PLASTIC CONSTITUTES APPROXIMATELY
90 PERCENT
OF ALL TRASH ON THE OCEAN’S SURFACE
100,000
M A R I N E CREATURES
DIE FROM PLASTIC ENTANGLEMENT PER YEAR IN 2014 PERCENT OF WASTE
35 RECYCLED
PERCENT
OUT OF 258 MILLON TONS
“ How can we encourage people to recycle their waste?
Pandoraʼs Box provides a healthy amount of guilting you into doing the right thing. Itʼs cute and fun but also conveys its point clearly and explicitly, and it makes you want to do better.
ABSTRACT
”
Pandoraʼs Box is a motion triggered device which interacts visually with users through impactful representation, using artwork and lighting, depicting the devastation to ocean wildlife caused by plastic pollution. To mitigate such problems, many design solutions focus on the removal of contamination. However, it is supported that public awareness drives change in plastic use behavior from personal habits to institutional policies, and that prevention is more effective than attempting to remove plastic that has already entered the ocean. Pandoraʼs Box focuses on environmental communicators that translate understanding about the issue into instant, habitual action. Specifically, by using a lighting signal accompanied by explicit negative depiction, the design motivates the users to make the judgement to recycle rather than throw recyclables in the landfill, and raises awareness about a global issue while bringing it closer to home and allowing the user to empathize with something they may not be able to directly observe. Pandoraʼs Box may be used to propel a movement towards the reduction of plastic going into landfills, significantly reducing the amount of plastic ending up in the ocean.
THE DESIGN Servo that makes the whale move
Pandoraʼs Box is placed above a garbage bin. When the bin is approached, a motion sensor is activated, illuminating an underwater scene including a moving whale, jellyfish, and floating trash. The purpose of this is to draw the userʼs attention to the scene and to their actions, having them observe the consequeces of their behavior on the environment, and choose instead to put their plastic garbage in the recycling bin instead of mindlessly tossing it in the landfill.
LED light from below Motion sensor
LittleBits assembly inside
1. Box is activated when approached
USER RESEARCH We administered a focus survey to a group of four people regarding our second prototype, asking about the following aspects of our design. After our third prototype, we performed a delphi study on a panel of five experts, collecting information about the same aspects of our design.
DESIGN OUTCOME After conducting our focus survey, the general feedback led us to modify our original scenes. The scenes in our previous prototype did not effectively convey our message of ocean pollution, so we made the scenes more explicit, adding more floating plastic. We also increased visual interest by creating a moving whale incorporating flashing lights. We found that users liked the overall design of the box, but wanted it to be more attenion grabbing and explicit in its message. We also originally had both a positive and negative feedback component for the box, which, after gathering user feedback, we decided to incorporate into just one response.
2. Box alerts user of actions
3. User chooses to recycle plastic
Focus Survey Results 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
Delphi Study Results 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0
First Impression
Intention Achievement
Overall Graphics
Visual Communication
Device Irrelevancy
0.0
First Impression
Intention Achievement
DEA2730•HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN METHODS Design + Environmental Analysis Maya Kumaran mk963, Y Pham yp336 Hyerin Lee hl976, Audrey Tirtohadiguno amt268
Overall Graphics
Visual Communication
Device Irrelevancy