –31

Visualizing Sustainable Development

32 –37

Smart Meters

38 –39

Campaigns for Behaviour Change

40 –45

Narrative Information Design

46 –47

Key theories on behavior change from psychology

48 –51

Sustainability what?

52 –57

Casestudy: Oy-Mittelberg

58 –59

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Peter Putz

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angela morelli

Angela Morelli

Making Information Sustainable

Angela This workshop has been conceived following the study of designer Nathan Shedroff’s ideas on Understanding and Richard Saul Wurman’s LATCH theory.

Information is powerful only if can be understood because it is the power of understanding that can bring about change. Understanding precedes action, change, evolution and revolution. Making information understandable means making it sustainable.

Nathan Shedroff defines understanding as a continuum from data to wisdom. He sees understanding as a process that starts with raw data. Data is the raw material we find, gather or create, the material we use to build our communications.

Transforming data into information is accomplished by organizing it into a meaningful form, presenting it in a meaningful way and communicating the context around it. When we experience information we acquire knowledge. Knowledge is achieved through good stories and conversations. Wisdom is the most intimate level of understanding. It is the result of reflection and evaluation.

The first step in the process of transforming data into information is to explore its organization. As designers, the way we organize information has a profound impact on the way information is understood. As users, the ability to process information goes hand in hand with how it is organized. The way information is organized changes the way we navigate it, we process it, we understand it and we feel about it.

The clarity and power of our message depends on the ways we structure the information we want to communicate. The aim of the workshop is to explore the ways in which we can organize information in order to realize that each way we choose can create new information, new understanding and new stories.

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The Vietnam Memorial wall in Washington DC is a good example.

The wall contains the names of 58,000 American servicemen and women who died or went missing during the Vietnam conflict.

The question is, ‘How would you order 58,000 names?’ An obvious answer would be ‘alphabetical order’. Alphabetical listing would make the Memorial look like a telephone directory engraved in granite, destroying the sense of unique loss that each name carried. There were over 600 Smiths; 16 people named James Jones had died in Vietnam.

Designer Maya Yin Ling chose a different way. The names appear chronologically by time of death or disappearance. This has two powerful consequences: - the first one is a visual consequence. The two walls start out short about 12 inches in height and grow to more than nine feet in the center.

The names chart the pattern of US involvement in Vietnam.

- the second one is an emotional consequence. Each individual is, in effect, surrounded by those who died with them and this often has a profound impact on those who visit the monument.

An alphabetical organization would have depersonalized the monument and devastated its emotional power. The way we organize information has the power to tell stories.

The data gathered for the purpose of the workshop are created by the participants and then collected from them. This helps each person in the group to relate more easily to the data, which consists of a picture and a series of questions they previously answered by filling in a form. This bunch of data is transformed into a series of line drawings and a word document that allows each one to read the answers of the whole group.

The task is then to organize the group of people, using the information they have supplied.

Everybody comes up with a very different organization of the same datasets and very different stories. Some people jump immediately on one solution, other get lost, some want to say one thing, others try to say ten things with the same organization.

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This workshop has been done with more that 200 people and the beautiful thing is that we human beings show an innate ability to organize information. Through the workshop each participant learns that while information may be infinite, the ways of structuring it are not. Richard Saul Wurman suggests five ways to organize everything and he calls the platform LATCH which stands for Location Alphabet Time Category Hierarchy.

Saul Wurman writes that through LATCH you realize that by simplifying, by taking one point of view, one slice, you can make something absolutely clear. Any larger subject can be broken down into slices. Each slice helps you understand what you cannot grasp as a whole. By breaking up a subject, you are less likely to be overwhelmed by it.

The workshop is a meaningful and instructive experience for two reasons.

1: for one’s own benefit It helps us in the process of analyzing and navigating our own data, in order to get close to the data, to understand it, to chew it, to see what possible stories can emerge. LATCH makes it easy to brainstorm; it offers a series of pathways we can explore before we get lost in just one route. It is really important to experiment, reflect and choose which organization best communicates our message. That will support us in designing understanding, in designing information in a more sustainable way.

2: for the user’s benefit It is a tool that helps us in understanding how our users think, how they structure data, how they would navigate through it. And that is crucial in order to understand the users’ needs. This leads to a human centred approach.

References Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design by Nathan Shedroff Information Anxiety by Richard Saul Wurman

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Das Ewige Archiv · The Eternal Archives © Peter Putz, 2010 · www.ewigesarchiv

Dead Bull (Wien, 2009/10)

Peter Putz

Design for Eternity Time heals all wounds

Peter Putz examins convergences and contradictions between design and time using material taken from The Eternal Ar He asks, is possible, usefull or even desireable at all for a connection to be made between design and sustainability.

The Eternal Archives are the largest non-commercial and non-institutional image database in Austria with images that da 1905, a meta data index, and comprehensive keywording. Regarding conception and collection, it is internationally o with an Austrian focus. They were started in 1980 by Peter Putz and can be understood as a ‘forced encyclopaedia‘ of c porary identity and realities of life. The Eternal Archives can be regarded as an exemplary, contrapuntal project in a world digitally speaking, almost completely mapped and documented.

The Eternal Archives ask questions such as: can subjective positions and personal perceptions come into existence and in a world which is a dense network of commercialized communication and data streams? This vast project detects seismo fractures, interstitial spaces and faults and makes collecting, storing, and archiving in an era of data retention and cont (data) surveillance a subject in its own right.

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It is an art project in the widest sense, concerned with perception and making things visible, a parallel universe to the

peter putz

Peter Putz

Design for Eternity

Peter Time heals all wounds

Peter Putz examins convergences and contradictions between design and time using material taken from The Eternal Archives. He asks, is possible, usefull or even desireable at all for a connection to be made between design and sustainability.

The Eternal Archives are the largest non-commercial and non-institutional image database in Austria with images that date from 1905, a meta data index, and comprehensive keywording. Regarding conception and collection, it is internationally oriented with an Austrian focus. They were started in 1980 by Peter Putz and can be understood as a ‘forced encyclopaedia‘ of contemporary identity and realities of life. The Eternal Archives can be regarded as an exemplary, contrapuntal project in a world that is, digitally speaking, almost completely mapped and documented.

The Eternal Archives ask questions such as: can subjective positions and personal perceptions come into existence and survive in a world which is a dense network of commercialized communication and data streams? This vast project detects seismographic fractures, interstitial spaces and faults and makes collecting, storing, and archiving in an era of data retention and continuous (data) surveillance a subject in its own right.

It is an art project in the widest sense, concerned with perception and making things visible, a parallel universe to the digital (media) companies with their unremitting efforts to monetize the world.

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r time tolerances 1 Time tolerance 1

2 Time tolerance 2

3 Time tolerance 3

4 Time tolerance 4

Martin Ashley - London College of Communication

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ashley

Martin Ashley

Sustainable Typography MARTIN ASHLEY

Sustainable Typography First of all a little bit about myself: what I do and my Research philosophy.

I have been a Senior Lecturer in Information Design for over 30 years. Parallel to this, I undertook major global projects from my studio in central London, mainly for Research departments of large investment banks. Where projects were particularly large, I took a year off as an unpaid sabbatical.

I witnessed research analysts facing unprecedented pressure from receiving thousands of research notes in hard copy form...all before 9am in the morning!

I always remember a senior director from Chicago saying ‘our scarcest commodity is not money but time’ During this unpaid sabbatical, I researched and sought to evolve a practical approach to overcome this. I distilled many years of experience and evolved this model which I have refined in the intervening years. I call it Message-based Design and Message-based Writing.

It is this that I am going to present today. Its application is more relevant now than 15 years ago especially as global warming and sustainability are now critical issues.

Current state of document production

The presentation begins with the backdrop to the current state of document communication globally and observations on this. By ‘document’ I refer to text-rich outputs by offices of large organisations like the Health Service, Post Office, BMW, Universities etc. that are produced in-house applying DTP templates and then emailed.

Whilst the principles are applicable to newspapers, magazines, brochures etc I do not concentrate on these as, in the main, these have improved (eg Guardian newspaper in the UK).

Moreover, it is the area of office documentation and in-house printed research notes that is the main culprit to data deluge.

By ‘sustainable’ I refer not only to excess hard copy outputs but also the stress and time wasting imposed on readers trying to cope with ‘data smog’.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD We are witnessing today an unprecendented deluge of data dumping. Many surveys have been carried out on the views of office workers and managers. These can be summarised as follows listing the worst factors to the least: 1 Excess volume 2 Too little time and the speed of delivery 3 Irrelevance 4 Diversity of media output channels (paper, ppt, web, Blackberry etc) 5 Interruptions & Multi-tasking (cognitive overload) The consequences of the above have been empirically quantified in recent surveys: Data Deluge - More than 40% of digital documents (apart from emails) get printed.

Source: IDC White paper March 2008: ‘Cutting information clutter: tackling information overload at the source’

- The output from electronic printers, scanners, fax machines and copiers alone will total more than 6 trillion pages by 2009.

Source: UN Statistic: FAOstat 2007

- Despite the digital tsunami, the amount of paper produced in the world will grow an inexorable 2% a year, passing 41 trillion pages in 2009.

Source: UN Statistic: FAOstat 2007

- IBM prediction that by 2010 the amount of digital information will double every 11 hours.

Source: (IBM Global Technical services white paper: July 2006

This is not sustainable

This cannot carry on as it is unsustainable.We need to radically re-think typography for text-rich business documents & publications. (note that I am not referring to books). Most designers & editors assume people initially read documents but they are wrong.

Let us observe how people actually approach reading paper or screen documents.

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MESSAGE-BASED DESIGN & WRITING

OBSERVATIONS 1- We browse/forage (71%) then read (11%) (Jacob Nielsen) 2- People have different time tolerances and requirements for detail. ie the same information is required to different levels of detailing dependent on the time the reader can allocate to it. (Senior directors will have less time than juniors).

3- Media choice People want choice as to whether they wish to view information on paper, i-phone, Blackberry, PowerPoint or via web/screen.

4- Cognitive principles Most publications do not follow the cognitive principles of how we are ‘wired’ to interpret visual signals.

Obtaining key message by just scanning

MESSAGE-BASED DESIGN (MBD) & MESSAGE-BASED WRITING (MBW) This is an approach I have evolved that, in practise, resolves these four points.

It ensures that by just gleaning a document page the reader obtains the essence by simply browsing headings, sub-headings, fast lane side comments, bullet points, graphs etc.

That is, no actual reading of the text is initially required.

Let us go through these four points one by one with examples:

We browse and only then read

Four time tolerances catered for

1- Browsing then reading Studies reveal that when given a document (whether on paper or to be read on screen), the eye darts around the page foraging for meaningful messages either in headings,or via a graph or bullet points/pull quotes, decks, tinted summary panels colour etc. Where relevant, we stop and read. Then we forage once again. It follows that the designer must harness the visual tools at his/her disposal to quickly impart value.

2- Time tolerance What you see here is a Word hard copy document that caters for 4 different reader time tolerances (navigation within a document).

1) Front page: read by those with the least time tolerance.

2) Front page + Ex Summary: for those with more time.

3) Front page + Ex Summary + Chapter Summaries for those with still greater time.

4) Reading whole document: For those with the most time. Yet even here choice is built in.

You can fast track side comment and glean headings then delve into text. This is the whole point of MBD: you are forewarned what text will be about so you don’t have to start reading it and then find its not what you want (causing irritation and skipping large chunks of document or, worse, binning it).

The key point to note is that the same information is imparted in different time lengths related to what the reader can allocate Senior executives and captains of industry have said to me that the scarcest commodity they have is not money but time. Those lower down the organisation have more time.Thus this tiered system is important.

Documents to be able to morph from paper to screen

3- Media choice Readers wish to choose the media format for reading documents: Presentations are often done to varying audience sizes: small groups (2-6) can comfortably be accommodated with each person having a hard copy. Numbers above that are better served with a Powerpoint presentation. The latter requires the content from the hard copy to be appropriately reduced to bullet points.

Two requirements therefore arise: 1) An approach to content ‘collapsing down’ from text rich document to bullet points for Powerpoint.

2) The visual adaptation from a portrait hardcopy to a landscape format with a dark background (navigation between document types).

This is timely as readers are increasingly intolerant of viewing paper-based text dumped onto screens via PDFs. The two mediums are significantly different requiring different treatment.

Please note: Whilst above ‘Diversity of media output channels’ is listed as a cause of information overload, it does not contradict the need for media choice. The former is where media choice is offered with an inappropriate visual style for that media output.

implies navigation within & between document types

2

Navigation between document types & mediums. This is important, particularly from a design viewpoint, as it means the same key messages can be viewed differently across paper & screen mediums. eg portrait paper to ppt, or web or Blackberry, i-pad. Thus the same information is adapted automatically (eg reduced down) for a web page with the visual

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MESSAGE-BASED DESIGN & WRITING

attributes changed to that appropriate to a web page.The morphing of documents is now a reality.

I find it incredible that design students are not introduced to cognitive principles related to design

4- Cognitive principles Stephen Kosslyn (previously Head of Cognitive Science at Harvard University and now the Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University) has done ground-breaking research in how we de-code visual signals.

In relation to how much time we spend de-coding messages he observes that ‘The spirit is willing but the mind is weak’: ‘we can keep only a certain amount of information in mind at any one time’.He adds ‘It is a psychological, not a moral, fact that people do not like to expend effort and often will not bother to do so, particularly if they are not sure in advance that the effort will be rewarded’. (source: ‘Elements of Graph Design’ 1993. p10)

The survival instinct means we seek comprehensive patterns in what we see. Thus graphs impart the pattern/shape of an argument much faster than text and tables.

Conclusion Whilst I have concentrated on paper outputs, it is a useful learning curve for organisations to learn the principles outlined above before moving on to apply these to screen outputs.

Information overload requires visual filters to extract key messages.

Message-based design & writing guarantees key messages understood by only browsing page.

Caters for different time tolerances of readers.

Message-based Design & Writing facilitates the ‘morphing’ of documents: a portrait hard copy to landscape Powerpoint presentation, web, PDA or mobile phone display with headings/layout suitably adapted for each media.

Acts as a quality control mechanism discouraging ‘maintenance’ writing.

Environmentally friendly as less paper used: ‘sustainable typography’.

IMPLICATIONS - The importance of MBD is that it solves the time scarcity issue practically and immediately saving both paper and time which, in turn, saves costs.

- Saves hours of reading so reduces cost as time saved in reading document.

- Reduces errors due to clarity of information.

- Increases information knowledge within an organisation. Information is power so enhancing knowledge management making company more effective.

- Design/content/IT inexorably intertwined.

- Designers must take a greater ownership and understanding of the content and structure of what they are designing.

- MBW requires greater writing discipline (thus acts as a quality-enhancing and control mechanism within an organisation).

- Increases awareness of presentation (both orally and visually) and being succinct and to the point when doing presentations or producing documents.

- Environmentally friendly.

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kolumbia

Maria Eugenia Perez Lizarazo Technical Information for Sustainability

Maria Eugenia Technical Information Communication to empower decision-makers and to include a competence differentiated sustainability approach

Introduction It is often said that information is power, and so technical information is treated carefully within organisations, often implying security and controls that partially disappear when trying to communicate results to clients. However, it is also often that final users of this technical information are relying on a further explanation of it, finding it solely in the persona of their service provider and so limiting the power of information itself; paradoxically enough.

Along the body of the present text, the intention is to develop a new perspective on management of information for sustainability, and how organisations are failing to empower their clients with it and rather producing confusion and lack of positive decisions. This is directed towards finding a new research line that could lead robust data and information to produce output information with deep semantic and social dimensions.

Statistics are the must, explanations will come later When a client of a hydrogeological firm in South America called to inquire about a catastrophic failure in their water well, the first reference cited was the technical report sent to them 11 months earlier. That report cited how the lack of maintenance and irregular operation of the pumping system would probably cause a total failure of one of the two only water sources for the land. Hydrodynamic levels were presented, dramatic changes in the flow were exposed, but yet the client never got to read the information.

This information, which lacks of simple statistical potential for analysis, obeys to complex models that would not be pertinent for the final user. No direct graphic system could represent what the information means. Infographics, the way they are known for most designers, obey to basic data or directly correlated variables, and is void in these cases and cannot be directly applied in most of them. Environmental information of paramount importance is lost in the maze of technical information design.

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Maybe that is why users remain to ask for explanations. Not all of them, though.

Many of our environmental resources are invisible to the eyes, groundwater is a concept that few manage, and human resources are often lost in translation.

Wrong decisions are taken and lack of effective information is to blame.

It has been tried already, to use simple figures, and to produce some level of awareness with standard statistics. However, it ‘s been proved that they don’t work, because water wells are out of operation on a weekly basis, buoyant businesses are closed due to lack of operational measures to reduce environmental impact, and there is no visible change in people’s habits towards environmental resources.

Information is social. Social makes sustainable.

It is often forgotten to whom information must be given to. Although there are highly competent people making decisions, the everyday operation of resource exploitation is not performed by those people. Industrial kitchens are not operated nor by engineers, neither by people with enough specific knowledge about environmental impacts, especially when presented as elaborated technical data.

It is everyday people whose incremental behaviour builds up to produce change, to generate negative or positive impact. However, technical organisations have failed to speak to the base of the pyramid, and yet they share the same format of information with technicians, operators and environmental agencies, emptying that data from its social component.

Information, then, has become unsustainable.

The initial approach Technical communication constantly speaks about style, specific terms, typography, and colours, never about people. How to approach the social character of information then? How to produce differential semantics that could produce knowledge and get a response amongst the intended audience?

While reading the redesign process intent on lab test results, ECG and prostate tests, that directed by Wired Executive Editor Thomas Goetz, the answer to the previous questions resulted obvious.

Natural resources should be treated analogously to a human being. Symptoms must be associated with visible risks and day- to- day behaviours, and it is necessary to situate this information within differential contexts depending on to whom the information is directed. Information design transcends the boundary of simple data to bring- in new elements to robust data based information.

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This distinctive approach would allow people to respond to information that is transmitted in a language they can understand. This response is meant to be directed towards better decisions and, essentially, understanding.

It should be possible to provide a safe context in which data could no longer produce fear in its users and, instead, empower them to produce informed decisions related to sustainability of natural resources.

One plus one makes more An essential part of this new approach is based on collaboration. Often designers are not able to take active part in such technical information projects because of the lack of connection with regular stakeholders intervening in the process and because of the challenge involved in such matters.

However, for this project the collaboration of both engineers and designers is going to be a constant along the way. As well, there will be recurrent contact with final users to cover the general standard competence matrix managed in engineering companies, from places still to be defined.

Further developments This is a starting point research that is meant to be developed during the next 10 months based on a two- step in- field exploration of innovation. The first step will aim to study the extension and base of extrapolation that could be applied further to technical data, and the second step will concentrate on a practical and specific study of feasibility by application on potential areas of interest as waste management, integral management of water resources and mineral prospection methods.

From the first stage a series of design requirements will be identified and a common ground will be explored. During the second stage, final users will be observed and interviewed to map their field of significance towards the defined areas. Robust data from the defined lines of work will be analyzed further to produce more complex correlations between variables. This new unexplored correlations could traduce themselves into correlation to environmental conditions contextualised into the users’ daily lives.

The final product of the research intends to deliver a full and deep research report and an initial (or evolved according to the available time) information design on each explored area, with feedback on specific understanding and drivers in each competence level explored.

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Will Stahl-Timmins Seeing is Believing

Will Background This early-stage report gives details of the planned design and research work of the Seeing is Believing group. The group is based at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, an EU funded research project within the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth. The centre is based in Cornwall, a county in the very far South-West of the UK, known for beautiful beaches and innovation in sustainable tourism and renewable energy. The project received initial funding for 3 years, beginning in 2010. At the time of writing, in July 2011, the centre has 21 full-time researchers, and a further 8 administrative staff. The main research focus of the centre is around the effects of the environment on human health. The centre investigates the threats to our health from climate change and environmental pollutants, but also the health benefits that can be gained from exercise in natural environments and encouraging biodiversity.

The centre also has an interest in the visual communication of this information, which has led to the Seeing is Believing group, based at the centre. The group consists of four practitioners/academics: Dr Will Stahl-Timmins, Information Graphic designer and design researcher Dr Sabine Pahl, Behavioural psychology researcher and lecturer Anthony Pinching, Interaction designer and film maker, Magic Lantern Films Prof Michael Depledge, European Centre for Environment and Human Health steering group chair The function of the group is to produce visual information presentations, and assess their impact on communication, information retention, and behaviour. The group is initially basing their work on the design process model developed by Will Stahl-Timmins during his PhD (see Figure 1). During his studies, he investigated the use of information graphics to present health research data to policy makers.

The design process model is adapted from the generic design process model developed by the UK’s Design Council (UK Design Council, 2007). However, it is an academic model of design, which features publishable research studies at several points in the process. This aligns with the needs of a university research department, and the recommendations on design evaluation suggested by David Sless (Sless, 2008). These research studies are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the information graphics developed, as well as to refine the designs.

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Seeing is believing The Seeing is Believing group initially focusses on the use of information graphics for presenting business sustainability data. The primary research interest is in the visual presentation of environmental sustainability, although with a recognition that it is impossible to truly separate this from the equally important goals of financial and social sustainability for a business.

Environmental sustainability is an increasingly important consideration. Climate change has already been highlighted as a likely threat to human health around the world in the coming years (Haines, A. et al, 2009). Businesses are significant contributors to the carbon emissions that are thought to be a major cause of climatic changes. The graphic in Figure 2 shows data from the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC, 2011). The area of the circles represents the emissions from different sectors. Business is shown as the the third-largest category, although it may also contribute indirectly to the energy, transport and waste sectors. A reduction in carbon emissions from a large number of businesses might therefore be expected to have a positive effect on human health, particularly in less industrialised and/or equatorial countries, which are likely to suffer most from climate change (McMichael, 2008). However, even where this is understood by businesses, it can be difficult for them to judge the value of environmental awareness.

When travelling from Truro in the UK to Vienna for the GreenID conference, Will Stahl-Timmins and the university’s administrators evaluated different travel options available to him. It became clear that a large amount of the cost and carbon emissions that resulted from this journey were connected with the flight that he was planning to take from London to Vienna, compared to the relatively cheap and more environmentally sensitive train journey from Truro to London that was planned. They therefore also considered a method of traveling by train for the entire journey, changing in London and Brussels, and taking an overnight train from Cologne to Vienna. As shown in Figure 3, the train journey was slightly cheaper, caused far fewer carbon emissions, but took a significantly longer time.

At the GreenID conference, when presented with this data, the majority of the delegates reported that they would have taken the train travel option. This group might be expected to place a higher value on the environmental costs of the journey due to their area of interest. However, even within this group the view was not universal. We cannot be sure in this case how the people consulted made their decisions, which involved valuing time, carbon and price. The varied conclusions suggest that such decisions can be complex, and inherently value-based.

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For a businesses making decisions like this, that involve balancing time and money against environmental data, it may be all too easy for them to think only of their financial balance sheet. However, if more sophisticated methods of conveying environmental commitments to a range of stakeholders were available to them, we argue that such decisions could be made with more emphasis on environmental commitments - or at least with more consideration of the true economic costs of environmental sustainability.

Businesses may also be in a position to encourage environmental awareness in customers, employees and others through the provision of information. However, caution is recommended in terms of knowing the limitations of information provision. There may be many other factors that play a part in encouraging environmentally sensitive decisions, such as practicality, skills, motivations, and perceived image of environmentally sensitive behaviour. The model of behaviour change in Figure 4, for example, suggests that motivation is just as important as information in leading to behaviour change (Fisher & Fisher, 1992). While this is a model of individual behaviour change, it may also be applicable to organisations, as collections of individuals.

The motivations of business might be understood by considering organisational aims. Businesses that have aims that extend beyond financial success are sometimes said to have “triple bottom line� accounting (Brown et al, 2006). They conceptually have three balance sheets - financial, social and environmental. For example, a health-related business might already be socially motivated - aiming to improve a population’s health as well as being financially successful. If they are given information about the effects on health of the increased number of harmful air-born toxins that might result from a decision they must make, they might be more prepared to prioritise environmental aspects of the decision. The alignment of information and motivation might be more likely to lead to environmentally sensitive behaviour.

As well as the organisational aims explained by the triple bottom line idea, businesses have legal obligations which may be another motivating factor. In the UK, organisations that use more than 6,000 KWh of electricity per year are obliged to submit reports on their carbon emissions, and must pay for exceeding a given threshold. While this links to a financial motivation, the motivation of avoiding prosecution and the associated stigma is somewhat separate.

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If such environmental laws continue to be made, and businesses become aware of the many advantages of triple bottom line accounting, there may be an increasing desire on the part of businesses to present environmental data and information to a range of different stakeholders, suh as: customers, shareholders, employees, banks, insurers, media/public As arguments around climate change in the media start to reflect the majority scientific view that it is caused by humans (Boyce and Lewis, 2009), customers may become more environmentally aware. A business that can communicate with them more effectively about their environmental awareness may start to have a more significant competitive advantage.

Climate change is reported in the UK media with increasing frequency, as the information graphic showing some of Boyce & Lewis’ data shows (see Figure 5).

To satisfy business’ (and other organisations’) need to communicate how they are responding to environmental threats, consultancies such as CarbonVisuals have appeared. An example of their work is included in Figure 6, which shows the volume of carbon dioxide released by a well-known BBC radio programme in a year. They hope to increase public understanding by relating volumes of carbon emitted to a commonly known object - in this case Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, London. While this is a helpful start, it doesn’t enable the viewer to assess the likely impacts of such a volume on our environment. Also, while lowering carbon emissions is of course a helpful goal, it does not take account of other pollutants, or the impacts of resource use. Reducing carbon emissions should not come at the expense of other environmental degradation.

There are many other pollutants that have an effect on our environment. In terms of air pollution, for example, a crematorium might need to consider the mercury emissions from dental fillings released as a part of their business. Other impacts might be water pollutants from textile dying or land-based pollutants from agricultural business.

Another factor in the outputs from businesses are waste products, and how these transition to landfill or re-use/recycling - both in the course of manufacture and service delivery, and in terms of leading to post-consumer wastes.

Many businesses may also be able to make a positive contribution to the environment in which they operate - with architectural companies leaving wild space to encourage biodiversity, or using renewable energy sources to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Giving stakeholders an idea of how a business is reducing resource use might also feature information on water use. As climate change becomes an increasing problem, more droughts might be expected. Water will therefore be an increasingly valuable resource, and reducing its use correspondingly more important. Also, as the world’s population grows, the finite amount of land available may mean that land use is an increasingly relevant resource to consider.

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An environmental information presentation might also consider the effect of the environmental inputs and outputs of a business (both positive and negative). This may be a way of linking the environmental and social outcomes of a business particularly valuable when a business already has a social motivation/aim.

Design & research plans The PhD design process model presented in Figure 1 needs some adaptation to deal with information graphics that present data on sustainability in businesses.

It was originally developed for information graphics that would be used by health policy-makers, who are already motivated to find information. In the case of green business information, the starting point is communication needs, rather than information needs.

One initial way of researching the communication needs of businesses around communication of sustainability is to look at their public documentation. As well as annual reports that present financial data, many businesses are now producing environmental reports (Business Link 2011). Surveying such reports can certainly show what businesses are communicating, and what they feel that they need to communicate. This information can be supplemented by interviews with those fulfilling the duties of environmental managers within organisations, which will lead to greater understanding of motivations of businesses to engage in environmental reporting. lastly, informal advice and inference from the above studies and existing literature will lead to a description of communication needs in the area.

Once this needs assessment is complete, the information can be used to inform the design of prototype information graphics. These should be made using real data, but are not necessarily produced with automated tools that would be suitable for businesses to use themselves.

One example of a prototype information graphic is shown in Figure 7. This mark represents a business environmental sustainability award, that could be used by businesses to show their environmental strengths in various different criteria. The six segments of the award (representing energy use, land use, carbon emissions, waste management, fossil fuel reductions and water use) could be coloured more strongly for different businesses depending on performance in these different areas. The data for colour coding could be gained by ranking businesses on these six environmental performance categories, based on information obtained from environmental reports.

A second example of a prototype information graphic is shown in Figure 8. The square at the top of the main graphic shows the proportions of different energy types used by a business (according to their supplier). This can be related to the proportions of carbon emissions from the different energy sources at the bottom.

Comparisons to earlier years can be made (represented by the size of the relevant squares to the left of the graphic).

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Prototypes such as these can then be evaluated with research studies. These studies can be performed either to improve and refine the graphics, or to provide evidence of the way in which they work, to convince a specific audience of their benefits. The first kind of study is likely to involve small numbers of participants (David Sless recommends 6-10 people), and a focus on collecting qualitative data.

Methods used are often one-on-one interviews, with a task-based approach, using either a “speak-aloud” or “probing” method of cognitive interviewing (Willis, 1999). For the second type of study, performed to evaluate the effectiveness (or often comparative effectiveness) of information graphics, a larger sample is necessary, with more quantitative data. Web-based methods may be appropriate for this kind of study (Birnbaum, 1999). Measurements that could be used in these studies could include whether a target audience initially notices or reads a graphic (and hence perceived attractiveness may be important). Also, memory of data contained within a graphic could be measured. Lastly, whether understanding and memory of information translates into behaviour change could be measured.

Once a prototype information graphic has been evaluated and refined to a satisfactory level, the final part of the design process is to consider its use and monitoring in a live context. Some visual presentations can be produced by automated tools that could be used by businesses themselves - particularly if it becomes clear that businesses in general, or particular groups of businesses have common communication needs. However, in areas of great variability in terms of communication needs, information graphics may need to be produced on an individual basis, by a design agency specialising in information design, for example. Lastly, in the case of an “award” graphic like that in Figure 7, a single central agency may be responsible for creating the graphics, and sending them for use by businesses.

Once information graphics are used regularly, monitoring studies can show how a graphic is performing in practice, and provide further refinements and recommendations (Sless, 2008).

Conclusion While the project is at an early stage, we have the capacity to produce some detailed design and research work, which will enable us to respond to the communication needs of businesses. We feel that aligning information on sustainability with different business motivations will lead to more environmentally sensitive decisions on their part. It is hoped that this will lead to increased awareness and understanding of the many benefits of environmentally sensitive behaviours in a range of business stakeholders. After all, seeing is believing...

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money, meaning, spirituality and work. clearly see that consuming more does no higher subjective happiness of a person – can even decrease with a rising consumpt

Consumption and Resource Use

Vision

Quality of Life

Our level of consumption outruns by far life. Already today we use far more res continuously consume 30% more than th results, from the destruction of our ecosys - 26 -

daniela pock

Daniela Prock

The 3 big indicators of sustainable development

Daniela How to Communicate Sustainability

What does sustainability mean to us? When we start the discussion about how to communicate sustainability, we first have to reflect where this broadly used term plays a role in our very own lives. Unless we are aware of the relevance of sustainability for our own day to day realities it makes no sense to work out ways of communicating the idea to others. The best way to people’s minds is very often the way through their heart: Taking into account their own life experiences and finding out about the links to the larger issues of society.

Thus, at the beginning of our communication process, we often use a simple and basic question: ARE YOU HAPPY? Our modern lifestyles are not necessarily good for us. Looking at the quality of life, we can take a systematic approach of identifying different dimensions. In our current research, we focus on health, wellbeing, relationships, respect, time, money, meaning, spirituality and work. In each of these dimensions we can clearly see that consuming more does not automatically go hand in hand with a higher subjective happiness of a person–research shows that the quality of life can even decrease with a rising consumption.

Our level of consumption outruns by far what we need for a healthy and happy life. Already today we use far more resources than the earth has to offer - we continuously consume 30% more than the earth can deliver in the long run. The results, from the destruction of our ecosystems to socio-psychological implications, all play together in decreasing our objective and subjective quality of life.

In our research, we work on the hypothesis that sustainable lifestyles lead to a higher quality of life, now and in the future.

Looking closer at the different dimensions of life quality, we can identify a number of problems that come with our currently immense level of resource consumption: In the field of work, for instance, we see a rising speed and intensity of work, due to the aim of earning more money in order to consume more.

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This leads to a higher number of people affected by stress and burnout, causing ever rising costs to our health care systems. Seen in this light, consumption appears more like a burden than a blessing–a waste of precious life time and money. In the social dimension of relationships we face a growing isolation, failing families and a problematic approach towards the old and the weak of our societies. Additional- ly, the “too much” of our modern lifestyle is distributed very unequally. The gap between the rich and the poor grows larger, causing additional unrest within our societies. We perceive an alternative lifestyle which differs to our current, fast- paced life as a real way to more life quality and less resource use alike.

The question of decreasing our need for resources is of great importance if we want to sustain a good quality of life for our own future and the future of our children. Our ecosystems, which supply us with food, energy, building material, protection, recreation, identity and much more, are severely threatened by our growing exploitation: The non-renewable resources such as oil will–as their name suggests–run out sooner or later, but also the renewable resources such as wood are limited as we live on a planet having natural limits. The increasing change of land use, such as the deforestation of the rain forests, causes huge amounts of CO2-emmissions–additionally to what we emit through our industries and transport. And finally, one of our most important resources–water–sees an ever increasing usage while more and more countries face a considerable lack of water in times of climate change.

SERI-Set of Indicators To address all these different environmental categories in a scientific approach, SERI has developed a set of five indicators: Carbon Footprint, Land Use, Water-, Abiotic- and Biotic Material Rucksack, In our current research, these indicators are used to assess the different stages of the life cycle of a given product. When we think about the environmental impact of a product, we might first think about the transport–causing high levels of CO2emissions. But to make a full assessment of the impact, the whole life cycle has to be taken into account.

In Austria, the SERI-set of indicators is widely being used by companies of various industries, such as trade, IT or financial institutions. It is applied to different products, ie. furniture, coffee, vegetables or meat. In the annex of this article you can find an exemplary list of SERI’s reference projects.

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Frontpage Indicators for Sustainable Development SERI is currently involved in the process of defining Europe’s new economic strategy–“Europe 2020”. SERI contributes its expertise in several projects related to the flagship initiative “Resource-Efficient Europe”. One of the main concerns is to consider the so called “Big 3” when thinking about the overall development of the EU. Since GDP has failed as sole indicator for the overall progress of a nation, SERI suggests to include two more indicators which should cover the social and the environmental dimension: Quality of Life and Raw Material Consumption. These three indicators are meant to complement each other and therefore allow a more comprehensive understanding of the overall development of the EU. The GDP shows the economic performance of a country during a given period. In the past, it was widely accepted as an indicator for social progress and prosperity, but this approach is now being questioned more and more by academics as well as decision makers.

A person’s quality of life is a combination of objective living conditions and subjective wellbeing. Objective conditions include, for instance, health, education, income, political voice or environmental conditions. Subjective wellbeing is about how people feel about their lives.

The Raw Material Consumption (RMC) refers to all materials which are directly and indirectly used for the production of all goods and services consumed by a given country. It is measured in units of weight (tons) supplied.

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We need to reduce our carbon footprint and at the same time live a fulfilled life. So where are the leverage points?

Which choices or habits of ours lead us to exceed our budget of 100 points a day?

31 for alternatives.

Let’s find out and look

15 km driving a car

2

15 km going by bus

40

0

15 km riding a bike

7

1

www.eingutertag.org

500g grapes, South Africa

500g bananas

www.eingutertag.org

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500g apples

martin strele

Martin Strele & Axel Steinberger Betterday

Martin axel steinberger

Axel

Find out how many points you spend in an average day.

Idea: How much CO2 emission is permissible for each individual and our planet?

How does my lifestyle affect CO2 emission? What kind of lifestyle is good for us?

The new campaign “A good day has 100 points” is intended to make us aware of how our lifestyles, habits and food choices affect CO2 emissions and what the alternatives are.

Outcome: Each human being can afford to emit around 6.8 kg of CO2 each day through their actions and consumer choices, in order to keep our planet and our climate in balance. We convert this amount to 100 points. Each day, each person has 100 points at their disposal.

Our food and consumer choices, our lifestyles, where we live, our energy consumption and our mobility directly and indirectly produce CO2 which is emitted into the atmosphere. Currently in Europe we are living way beyond our means.

Instead of 100 points we spend an average of 450 points per day. We are living beyond our means not just where CO2 emission is concerned. Consuming more does not make us happier; travelling faster and further reduces our quality of life and can make us ill and lonely.

The new campaign “A good day has 100 points” wants to pinpoint where we waste points in our lives and how we can replace those choices and habits with more acceptable and climate-compatible alternatives. This is being done without large funding, extensive adverstising or media presence.

Look for alternatives that use up fewer points.

There are lots of alternatives that use up fewer points. Turning down the heating by one degree, drinking organic rather than conventionally grown coffee, leaving the car in the garage and cycling to work, using energy-efficient electrical appliances, buying locally produced food, sharing a train ride home with friends, a walk in the evening instead of watching TV … and many more.

Make the public aware of good or bad choices, without large scale advertising, billboards or expensive ads. From this website you can order stickers displaying the numbers 0 to 100. Stick them onto low- or high-CO2 items you come across and onto useful alternatives you have identified. www.eingutertag.org

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Results –

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hahn zimmermann

Barbara Hahn / Christine Zimmermann Visualizing Sustainable Development

Barbara

hahn zimmermann

bara

Christine

Christine Using the Example of Sustainable Development in Switzerland Introduction Using the example of the measuring data of sustainable development in Switzerland (MONET)1 this research project2 aimed to develop and evaluate alternative visual representation forms for complex indicator systems. The key research questions from the perspective of knowledge visualization were: 1) What alternative representation forms are suitable for the operationalization, analysis, steering and knowledge transfer of highly complex indicator systems?

2) What alternative representation forms enable an overview of all indicators as well as detailed information about each indicator?

3) What alternative visualization system is suitable for the communication of selected information relevant to a specific target audience?

Using MONET as an example, the aim of this research project was to develop adequate representation forms that make the multilayered, complex and abstract information accessible, communicate it effectively and that can be used as a working tool to explore the underlying data.

Procedure At the beginning all relevant information about the 75 MONET indicators was collected by means of a huge data matrix. Ten aspects such as topic, type, postulate, trend, indicator assessment, etc. built the data structure. Subsequently a structure diagram was drawn, which enabled a rough overview over all contents and moreover showed the relationships and hierarchies within the data set. On the basis of this first content-related mapping the design team Hahn/Meyer/ Zimmermann developed a broad range and variety of different visual concepts.

During the whole research process these visual concepts were constantly discussed and evaluated with the project partners, the external adviser Manuela Pfrunder3 and the project team of the Berne University of the Arts. The visual concepts were continuously enhanced by the design team Hahn/Meyer/Zimmermann. The methods applied in the research project are design-based and derive from the discipline of visual communication, respectively communication design.

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We deliberately didn’t fall back on already existing familiar representation models such as pie charts or bar graphs. By means of a visually conducted and reflected design process and a systematic employment of various graphic design tools we rather developed a wide range of new visual representation forms and systems.

During the visualization process we used the morphological box4 as a creative tool to generate ideas. Thereby the first dimension of the two-dimensional matrix contained possible information carriers (graphical elements, typography, photography, etc.). The second dimension contained almost 25 visual parameters (e.g. size, brightness, opacity/transparency, angle, movement/speed, pattern/structure, etc.). The combination of the potential information carriers and the successive and reflected use of the visual parameters resulted in unusual design drafts and led to an unexpected wide range of different visualization sketches. The method of the morphological box was also used to put individual creative experiences and preferences back in order to systematically explore all possible combinations. The application and combination of individual visual parameters from the morphological box was made full use of by the design team Hahn/Meyer/Zimmermann until no more fundamentally new or different sketches resulted. After having gone through a first individual explorative drafting phase, we used the application of the morphological box to systematize the design process within the team and to exhaust this visual exploration to its limits. Based on the experiences of using the morphological box systematically, a third extensive and again more open design phase followed. The design drafts which evolved from these three drafting phases – the initial and final free design phase and the systematic phase in between– were at first evaluated by the design team Hahn/Meyer/Zimmermann who subsequently pre-selected eight visual concepts. The criteria for the pre-selection referred to the demands already defined at the beginning of the project together with the project partners (overall view without losing detailed information, transparency with regard to the data, readability, comprehensibility, traceability, attractiveness etc.). The eight visual systems were discussed and evaluated together with the project partners before finally three visual concepts were chosen for further elaboration and thorough evaluation. The three selected visualization systems rely on different visual information carriers: two systems are based upon graphical elements (rhomb and circle) and one is based on typography.

Results The entire data of the MONET indicator system was equally visualized by means of the three selected visualization systems (rhomb, circle, typography) with the objective of making the three systems comparable among to each other and to test their usability. The three visualization systems are presented in the form of printed pads (leaflets) in vertical A4 format to flip through–one for each visualization system (see Fig. 1). The structure of the data was applied to the reading chronology and dramaturgy of the pad. The reader starts his reading session with the overview of all 75 indicators (front page), followed by a short introduction - 34 -

to the respective visualization system, sustainable development in general and the MONET system in particular. Afterwards one can find different focus views of indicator groups as follows: A) Themes, B) Questions, C) Key Challenges, D) Postulates and at last E) Indicators–showing the individual indicators with detailed information on the lowest level of the pad. For each level (A–E) the length of the pages differs and thus makes the structure of the pad visible and easy to navigate.

The three visualization systems can be described as follows: Rhomb visualization: Each indicator is represented by a rhomb with a surface area of one square centimetre. Indicators with the same assessment (green=positive/towards sustainability, dark grey=neutral, red=negative/off susVisualizing Indicator Systems, Barbara Hahn and Christine Zimmermann (greenID, Vienna, 01.07.2011) tainability, light grey=not applicable) are being combined–which means that the rhomb is expanding proportionally to the number of represented indicators. The The three visualization systems can be described as follows: four differently coloured rhombs are arranged around a common center (see Fig. Rhomb visualization: Each indicator is represented by a rhomb with a surface area of one square 2).

Typographical visualization: The indicators are represented by horizontal lines, centimetre. Indicators with the same assessment (green=positive/towards sustainability, dark which are laid upon another and inserted within typography.

Acombined line with grey=neutral, red=negative/off sustainability, light grey=not applicable) are being – the line which means thatmillimetre the rhomb is respectively expanding proportionally to theone number of represented indicators. width of one represents indicator.

Hence the size of The four differently coloured rhombs areto arranged around a of common center (see 2). the typography is proportional the number indicators thatFig. it contains and Typographical visualization: The indicators are represented by horizontal lines, which are laid thus for example shows how many indicators a specific topic relates to (see Fig. upon another and inserted within typography. A line with the line width of one millimetre 3). respectively represents one indicator. Hence the size of the typography is proportional to the Circle indicator one circle.

Circular rings–in number visualization: of indicators that itEach contains and thus is forrepresented example showsby how many indicators a specific topic relates to (see Fig. 3). five-year intervals from the centre (1950) to the exterior (2008)–show since when Circle visualization: Each indicator is represented by one circle. Circular rings – in five-year an indicator has been measured. The colouring and line width of the circular intervals from the centre (1950) to the exterior (2008) – show since when an indicator has been rings show the assessment of an indicator at a specific point in time. If multiple measured. The colouring and line width of the circular rings show the assessment of an indicator indicators are in being the same time, the at circle is accordingly into at a specific point time. Ifshown multipleat indicators are being shown the same time, the circledevised is accordingly devised into sectors, each sector representing indicator (see Fig. 4). sectors, each sector representing one indicatorone (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 2–4: View of the 12 MONET themes within the three different visualization systems (rhomb, typography, circle)

Evaluation Evaluation In fourinterviews interviews with experts from four fields application the three In four with experts from four possible fieldspossible of application the of three visual systems were finally evaluated.

In terms of aevaluated. qualitative probability the selection probability of the experts samvisual systems were finally In termssampling of a qualitative aimed to maximize the variance perspectives.

Accordingly, expertsthe fromvariance four possible pling the selection of the ofexperts aimed to maximize of perspecapplication areas such as policy, administration, education and public relation/media were tives. Accordingly, experts from four possible application areas such as policy, included. The qualities which were questioned in the interviews were the already mentioned main requirements such as overall view without losing detailed information, fast orientation, comprehensibility, etc.

At the beginning of the interview each- 35 visualization system was shortly introduced by one of the project leaders. The subsequent interview, which was carried out by the sociologist Harald

administration, education and public relation/media were included. The qualities which were questioned in the interviews were the already mentioned main requirements such as overall view without losing detailed information, fast orientation, comprehensibility, etc.

At the beginning of the interview each visualization system was shortly introduced by one of the project leaders. The subsequent interview, which was carried out by the sociologist Harald Klingemann, was split in two parts. In the first experimental and hands-on part the interview partners had to work with the visualization pads. They had to solve concrete problems and tasks and answer specific questions with the aid of the visualization pads. The method of ‘Thinking Aloud’5 was used within this interview part in order to gain insights into what the interview partners are thinking while they are working with the visualizations, where they face problems and where there are uncertainties in understanding.

In this part of the interview the aim was to examine how good and practical the visualization prototypes function as a working tool.

Furthermore we observed with which visualization pad the interview partners preferred to answer the questions and how they worked with it. The second part of the interview–more in terms of a classical interview–consisted of nineteen interview questions by means of which the interview partners assessed the different visualization systems with regard to various requirements and compared the systems among to each other. Within this part the interview partners also had the possibility to assess the application potential of the different visualization systems.

The whole interview sessions were recorded on video and subsequently evaluated by the sociologist. It was important for the evaluation that we did not only have the comments and answers of the interview partners but also their body language, gestures and facial expression. The evaluation offers several starting points for the further development and assessment of the different visualization systems. The experimental part of the evaluation (the exercises and tasks) raised unexpected views and responses which had not been considered within the design process for the time being. It became apparent that alternative visualization systems can only find more acceptance by a close and coherent reference to the user preferences. Finally the evaluation brought up clear indications that the further benefit of alternative visualizations lies in this case more in the field of a broad public audience than in the professional one. For the latter the reduction of complexity arouses suspicion about a possible manipulation of the data and is at the best suitable for a didactic tool to uncover conceptual weaknesses within the data basis.

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Conclusion From the perspective of the design research process the evaluation led to valuable and partially unexpected findings–such as the almost unanimous refusal of the typographical visualization. In contrast to our initial assumption that typography could provide a good and transparent access to a complex visualization system, the interviewed experts evidently preferred the more abstract and graphical representation forms of rhomb and circle. We assume that the interview partners primarily perceived the meaning of the written word, and were thereby distracted so that they were not able to see the pictured information until a second viewing.

Additionally it could be the case that they expected more pictorial visualizations because of our previous briefing and hence were disappointed about the typographical system which is based on an already well known element (typography).

As we got some positive feedback to the typographical visualization from other persons we should consider that the obvious dislike of the typographical visualization within our small focus group could possibly result from individual preferences or reading habits. In any case these findings concerning the typographical visualization have prompted us to fundamentally reflect on the application of typographical visualization and the advantages and disadvantages over abstract and graphic representation models.

Some of the feedback of the interview partners regarding specific and concrete improvements of the three visualization systems has already been partially considered and tested during the design process by the team Hahn/Meyer/Zimmermann. The feedback shows that it makes sense to include experts and external feedback in the design process, as they can essentially contribute to the improvement and informative value of a design draft.

Basically the findings of the research process and the repeated presentation of the visualization systems to the project partner again and again brought up content-related questions about the data and the construction of the indicator system itself. For example the question if the number of the MONET indicators is too big or how to deal with the fact that different topics consist of different numbers of indicators–thus causing an unintentional emphasis.

The visualizations may not have provided effective new knowledge about individual indicators to the project partners, but they delivered new insights into existing connections and clearly revealed problems of the MONET structure. The visualizations thus enable us–beyond the graphically conducted knowledge transfer of the contents of the MONET indicator system–to trigger a critical thought process about the indicator system itself.

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2010 —

Low2No

Check, Compare, Act We identified core tasks a smart meter must enable:

Check personal energy consumption information (raising awareness and understanding of real-time consumption); Compare personal consumption with peers, past behaviours, goals, patterns and trends, and comparisons between similar offerings; Act to control consumption, through interactions offering personalised real-time tips and the ability

People need clear, quickly understandable information, visualized in a way that makes sense to them.

Ability to compare behaviors, products, services, etc. to averages and goals.

Build from short-term to long-term changes.

to program and modify household settings.

Designed by ExperientiaÂŽ

31

Low carbon lifestyles Engaging people in reducing energy consumption Jan-Christoph Zoels

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staff jan-christoph

Jan-Christoph

Jan- Christoph Zoels Smart Meters

Using the Example of Sustainable Development in Switzerland

Smart meters must help people to translate energy information into behavioural change. Experientia is creating a framework for advanced smart meter design, which aggregates real-time energy consumption information, billing, savings tips, and social networking, in a people-centred device that encourages behavioural change. Smart meters should offer the ability to: check personal energy consumption information (raising awareness and understanding of real-time consumption); compare personal consumption with peers, goals, patterns and trends, and comparisons between similar offerings; and act to control consumption, through interactions offering personalised real-time tips, the ability to program and modify household settings and so on.

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will protect individuals’ agency and ensure that our work is respected and valued.

For this reason, I developed five core ethical principles for the designer’s roadmap, stating that design for behavior change should be transparent, empowering, caring, open-minded, and humble. In writing these principles, I was inspired by Emily Pilloton’s “Designer’s Handshake” (Pilloton 2009, 29); the guidelines I have developed, however,

Image 1: Sample observation page Observation Defining

Findings from my research studies Discovering

Framing

Crafting

Encouraging

Education encourages learning and choice

People often have trouble connecting their personal actions with their effects on the ecosystem Environmentally responsible behavior change is often difficult because we don’t see the effects of our behavior on the earth, and our actions have delayed effects. This makes designing for eco-friendly behavior change especially challenging. We can try to overcome this by illustrating how people’s actions affect the environment, through images, stories, diagrams, or by tracking someone’s behavior for a period of time.

What I learned in my research

During a two-week study in which participants tracked their bottled water consumption, people were often surprised to realize how much bottled water they drank. Increasing their awareness seemed to help prime them for behavior change.

In other studies, people expressed apathy about environmental issues because they couldn’t relate the problems to their own personal actions.

“I think it’s wonderful to be ‘green’ but it’s hard to imagine the exact effects that we are having on the world if you can’t physically see it every day.”

—Journal study participant

“...things that are ‘out of sight’ tend to be ‘out of mind.’”

—Gardner & Stern, page 235

How can you put this into practice?

Where can you find out more?

I

Try to show people how their habits and behaviors affect the environment

Gardner, Gerald T., and Paul C. Stern. “Human Reactions to Environmental Hazards: Perceptual and Cognitive Processes.” In Environmental Problems and Human Behavior, 205–252. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996.

E B

Try tracking people’s behavior to increase their awareness of their personal habits

Slovic, Paul, Baruch Fischhoff, and Sarah Lichtenstein, “Rating the Risks,” Environment 21, no. 3 (April 1979): 14–20, 36–30.

Application ideas

Resources

Page 18

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shirey

Jennifer Shirey “Creating Campaigns that Encourage Behavior Change for Environmental Issues: a Designer’s Roadmap” Jennifer

By Jennifer Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, School of Design Advisor: Stacie Rohrbach, Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, School of Design

Introduction Designing for behavior change is a popular topic today. Nonprofits, governmental agencies, and other organizations often use communication materials, such as posters, websites, and videos, to encourage action. When creating communication materials for environmental issues, designers commonly take an educational approach, in the hope that increasing awareness will convince audiences to change their behavior. In May 2011, I completed my yearlong master’s thesis project at Carnegie Mellon University. In my research studies, I encouraged individuals to change their habits related to environmental issues. I used an educational approach, in part because of my background in communication design, but also because I believed that this approach was inherently more ethical than some of the other persuasive tactics that I came across.

At the same time, I remained realistic about the limits of an educational approach. Studies in psychology, for example, show that education and communication achieve behavior change only in certain situations—when people are unaware of the problem, when the behavior is easy to do, or when the barriers to change are low (Gardner and Stern 1996). Fortunately, researchers in environmental psychology have written helpful guidelines for designing successful educational campaigns (Bator and Cialdini 2000; Gardner and Stern 1996; National Research Council 2002). Yet the fact remains that many designers who create such campaigns remain unaware of these resources.

The design problem A knowledge gap exists between those who design campaigns for environmental issues and those who study the effects of these campaigns. This gap leads to two problems. First, because designers are unaware of relevant research from psychology and other fields, they often use methods that have already been shown to be ineffective, and the resulting campaigns do not reach their full potential. And second, the knowledge that exists has not been aligned to the human-centered design process, and is therefore not accessible to designers in a way that resonates with them.

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“Creating Campaigns that Encourage Behavior Change: A Designer’s Roadmap”

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actual case studies. This could be accomplished by recruiting designers to use the roadmap while creating their own campaigns, and would provide crucial feedback on how the roadmap functions during actual use. A few testers also mentioned a desire for instructions on design research methods, or at what stage in the process certain methods should be used. More research would need to be done to determine whether such instructions would add value to the roadmap or would result in an overwhelming amount of content.

Overall, the designer’s roadmap has received positive feedback, and has been perceived as useful, usable, and desirable. The graduate students who tested the book found it visually attractive, easy to read, and reassuring in tone.

CONCLUSION: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD

This project provides a much-needed resource for designers. A great deal of practical, in-depth knowledge on behavior change and environmental issues exists, and designers simply need to be connected to it. In pointing toward resources in environmental and cognitive psychology, decision sciences, persuasive technology, and design, I hope my roadmap to designing for behavior change will help to close this knowledge gap.

In addition, I urge designers to seek out practitioners and researchers in other fields and work in an interdisciplinary manner. Just as designers can learn a great deal from those in other fields, we also have much to offer through our expertise in humancentered design. My ultimate desire is that the designer’s roadmap will help us to use communication to empower individuals with knowledge, encouraging people to begin - 42 and sustain a journey toward positive behavior change.

Works Cited Bator, Renee J., and Robert B. Cialdini.

2000. “The Application of Persuasion Theory to the Development of Effective Proenvironmental Public Service Announcements.” Journal of Social Issues 56(3): 527-541.

Gardner, Gerald T., and Paul C. Stern.

1996. Environmental Problems and Human Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

National Research Council. 2002.

New Tools for Environmental Protection: Education, Information, and Voluntary Measures. Edited by Thomas Dietz and Paul C. Stern. 1st ed. Washington DC: National Academy Press.

Pilloton, Emily. 2009. “Introduction: Design Can Change the World.”

In Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People. 2nd ed.

New York, NY: Metropolis Books.

Design opportunities and project goals While working on this thesis project, I felt strongly that if designers could be connected with a wide variety of relevant knowledge, they would be better equipped when creating campaigns aimed at behavior change. My goal, therefore, was to develop a resource for people who design campaigns that also helps to bridge the gaps between disciplines.

Although I was especially interested in bridging the knowledge gap between design and environmental psychology, I also looked at insights from the fields of cognitive psychology, decision sciences, and persuasive technology. I applied insights from these fields to my own research studies, during which I looked at how various components of communication pieces affected study participants’ willingness to change their habits.1 In the end, I combined my study findings and other relevant research into a book: Creating Communications for Environmental Issues: a Designer’s Roadmap to Encouraging and Enabling Behavior Change.

A design roadmap The book is written for communication designers who create educational campaigns. Those who are less familiar with design are pointed to resources where they can learn more about human-centered design methods. Although the designer’s roadmap focuses on behavior change specific to environmental issues, it might be helpful for other types of behavior change as well. In it are three distinct types of content: ethical principles, observations and application ideas, and points of entry and evaluation.2 1. Ethical principles for designing for behavior change Since beginning this project, I was concerned with the ethical nature of persuasion. I came to the conclusion that, in order to practice ethical design, we must be diligent about preserving audiences and users’ agency, allowing them to learn and make educated choices. If, on the other hand, we hide our intentions or discourage learning, we risk leading people to act in a way that they would not choose for themselves. The design for behavior change movement is in need of a set of ethical guidelines that will protect individuals’ agency and ensure that our work is respected and valued. For this reason, I developed five core ethical principles for the designer’s roadmap, stating that design for behavior change should be transparent, empowering, caring, open-minded, and humble. In writing these principles, I was inspired by Emily Pilloton’s “Designer’s Handshake” (Pilloton 2009, 29); the guidelines I have developed, however, are specific to behavior change.

The designer’s roadmap gives examples of each principle, and I encourage other designers to commit to these guidelines in their own practice.

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2. Observations and Application Ideas During my research studies and literature review, I came across many aspects of human behavior, emotion, and cognition that have potential implications for design. For this reason, each page of the designer’s roadmap is structured around an observation (Image 1). Guiding observations apply to one or more phases of the design process. Each observation is briefly explained, using details from my own thesis research studies when applicable under “Personal Observations.” To ensure that the book does not remain merely theoretical, the bottom of the page also includes application ideas, or practical tips to spark action, under “How can you put this into practice?” Finally, a section titled “Where can you find out more?” helps to bridge the knowledge gap by pointing designers to research in other fields that they might otherwise overlook. Each observation and application idea is color-coded according to the subject that it best represents: context; emotions, beliefs, and values; knowledge and information; or behaviors (Image 2). This gives designers another useful way to access the information.

3. Points of Entry and Evaluation The book is structured according to five major phases in a typical humancentered design process. Using this process as an organizing structure provides common ground for those familiar with design. In order to facilitate mindful transitions from one phase to the next, points of entry and evaluation are located at the beginning and end of each section. Point-of-entry pages contain content to keep in mind during that particular design phase, as well as resources for those who are less familiar with design. Evaluation pages contain key questions to help readers decide if they are ready to move on to the next design phase (Image 3).

Image 4 depicts the structure of the information contained in the book. The diagram’s circular form emphasizes its openness and non-prescriptive nature.

The phases of the design process form the outer ring. In actuality, of course, the design process is not as clean or straightforward as it is depicted here. Thus, the points of entry provide flexibi- lity, allowing a designer to use the roadmap for a particular phase, or to create his or her own unique route. The form of the circle also shows hierarchy, in that the rings closer to the center contain more overarching components than those farther away. Ethical principles, for example, are located at the circle’s core, to show that they are essential to the entire process, while the more situation-specific application ideas are farther out.

Feedback and areas for further expolration In April 2011, I tested the book with four graduate students from Carnegie Mellon’s Master of Design program, and received feedback from design faculty members during a poster presentation. I then made changes to the book to improve its usability. As this is a first draft of the roadmap, there is certainly room for further exploration. For example, several of my testers expressed a desire to see success stories from actual case studies.

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This could be accomplished by recruiting designers to use the roadmap while creating their own campaigns, and would provide crucial feedback on how the roadmap functions during actual use. A few testers also mentioned a desire for instructions on design research methods, or at what stage in the process certain methods should be used. More research would need to be done to determine whether such instructions would add value to the roadmap or would result in an overwhelming amount of content.

Overall, the designer’s roadmap has received positive feedback, and has been perceived as useful, usable, and desirable. The graduate students who tested the book found it visually attractive, easy to read, and reassuring in tone.

Conclusion: Contributions to the field This project provides a much-needed resource for designers. A great deal of practical, in-depth knowledge on behavior change and environmental issues exists, and designers simply need to be connected to it. In pointing toward resources in environmental and cognitive psychology, decision sciences, persuasive technology, and design, I hope my roadmap to designing for behavior change will help to close this knowledge gap.

In addition, I urge designers to seek out practitioners and researchers in other fields and work in an interdisciplinary manner. Just as designers can learn a great deal from those in other fields, we also have much to offer through our expertise in human- centered design. My ultimate desire is that the designer’s roadmap will help us to use communication to empower individuals with knowledge, encouraging people to begin and sustain a journey toward positive behavior change.

1For more information, please see my thesis document, “Designing for Behavior Change: Identifying Design Components that Encourage and Empower Individuals to Act in Environmentally Responsible Ways,” available in the Carnegie Mellon University library, or write to email@jennifershirey.com to request a copy.

Works Cited: Bator, Renee J., and Robert B. Cialdini. 2000. “The Application of Persuasion Theory to the Development of Effective Proenvironmental Public Service Announcements.” Journal of Social Issues 56(3): 527-541.

Gardner, Gerald T., and Paul C. Stern. 1996. Environmental Problems and Human Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

National Research Council. 2002.

New Tools for Environmental Protection: Education, Information, and Voluntary Measures. Edited by Thomas Dietz and Paul C. Stern. 1st ed. Washington DC: National Academy Press.

Pilloton, Emily. 2009. “Introduction: Design Can Change the World.”

In Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People. 2nd ed.

New York, NY: Metropolis Books.

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arlene

Arlene Birt Narrative Information Design

Arlene A visual narrative approach to information design for the communication of sustainability

As a ‘visual storyteller,’ artist and design educator, I am fascinated by the idea that we are endlessly tied to the world through the things we consume. Small, seemingly inconsequential actions populate our every-day, and yet the intricate life stories of these interactions are hidden from the eyes of their present consumer. By bringing attention to details of the background narratives of objects and ideas, my intent is to inspire consumers to understand how their everyday choices impact global environment and society.

As adjunct faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design sustainability program, I also work with students to develop ways to ‘visualize’ sustainability– concentrating on the technical Life Cycle Analysis (LCA).

I presented research and techniques for communicating sustainability; demonstrating how a visually-compelling story can present complex sustainability data in an approachable, layered format that can act as a tool for consumer education.

Examples came from a variety of resources, including how I use some of these techniques for clients, with students and in creative practice.

More information can be found on http://www.backgroundstories.com

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michael hardt

Michael

Michael B. Hardt Sustainability what?

We should stop calling styling design.

We are living in a time of well sounding empty word bubbles. In their attempt to make the normal look special, the advertisement industry exaggerates in inventing new or misusing meaningful terms and often crosses the line between truth and lie. The on- off switch on a coffee machine mutates into the manual power supply device, a shop becomes a mega store and a stylish product is declared as design innovation. This bad habit of violating the language spreads like a disease and the term sustainability became one of the latest victims.

What for heaven‘s sake is sustainable design?

What is sustainability, what is design?

Are we talking about designed sustainability or design being sustainable? I want to try to find an answer. Let us start with the term sustainability: Every organism on this planet is egoistic. In front it digs a hole and on its back it leaves a heap without giving a thought about eco- friendly sustainable behaviour. This would be a disaster, if every single organism would not be an integrated woven nod within a sustainable network, simplified expressed as link of a food chain. We call this network nature. The space between the nods describes the limits of each organism. The human race was the first and so far only species which successfully managed to expand the limited space by designing an artificial network called culture.

Culture is the artificially designed supply circle in addition to nature. It is a survival strategy within nature. The permanent fight of survival happened in respect with nature, never against nature. The powerful means of technology mankind happened to invent especially in the last 300 years gave the false idea that the human race dominates nature. This had the devastating side effect that the cultural circle increasingly detached from the natural circle. But culture is a suicidal strategy without nature.

Now we are left with two options: 1.

The human species returns to sustainable behaviour and reconnects the artificial with the natural circle.

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2.

As the artificial circle cannot survive without the natural circle, it will collapse and the human race will die out like the dinosaurs.

In a conflict between nature and culture, nature will always win. Nature can live without culture, culture cannot live without nature.

Ancient societies were fully aware of the connection between the natural and the cultural circle. „Ars imitatur Naturam“, a quote designated to Aristotle, never meant that a painter should copy nature. Art in the ancient understanding did not mean fine art but artificially produced. Imitate did not mean copy, but to take as example. In other words: Culture has to respect and take nature as archetype.

And the lord GOD took the man and placed him into the Garden of Eden, to cultivate and sustain it.1 There is no old religion without a warning that it is a sin to disrespect nature. Today it would make sense to read the story of Adam and Eve in Paradise the other way round: Not the first but the last human beings live in paradise. We plugged the forbidden fruit and now we are about to be kicked out.

We like to blame politicians for a lack of visionary activity, but in case of sustainabil- ity we are simply not fair. The United Nations have been dealing with it since dec- ades and there are several resolutions about those matters such as Resolution 42/187 from 1986 where sustainability is defined: Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the abilities of future generations to meet their own needs2.

The Brundtland Report also clearly defines the requirements for planning processes: Integrating environmental, social and economic requirements in every planning process.

Accepting global responsibility for environmental effects outside areas of jurisdiction.

Decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation.

Intergenerational equity–providing future generations with the same environmental potential as presently exists.

Preventing irreversible longterm damage to ecosystems and human health.

Ensuring environmental adaptability and resilience–maintaining and enhancing the adaptive capacity of the environmental system.

Ensuring distribution equity–avoiding unfair or high environmental costs on vulnerable populations.

We have to admit that even 25 years later only in very rare and exceptional cases not even one of those requirements is fulfilled in the average design process. This in fact permits the question, if design, the way we practice it today, is design at all.

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So what is design?

The Nobel laureate Herbert Simon defined in 1969 correspondingly: Design devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.3 Following this definition were the first courses of action to create the cultural circle actions of design. Today the entirely marketing oriented design process pockets the design and steals from the designer the ability to think and act visionary along an ethically funded system of values.4 Design degenerated to become pure styling to serve the madness of the new and superficial vanity.

Marketing per se is ethical blind5.

How can those who claim to be able to see accept the points of view of the blind? Design is to plan the inner function of the outer form, or, like John Hesket defines: Design is to design the design of a design.6 Most of what is called design today is nothing but styling of the outer form. The clearest indicator for this misunderstanding of design is the fact that aesthetics are totally overruling ethics.

So what is sustainable design?

There is no such thing as sustainable design. If design is a course of action to transfer existing situations into preferred ones and an unsustainable situation can never be a preferred situation , design is sustainable per se. The term sustainable design im- plements the existence of unsustainable design.

There is no such thing as unsustainable design. If it is not sustainable, it is not design. it is in best case styling.

So sustainable design is a nonsense term.

We should stop talking about sustainable design but make sure that we act sustainably in order to make sure that we really design and don‘t just style or decorate. We should stop calling styling design.

If we can design our way into difficulty, we can design our way out.

JOHN THACKARA, in the Bubble, 2005

Michael B. Hardt Founding member of IIID, former chairman of BEDA, the Bureau of European Designers Associations, former Vice- President of ICOGRADA, the International Council of Graphic Designers Associations, guest professor and doctorate researcher at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi Finland.

1 Genesis 2.15 (hebr. abad: to use and cultivate - shamar: conserve, care for, protect, sustain).

2 BRUNDTLAND REPORT „Our Common Future“ welcomed 1986 by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 42/187 published by Oxford University Press in 1987.

3 HERBERT SIMON, the Science of the Artificial, 3rd edition 1996, p111, MIT 4 EICKHOFF AND TEUNEN, Form:Ethik 5 PETER ULRICH, Institut für Wirtschaftsethik, Hochschule St. Gallen 6 JOHN HESKETT; Design–a very short introduction S.3, Oxford University Press, 2002.

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Theory of Planned Behaviour

(Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980)

What do I think of the outcome, and how likely is it to happen?

Attitudes

What would my friends and other people I admire do?

Subjective norm

Behavioural intention

Behaviour

Can I complete Perceived the behaviour or behavioural have an effect on control the outcome?

Fig.2

Perceived behavioural control – can I do it?

Fig.2

Perceived behavioural control – can I do it?

Source: transportdirect.info

Fig.3

Precontemplation

(not thinking about change)

Problem awareness raising information campaigns eg petrol is expensive Contemplation

Stages of Change Model

(thinking about change)

Motivations an benefits to make a change: cost and time savings, environmental protection Preparation

(after Prochaska and Diclemente, 1982)

Practical information – training, skill development Action

(making changes)

Feedback on behaviour, reflection, support Maintenance

(continuing with new behaviour)

Relapse

(reverting to old behaviour)

Fig.4 - 52 -

To avoid this, rewards and continued support

karen

Karen Stanbridge Key theories from psychology on behaviour change - where can information designers contribute?

Karen This paper runs through three popular theories of behaviour change from psychology, and highlights the key areas within these where information designers might have something to contribute to behaviour change campaigns.

Introduction In the battle for sustainability, changing behaviours is a stark necessity. Technological improvements cannot keep up with the demand for energy use or other dwindling resources. To be ‘greener’ we have to change our travel patterns, household energy use, waste generation and other such behaviours. Some people are more willing to change than others but regardless of this, changes are needed and we need help to make them.

Psychology has a wealth of experience and research knowledge for encouraging all types of behaviour change. A key part of any behaviour change campaign is information, although it is certainly not the only vital ingredient (Stern, 2011).

People need information on what to change, why they should change, and how to do it. Information designers’ skill is in conveying information in a clear, engaging and understandable way. There is clearly a need for information design in behaviour change campaigns, but what areas provide the best opportunity for its contribution?

This paper runs briefly through three of the most widely used psychology theories relating to behaviour change. These are the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the Stages of Change Model, and Social Dilemmas. These theories have each been chosen because of their popularity, widespread use, and because each of them calls for slightly different contributions and uses of information. In the paper I will highlight areas where these theories suggest there could be useful contributions from information designers. In the process I also hope to better equip information designers with some understanding of what psychologists are trying to achieve through information use, and to include guidance on some of the pitfalls to avoid that are identified in these theories.

Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) The Theory of Planned Behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1980) is one of the most widely used behaviour models, largely because the limited number of criteria involved makes it straightforward in use. The model is illustrated in Figure1.

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It states that a person’s intended behaviour (behavioural intention) is predicted by by three things: the individual’s attitudes towards the outcomes they expect from the behaviour; the individual’s beliefs about what others will think if they complete the behaviour (subjective norm); and finally, their beliefs about whether they are able to complete the behaviour or not (perceived behavioural control).

According to the model, changes to any of these three predictors could result in changes to behavioural intention, and so result in behaviour change.

Attitude change (the first element leading to a behavioural intention) has received a lot of attention in both research and in practise, including from designers. Useful summaries exist (Wood, 2000) and so it is not necessary to discuss it in detail here. It is however useful to remind ourselves that research has shown that attitudes are actually often weak predictors of behaviour (Eagly and Chaiken, 1995). Despite this, attitude change is vitally important for creating public acceptability for policies (e.g. laws, charges), which can then encourage change in behaviour.

People are social animals and are generally more likely to behave in ways they think others, particularly their peers, would approve of–this is behaving in accordance with social norms (the second element leading to a behavioural intention). People can take cues from many places about what is normal for ‘people like me’ or ‘people who are important to me’ in a given situation. These cues can often be visual. It is therefore important to ensure the behaviour being promoted appears normal to the target audience in any images selected. Promoting cycling as a mode of travel using only pictures of lycra-clad professionals, or even images of children cycling, is unlikely to make non-cycling adults feel it would be normal for them, or something their peers would approve of. Images are a strong way of creating associations; so showing people cyclists dressed normally but safely, rather than all in lycra perpetuates it as a normal activity.

Perceived behavioural control (the third element of the model) is explicitly about whether the individual believes they can complete the behaviour or not, rather than an objective view of whether they can actually do it. If someone believes they cannot, they are unlikely to try, or form any intention to do so. This is an area where clear and well-designed information has the potential for substantial impact. Recent work by Song and Schwarz (2010) demonstrated that participants predicted a task would take less time and effort to complete if it was described in a clearer font and ‘looked easier’. If it is easy to read, it is perceived as easy to do. This suggests that information presentation not only has an effect on usability, but also on perceived task difficulty, which could be equated with perceived behavioural control.

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The two different public transport journey information examples in Figures 2 and 3 both give information about the same journey, and are both common information types someone planning a public transport journey might obtain. If a person is unfamiliar with using public transport they might be put off by the large array of numbers in Figure 2 (which is a perfectly useful timetable for those with experience). The information in Figure 3 appears easier, giving the impression that using public transport is not so difficult. The level of complexity of information provided is likely to have a significant impact on responses to behaviour change initiatives. Any information involved is likely to be new and unfamiliar to the recipient so it will be important to make the information look straightforward to encourage a positive response to change.

Examination of the Theory of Planned Behaviour has outlined a number of areas where information design can contribute to behaviour change. It is however not always the case that a person will behave how they intend to, as specified in the model. Many things could prevent a plan being acted on, for example habits, constraints of the situation, or emotional reactions. This can be considered a weakness in the model as it only focuses on intended, planned behaviour. Nevertheless it is a popular theory and widely used to structure behaviour change campaigns.

Stages of Change model The Stages of Change model by Prochaska and Diclemente (1982) outlines a series of steps that a person goes though when changing from one stable behaviour to another. It was developed in the field of health promotion and is particularly useful because it identifies that different cognitive processes occur with changes at each step. The model can be used to help us understand the different approaches to behaviour change, including different information requirements, that will be most effective for people to move between different stages of the model.

The model’s stages, and also examples of different approaches required for changing between them, are shown in Figure 4. The model starts where a person is not thinking about changing the behaviour in question at all. To move from this first precontemplation stage requires raising awareness of the problem with their current behaviour through education and attitude change campaigns. To move from thinking about changing to actually preparing for it requires specific motivators to be identified. These could be cost or time savings, or environmental considerations etc. To move from preparation into action requires practical information about what changes to make and how to achieve them, e.g. public transport timetables and cycle route information for someone wanting to reduce their car use. It might also require skill development such as learning how to ride a bike safely. To then convert any attempts or trials an individual initiates to become a maintained, new behaviour, the individual would probably benefit from feedback on their behaviour and rewards, through either self monitoring, time for reflection, or discussion of new ideas. This feedback might need to evolve and continue in order to avoid relapse into the previous behaviour.

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The Stages of Change Model encourages us to think about the mindset of the person receiving the information or behaviour change intervention, in particular, have they thought about changing or not? This is crucial because according to the theory provision of practical, ‘how to’ information to people at earlier stages would be likely to be ignored, as recipients wouldn’t be ready or interested. Conversely, repeatedly telling people of the need to change, when they are already willing to change, but without any ‘how’ information, is likely to produce annoyance and be counterproductive.

Knowing that specific information is required at different stages of change can be extremely valuable for information designers wishing to contribute to behaviour change campaigns. This can lead to segmentation of the audience into different groups with different information needs or wants. Segmentation can be achieved using simple questionnaire statements to identify the stage an individual is at. Alternatively a staged campaign might be considered, starting with problem awareness-raising first and, over time, progressing to practical information. Whatever the chosen approach, the Stages of Change Model highlights the different types of needs of different people.

Social Dilemmas The final theory to be discussed here is that of Social Dilemmas (Hardin, 1968; Messick, 1983). The theory examines the choices people make when faced with choosing between behaving in the long-term interests of the group they are part of, or in their own short-term interests. It is a way of framing a problem situation and examining a simplified version of the underlying problem structure. Research has shown that people react in different ways depending on how the situation is presented to them, so this is another area where information design has potential contributions to make.

One example situation is the choice between car and public transport. For each individual, travelling by private car is quicker and more convenient than using the bus. However, if everyone chooses to drive themselves rather than travel by bus then the roads will soon be very congested, and car travel slower than if some or all had chosen the bus. Similar examples include air pollution, energy usage and global resources. All these situations include a finite resource that can be used up by some individuals and which impacts on others.

In these situations an individual’s behaviour depends on their beliefs about how others will behave. Research has found two key factors that affect these beliefs.

Firstly, the more uncertain the situation, the more people are likely to overestimate the resource available and act in an individualistic manner. Therefore reducing uncertainty by specifying boundaries and informing people of the ‘facts’ of the situation makes cooperative behaviour more likely. Existing solutions to these type of problems often involve passing laws to enforce behaviours or influencing the amount behaviours cost individuals as this is the only proven way to reduce uncertainty about how others in a large group are likely to behave.

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The second highly influential factor is group size. In larger groups people often feel less responsible for the common good and believe that their contribution does not matter. Consequently with problems at a global scale individuals feel only a limited obligation to cooperate. A crucial challenge here is to persuade people that their behaviour can have an effect. Reducing the scale by dividing a large scale dilemma into smaller more manageable parts might be an effective tool in raising cooperation. Emphasising local impacts rather than global ones would be one way to achieve this. Information designers could be involved with finding ways to show the relevance of individuals’ behaviour, such as reducing energy use and other sustainable behaviours, to large scale problems.

Conclusions This paper has examined three popular theories of behaviour from psychology and highlighted areas where information design could have a positive contribution to make to behaviour change for sustainability. It is important that information designers wishing to contribute to this area have some awareness of the theories of behaviour change that have developed within psychology in order to give their contributions the most value. People often do not behave how one would expect in response to information, and psychology has experience and theory to explain why this might be, and allow designers to anticipate responses. There are many more relevant theories than can be discussed in a short paper. However I have highlighted the specific need for including illustrations that are relevant, ensuring new information looks simple rather than overwhelming, taking account of the audience’s receptiveness and need for information, and breaking down global problems so that they seem relevant locally.

I’d like to thank Alison Black and Jeanne-Louis Moys for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

References Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Eagly, A., & Chaiken, S. (1995). Attitude strength, attitude structure and resistance to change. In R. Petty and J. Kosnik (Eds.), Attitude Strength. (pp. 413–432). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, Vol. 162, No. 3859, pp. 1243-1248 Messick, D. M., & Brewer, M. B. (1983). Solving social dilemmas: A review. In L. Wheeler & P. Shaver (Eds.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 11 - 44). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Prochaska, J. O. and C. C. DiClemente (1992). Stages of Change in the Modification of Problem Behaviors. Newbury Park, CA, Sage.

Prochaska, J.O. and C.C. DiClemente (1982). Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change, Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice 20, pp. 161–173.

Song, H. and Schwarz, N. (2010). If it’s easy to read it’s easy to do, pretty, good, and true. The Psychologist, 23(2), 108-111.

Stern, P. (2011). Contributions of psychology to limiting climate change. American Psychologist. 66(4,) pp 303-314.

Wood, W. (2000). “Attitude Change: Persuasion and Social Influence”. Annual Review of Psychology 51: 539–570.

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ANGELSAISON ANGELKARTEN INFOS & GEBÜHREN FÜR FEINSCHMECKER

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still und leise

16. APRIL /15. MAI BIS 30./31. OKTOBER AM ROTTACHSEE, GRÜNTENSEE, STICHER WEIHER FÜR STICHER WEIHER & ROTTACHSEE: TOURISMUSBÜRO, TEL. 0 83 66/2 07 // FÜR GRÜNTENSEE: FISCHERHÜTTE AM GRÜNTENSEE, TEL. 0 83 65/4 44 TOURISMUSBÜRO, TEL. 0 83 66/2 07 // OY-MITTELBERG.DE/DE/ANGELN.HTML KREBS-SAISON AM ROTTACHSEE: AUGUST & SEPTEMBER // SPEISE- UND SATZKREBS-VERKAUF // FISCHEREIVEREIN-ROTTACHSEE.DE

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KREBSFISCH AM ROTTACH

andreas koop

Andreas Koop Casestudy: Oy-Mittelberg

Andreas To be kept in mind.

Our approach: Not only to design the commissioned tourism-brochure than to initiate an overarching sustainable concept for the whole village. How to conserve and increase the quality of life for guests and locals? Which way, the place could takea good development, a positive direction? And how tourism will receive a sustainable dimension? A basis to work in 20 years also successfully. At least: How should look like a brochure, express that all?

The focussing on one topic–in workshops developed in collaboration with the locals. The concentration on something ecological- ly, sustainable and consistently developed: Hiking. And whole year round. This should be visualized authentic, credible, honest and in a very unusal way. Not colorful, in DIN A4, no clichee.

Fotomodels just from the village, Âťreal peopleÂŤ from there. Short texts, honest and a little bit self-critical. Tips and informations, all focussed on the topic hiking, helpful, interesting, surprising. A companion before, during and after the holiday...

In the village itself, the concept was im- mediately accepted. Also the people on trade fairs were fascinated and interested. And even more by receiving the ordered brochure in the recycling-box with fragrant hay. The place now has a guideline of de- velopment, touristic offers also got a clear and sustained focus.

And the guests very like the unconventional brochure.

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The motto of greenID was “1 plus 1 equals more than 2,” and this proved to be true. During the two-day forum, this small group of people was able to grow together, united by a passion for using design to create a greener world. Through this exchange of diverse, unique, and compelling ideas, we were able to envision wider possibilities and gain hope for a brighter future through design. There are first plans for a GreenID 2012 in Rovaniemi, several lectures in London and we look forward to meeting again in Vienna at the next greenID in 2013.

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Im Rahmen des Exchange Forum GreenID wurde die Beziehung von Design und Nachhaltigkeit aus den unterschiedlichsten Blickwinkeln betrachtet. Mit dem Ergebnis: Die beiden scheinen sich gut zu verstehen.

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Mit dem IIID (International Institut for Information Design) beheimatet Wien eine Institution, die Raum für vielschichtige Diskurse zu visueller Kommunikation schafft. Teil davon sind Konferenzen im kleinen Kreis, um sich fokussiert zu speziellen Bereichen von Informationsdesign auszutauschen. Anfang Juli stand unter dem Titel greenID der Bereich des Gestaltens nachhaltiger Mittel und Wege - auch als „green design“ bezeichnet – auf der (Zwei-)Tagesordnung.

Bewusst wird hier die Bezeichnung „nachhaltiges Design“ oder das geläufigere „sustainable design“ vermieden. Michael Hardt zeigte mit seinen Gedankengängen rund um die Formel „Design is to design the design of a design“ (Zitat: John Heskett), dass Design zwangsläufig an das Leben von Produkten nach deren Fertigstellung denkt; und deshalb behauptet er: Es gibt kein nachhaltiges Design, denn Design ist per se nachhaltig. Alles andere ist gedankenloses Oberflächenstyling.

Eindeutig nicht verdient hätte ein solches Prädikat ein Projekt von designgruppe koop. Deren charaktervolle Interpretation eines Tourismusprospekts für Oy-Mittelberg im Allgäu zeigt in vielfacher Weise, wie durchdachte Gestaltung unkompliziert nachhaltige Ergebnisse produziert. Im Zentrum des Prospekts steht das Wandern und Erwandern der Region als unkomplizierte und umweltverträgliche Freizeitaktivität und der zwangsläufige Versand der Touristeninformation wurde „biologisch“ gelöst: Bergheu aus dem Allgäu schützt die Broschüre im Standard-Recycling-Kuvert; was auch Meerschweinchen etwaiger Besucher freut.

Lösungen mit Humor und die indirekte Einbringung nachhaltiger Ideen scheinen keine schlechte Herangehensweise, um einen Anstoß für einen Wandel im Lebensstil zu liefern, der auch angenommen wird.

Direkter aber auch mit Witz nimmt sich das von den Büros Kairos und Integral Ruedi Baur selbstfinanzierte Projekt „Ein guter Tag hat 100 Punkte“ der Thematik an. Hier ist die Botschaft unmittelbar der Vorschlag – um es im Sinne der Gestalter vorsichtig zu formulieren –, sich Gedanken über unseren CO2-verbrauchenden Lebenswandel zu machen. Versucht wird dies mit roten runden Stickern, die Werte von 1 bis 100 tragen. Mit ihnen können dann Güter und Dienstleistungen versehen werden, um zu zeigen, welchen CO2-Verbrauch deren Konsum bedeutet; und ein guter Tag ist es, wenn die Addition dieser Punkte um die 100 ergibt. Nur als Anhaltspunkt: Eine Nacht im Zelt bedeutet 0 Punkte, 10km mit einem SUV schlagen mit 53 Punkten zu Buche (Quelle).

Täglich wird man damit konfrontiert, dass unser Konsum jenseitig ist. Bilder wie der ökologische Fußabdruck werden strapaziert und führen eher dazu, wegzusehen. Kurz ist man ob der Berechnung und der Größe der Füße entsetzt und rechnet dann besser nicht noch ein zweites Mal nach. Gutes Design kann es aber schaffen, eine

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The_Gap The_Gap Es gibt da übrigens eine Liste wo man das The Gap Magazin bekommt: http://t.co/Wa86Ysau. Wobei Abo: urbillig: http://t.co/vio8leG0 16 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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GefÜrdert aus Mitteln der Stadt Wien durch die ZIT – Die Technologieagentur der Stadt Wien GmbH, ein Unternehmen der Wirtschaftsagentur Wien.