tally sustainable values and behaviors.
[ 9] Dunne, Anthony. Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience and Critical Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005.
[ 10] The phrase “do less with design” owes to the title of a public presentation by Eli Blevis.
hopes of getting us to use less?
• Innovation. Do these products support existing paradigms of energy usage, such as the Belkin Conserve or Eco-Eye, or do they suggest more radical interaction paradigms, such as the Pull-Cord Generator, the Element heater, or the Energy Curtain, which seek to more dramatically redefine relationships between people and energy?
As designers and citizens of this planet, we need to carefully consider what we do and do not want to sustain. Design, of course, creates both problems and solutions. There is something both ironic and troubling in our compulsion to design more new devices rather making do with old ones in hopes of doing less harm to the planet. As we design for sustainable interactions and experiences, we should always be looking for ways to “do less with design” [ 10], a consideration perfectly embodied by Scott Amron’s Die Electric experiment [ 11].
[ 11] http:// www.dieelec-tric.org
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energy is expressed as a glowing pattern on the inside of the shade.” However, this aesthetic reward can actually subvert the functionality of the curtain and discourage sustainable behavior. Closing the curtain during the day will cause the room to darken, possibly requiring the use of artificial lighting. The energy curtain thus forces the user to decide between either using natural light and not being rewarded with the glowing pattern, or using artificial light and being rewarded. Designed to provoke critical reflection, the Energy Curtain “introduces a conceptual twist and requires that a user act tangibly on the choice between consuming or saving energy [ 1].” This conflict between aesthetics and functionality creates the opportunity for para-functionality, “a form of design where function is used to encourage reflection on how electronic products condition our behavior [ 9].” In particular the Energy Curtain can provoke the realization of how design estranges us from the natural energy of the sun, renders energy abstract and intangible, and hides the energy costs of our actions. Materially and experientially woven into domestic life, the Energy Curtain can stimulate conversation within the home and serve as an ever-present symbol of newly appreciated relationships between actions, products, and consumption. The Energy Curtain exemplifies how aesthetics, functionality, para-functionality, and symbolic value can coexist in a single design, leading to beautiful, functional, and meaningful products that may in the long term lead to more environmen-
These examples illustrate valuable approaches to designing interactive products that promote more sustainable use of energy or reflections on sustainable design and use of interactive products. They also raise questions regarding the challenges to overcome:
• Adoption. Who will adopt these products and why? Some products, like the Eco-Eye and Wattson, explicitly address issues of conservation and sustainability, while others, like the Belkin Conserve and Potenco Pull-Cord Generator, focus more on improving existing functionality.
• Durability. Will these products continue to be useful over time? Will people grow attached to them because of their aesthetic, reflective, and symbolic value? Long term, will the Eco-Eye and Wattson continue to offer useful and persuasive information? Will people dispose of the Belkin Conserve or the Pull-Cord Generator when more useful and stylish models come out?
• Effectiveness. Will these products lead to local behavior changes or more holistic changes in lifestyles and values? Will they lead to immediate savings in energy, as the Belkin Conserve does? Or can they encourage more thoughtful interactions beyond immediate use, such as the Energy Curtain, which locally may actually discourage sustainable interactions in order to create reflection? From a cost-benefit perspective, is it worth introducing a particular product into the world in
ABOUT ThE AUThOrS James J. Pierce is a master’s student in the human-computer interaction/ design program at Indiana University and a member of the Sustainable Interaction Design Research Group. Currently, his research interests are focused on the areas of sustainable interaction design and interaction criticism. For more information, visit www. jamesjpierce.com. David Roedl is a master’s student in the human-computer interaction/design program at Indiana University and a member of the Sustainable Interaction Design Research Group. His current work focuses on the design of interactive data visualizations as a means to motivate environmental responsibility. For more information, visit www.davidroedl.com.
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