Over the last decades, and since the Covid-19 pandemic even louder is the call for global sustainable development. On consumer level this development is mainly focused on the idea of circular economy. The aim for circularity may require a stronger behavioural focus on maintenance, reuse, remanufacturing or recycling. However, the attention for how to design circular solutions that will actually change user behaviour does not keep pace with this desired sustainable development. Therefore, our study will contribute to the re-use of daily products by focusing on so-called Everyday Design (ED). ED is a practice in which users reuse and/or appropriate products, meaning that users come up with new functions and changes in use of existing products. In this context, the user becomes a designer. ED differs from recycling and upcycling in a sense that the original product is reused as product again, but with an adapted functionality and in a number of cases with an adapted appearance. It turns out that the motivation of the user's ED is not driven by environmental concerns, but mainly by economical and easy-to-use concerns. If designers can inspire or stimulate people to be designers and to re-use/re-make their existing products for new purposes, it would definitely contribute to a more sustainable world. In other words, considering more sustainable society, it is important to figure out how professional designers seduce or reinforce users' tendency to everyday design.
In this thesis the general aim is to stimulate people to sustainable behaviour by way of ED. Our assumption is that professional designers are in a good position to stimulate people to carry out ED by building triggers in their (new) product design. Therefore, the specific aim for our research is to build awareness among professional designers and provide them guidelines and/or hints regarding how to stimulate everyday design and inspire people to do that. This is the reason why it was necessary in our studies to investigate the ED process and the factors influencing it. In order to achieve the aim of the study, the main questions were formulated: 1) Why do people ED? 2) What factors influence ED's decision? 3) How can designers encourage users' ED?
By answering these questions, we get a deeper inside in ED processes on which basis we can suggest strategies to encourage ED for professional designers.
The thesis is based on three empirical studies on ED, each from a different perspective.
Study 1 is based on literature research and an analysis of 264 photographs of ED products with the aim to investigate what factors influence ED. We assumed that ED does not proceed unconsciously and is affected by various factors that are not unique but showing commonalities between the ED products. This study had an exploratory and qualitative characteristic. Even though the sample of photographs of ED products was quite big, it was not a representative sample. Nevertheless, we could draw some conclusions from this qualitative analysis. The results show that ED is mainly applied on household products used in everyday life. Furthermore, the results indicate that product elements are important triggers for ED in terms of latent action possibilities. The element Form is the strong trigger for people to remake existing products to ED. The other two product elements in our study, Material and Manipulability, are less influencing the transition to ED. In order to get more specific information about what exactly triggers ED, the three product elements were further detailed. We defined 14 aspects of form with most frequent cylinder, box shape hollow and flat; 10 of Material with durability and easy to cut and 7 of Manipulability, with fix and attach as most frequent. Based on the results, a conceptual framework was created that could be a lead in our following research. This first study determined the direction and purpose of the following two studies.
Study 2 aimed to understand what and how product elements and affordances trigger people in performing ED. ED normally happens in a natural situation, but because we wanted to have control on the input variables, we conducted an experiment in which four basic everyday products were offered to 27 participants with the task to come up with an ED product for each of those four products (Foil dish, Plastic bottle, Dustpan and Umbrella). The results based on the ED products and individual interviews, indicated that ED products can be reused for various purposes beyond their original functions. The triggers for those ED products were often form-related among product elements. Another finding was that next to product elements, affordances played a role in triggers. Almost half of these affordances mentioned in the study were hidden.
In Study 3 it was investigated not only products but also user characteristics and context as triggers. At this time, the target was ED products which had made by 100 participants in their real lives. In-depth interviews were conducted with their own ED product. The results showed again that product elements and affordances offered the most important triggers for ED. Context also plays a role in triggers. For example, in most ED cases participants repurposed the original products in need of a solution to a problem they had met. In these cases, the original product for solving the problem was in the same place. Thus, when designing a product, professional designers can provide useful constraints in the product for expected users in a way to inspire and stimulate ED when knowing more about the place it will be used.
Considering form was the most outstanding trigger throughout all three studies (be it through affordances and product elements), designers should make use of semiotics (related to product form) to give their designs a meaning that triggers ED. Furthermore, designers can further enhance the inspiration of users to action by applying psychological triggers, be it semantical, cultural or logical, resulting in extending product's life cycle.
In sum, our research gives rich data for designers, but before getting a notion of how to make use of it, they should be aware of the phenomenon of everyday design and understand what aspects they can influence by their future designs in relation to sustainability.