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  • Models of the user: designers’ perspectives on influencing sustainable behaviour

Lockton, Dan, Harrison, David J and Stanton, Neville A, 2012, Journal Article, Models of the user: designers’ perspectives on influencing sustainable behaviour Journal of Design Research, 10 (1/2). pp. 7-27. ISSN 1569-1551

Abstract or Description:

Influencing more environmentally friendly and sustainable behaviour is a current focus of many projects, ranging from government social marketing campaigns, education and tax structures to designers’ work on interactive products, services and environments. There is a wide variety of techniques and methods used, intended to work via different sets of cognitive and environmental principles. These approaches make different assumptions about ‘what people are like’: how users will respond to behavioural interventions, and why, and in the process reveal some of the assumptions that designers and other stakeholders, such as clients commissioning a project, make about human nature.

This paper discusses three simple models of user behaviour – the pinball, the shortcut and the thoughtful – which emerge from user experience designers’ statements about users while focused on designing for behaviour change. The models are characterised using systems terminology and the application of each model to design for sustainable behaviour is examined via a series of examples.

Subjects: Other > Mathematical and Computer Sciences > G400 Computer Science > G440 Human-computer Interaction
Other > Technologies > J900 Others in Technology > J910 Energy Technologies
Other > Technologies > J900 Others in Technology > J920 Ergonomics
Creative Arts and Design > W200 Design studies
Creative Arts and Design > W200 Design studies > W240 Industrial/Product Design
Creative Arts and Design > W200 Design studies > W280 Interactive and Electronic Design
Creative Arts and Design > W900 Others in Creative Arts and Design > W990 Creative Arts and Design not elsewhere classified
School or Centre: Research Centres > Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
Funders: Ormsby Trust, Thomas Gerald Gray Charitable Trust, Technology Strategy Board
Identification Number or DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/JDR.2012.046137
Date Deposited: 13 Jul 2016 09:20
Last Modified: 09 Nov 2018 15:44
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/1292
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