Brief 06:
Life with Energy
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy
Life with Energy: Brief Overview Brief
Concept
Audience
Produce an information pack for first time buyers about how to save energy and money within the household.
The concept of the information pack is firstly to inform the audience about various ways of saving energy within the home. This will be done through informative information and the use of simple but bold infographic illustrations. These illustrations will run throughout all the products of the information pack and make it more engaging to read and to understand.
The audience is first time home owners, that need to learn the knowledge about saving energy and energy suppliers in general. The age bracket is open as anyone can be a new home owner.
Design a range of products to for the information pack. This should be aimed at life within the home and should identify ways in which homeowners can be more environmentally friendly and cut back on home bills. The products can take any format and include as much content as you like, but it must inform the reader about energy, energy within the home and ways in which they can reduce their energy and essentially cost of running their home.
The information pack aims to get the audience hands on within the home and do simple things around the house to save energy and save themselves money in the long run.
Tone of Voice The products should be designed to engage the audience and use the correct tone of voice in order to capture their attention and to get them to interact with the products and the information given.
Background Information
Purpose
Deliverables
Energy provides us with a means of using fun and convenient appliances. But what exactly is energy and where does it come from? Scientists define energy as “the ability to do work.” For example, we harness energy to run factories, provide heat and light in our homes and schools, power our cars and school busses, and many other things.
The subject of this brief is seen to the audience as ‘boring’, the purpose of the information pack is to take the essential information and present it in a way to make it more engaging and useful to the target audience.
1. Information Pack 2. Supporting products within the information pack.
Energy is very useful to us, but energy costs us money to use in our cars, homes, work, and schools. In addition, most of the energy people use comes from fossil fuels – and this causes a lot of pollution as well as other problems.
As a subject area which I have previously worked on - I enjoyed the aesthetical style which can be related to the subject area - one which is illustrative but also has an infographic nature. This brief also involves making products which as a hands on designer, fits well for myself.
Heating, electricity, gas and water are all costs, which are generally increasing, so how can we save on this and decrease the amount we pay?
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy | 01
Efficient Energy within the home Being energy efficient within the home can be fairly easy, there are small things that you can do around the household to save energy and save yourself money. This is the main content of the information pack; giving small simple steps that anyone can do around the house to improve there energy efficiency and save money on bills.
Cut Down Lights Could you get into the habit of turning lights off when you leave a room? A family could save between £50 and £90 a year just by remembering to turn things off, if they don’t already do this.
Turn Down Water temperature Check the thermostat on your boiler, see what the temperature settings are for hot water and think about turning it down just a couple of degrees. That will make a difference to the amount of energy you’re using.
Showers Having a shower instead of a bath uses only a third of the energy, so limit your long soaks in the tub and save them for days when you really need to relax and unwind. Beware of power showers, though, which are less energy efficient than standard showers. If you don’t like the thought of standing under a dribble of water, get yourself a BodySpa Showerhead – an innovative way to save energy, water and money without losing water pressure.
Heating Turn down your general thermostat settings too: 21°c should be plenty. You may be used to having your house much warmer than this, so if your thermostat’s set at 24 or 25°c, turn it down one degree at a time over a couple of weeks. And just remember: every degree that you turn it down could save you around £65 a year on your heating bill.
Washing machines Check out your washing machine’s settings, see if there’s a ‘half load’ option for small amounts of clothes. With modern washing powders, you can usually choose a lower temperature on your washing machine too. Don’t overfill the kettle Only boil as much water as you need. Heating water uses a lot of energy, and it’s easy to overfill the kettle for one cup of tea. Why not buy an eco kettle so you don’t have to guess how much you need? We tend to boil twice as much water as we use - perhaps we’re just too lazy to revisit the tap every time we fancy a cuppa? The eco-kettle has an internal reservoir which holds up to 8 cups of water, and a separate chamber for boiling. So you fill the kettle, press the measuring button and, hey presto, the eco kettle boils just enough water for your needs.
Nathan Bolton
Radiators Switch off radiators in the rooms you’re not using regularly and keep internal doors shut. Otherwise, draughts and poorly insulated windows will mean you’re burning energy un-necessarily. Washing Machine Wash at 30. Washing clothes at 30 degrees rather than at higher temperatures uses around 40% less energy. Modern washing powders and detergents work just as effectively at lower temperatures so unless you have very dirty washing, bear this in mind.
Shut Down Electrical goods When you leave mobile phones, laptops and iPod chargers on standby, they could still be using energy. Switching them off and unplugging them once they’re fully charged is a great way to be more energy efficient. And remember – if your charger has an LED to show it’s in use, it’s still using energy until you switch it off at the wall. Appliances Do you use a dishwasher? Wait until it’s fully loaded before starting it, and remember that – if you run it overnight – it’ll be using energy until you switch it off in the morning. Why not invest in a timer plug and run it automatically for a shorter period of time instead? Taps A running tap wastes more than six litres of water a minute, so turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, shaving, or washing your face - and use cold water if you don’t need hot. A dripping tap can waste more than 5,500 litres of water a year, so make sure your taps are properly turned off and change washers promptly when taps start to drip. Use seperate plugs Plug your appliances into sperate plugs so you can turn everything off at the mains that doesn’t need to be left on, but you can still leave the appliances that have to running turned on. Even though one is still always on and running, its better than everything being left running.
Life with Energy | 02
Design Aesthetics Research For the design of the products within the information pack, I wanted to take a illustration route. The subject area of energy and being sustainable lends itself to iconography and infographic design styles, so this was going to be the approach I would take. Along with this I wanted the information within the products to be presented in a way that replicates that of a instruction manual / information given with goods and household equipment, I think this will work hand in hand with the infographic style.
Information Pack Research The information pack will be the main deliverable for the brief, this will be made up of supporting products which communicate the information to the audience, this will be taken from the research carried out and combine all the illustrations created to form a comprehensive guide for first time home owners on energy efficient living and ways in saving money in the home.
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy | 03
Illustration / Product Development The information pack is going to take on a illustrative style, this lends itself to the subject very well and should create an interesting aesthetic for the product range. As a subject that the target audience may not be familar with, I want to create a range of products which are very informative, but at the same time aren’t text heavy as I think this particular subject area has that stigma against it. I think using the illustrations and icons along with the information, it will create a well balanced product range, that is informative and useful but also visually engaging.
I have developed a couple of ideas which shows the style that will be applied to the products within the information pack. Using colours related to energy, this is recignisable when you first see it, but the illustration makes it much more engaging and interesting to look at and read.
The largest lake in Britain could be from the UK in
8 months
80%
of general waste can be recovered or recycled
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy | 04
Icon Development As a brief that is based around energy, it lends itself well to a illustrative / infographic style. Throughout the products there will be a focus on using illustrations of the different products the information is informing the reader about to make it more visual and engaging. Using simple illustrations, these icons will relate to the content and create a engaging publication that informs user about energy saving within their home.
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy | 05
The Brand The information pack isn’t a a branded product. It isn’t created for a specific energy company, it is a generic information pack that has general information about saving energy within the home. This information isn’t specific to any energy supplier, but provides clear and precise steps to saving energy within the home. Even though the information pack is for general information, I have branded the pack to make it a real product and one that the users will see as a reliable product. The logo reflects the idea of recycling, sustainability and energy efficiency. The logo and colours used communicate this idea and create a brand for the information pack.
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy | 06
The Products The information pack is made up of three main products, an information booklet, postcard designs and a notepad. The focus of these products is the physicality and the interaction they create when the user uses them. The idea of the physical form will make the user actually go around their home and see how they can save energy. Information booklet - containing easy steps to save energy within the home. Postcards - These include simple energy facts and illustrations. Notepad - A way for the users to calculate how much energy they use within the house and what they can save on.
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy | 07
The Information Pack The information pack is a collection of the products creating within the product range. These as a group of products all work well together and each individual item are useful for the user. The information pack packaging has been designed in line with the rest of the products and carries the same aesthetical style. Using corrogated card and eco-friendly stock, the packaging is produced to relate to sustainability and energy efficiency. All the products fit together within the packaging and it creates a great product for the first time buyer market.
Nathan Bolton
Life with Energy | 08