Title: Dimensions of behaviour change

Authors: Johannes Zachrisson Daae; Casper Boks

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, Department of Product Design, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Kolbjørn Hejes vei 2b, No. 7491 Trondheim, Norway ' Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, Department of Product Design, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Kolbjørn Hejes vei 2b, No. 7491 Trondheim, Norway

Abstract: There is a significant potential for obtaining environmental benefit from designing products in a way that makes people use them optimally. Recent literature has proposed a number of dimensions to be considered in the process of designing such products. However, the selection of these dimensions appears to be based mostly on the intuition of the researchers, with no documented empirical investigations. The study described in this paper investigated this potential, through five workshops with designer practitioners. This resulted in the identification of 55 variations of how to affect behaviour, which are categorised into nine dimensions. These cover both the dimensions already known from literature and suggest new dimensions, and contribute as such with new perspectives for understanding how design for sustainable behaviour can be successful. These dimensions have formed the basis for the development of a tool, Dimensions of Behaviour Change, which was prototyped and tested in a design workshop. The results from the testing suggest that the tool helps designers consider more aspects of how to affect behaviour through design.

Keywords: environmental design; design for sustainable behaviour; design tools; design research; design dimensions; design tool development; product design; design principles classification; behaviour changing design; persuasive technology; behavioural change.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2014.064229

Journal of Design Research, 2014 Vol.12 No.3, pp.145 - 172

Received: 17 Jun 2013
Accepted: 25 Oct 2013
Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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