| dc.description.abstract | This study investigated the design principles applicable to environmentally friendly product design. A practical approach was taken to examine principles that aid designers in producing an eco-friendly product that consumers will enjoy and use. Another important aspect to this study was to determine whether a positive environmental attitude or a willingness to change for the environment relates to environmentally responsible behavior. Two hypotheses were developed for successful eco-friendly products and then appropriate products were purchased to test these hypotheses. The activity hypothesis claims that if a product adds user activities, is less likely to be used. The feedback hypothesis states that a product that gives clear feedback is more likely to be used than a product that does not. Student participants took home products to use for one week, recorded each time they used the products, and then completed surveys afterword. One survey determined product success and the second measured environmental consciousness. The sample size for the experiment was 15 participants. The results indicate that there may be a positive relation between environmental attitude
and environmental behavior, both of which were measured through surveys. For the activity hypothesis, we supposed that the product not adding user activities would be used more than the product adding activities. However, the experimental results have shown that this may not always be the case. For the feedback hypothesis, we speculated that visual reminder feedback and energy savings feedback both increase product usage. Combining both types of feedback was assumed to increase product usage more than any single type of feedback. The results for this part of the experiment indicate errors in the experimental design, but also aid in the future work for this research experiment. | en |
