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.Author Archives: Ann Thorpe
Design for Behaviour Change
Exercise more. Turn off the lights. These are among many messages we receive about how we should change our behaviour for the better. Now a German designer, Matthias Laschke and a team of students are proposing designs that help us make the changes, reports co-exist.
“if you choose the car key, the bike key drops to the ground, forcing you to pick it up and reconsider your decision.”
He calls them “pleasurable troublemakers” and they include:
- an elevator that takes you to the floor below where you’re going so you can walk up the last flight of stairs
- key hooks that will drop the key to your bike lock on the floor when you choose your car key
- a light turns off slowly unless you keep touching it to indicate you still need the light
On the project’s website, http://www.pleasurabletroublemakers.com, each object comes with a short paper that details the concept. Handy for researcher types!
design to support cycling—no it’s not a bike
I’ve covered a few bikes in this blog (5 ways bikes teach us about sustainable design and this piece about re-imagining the garage to include/prioritize bikes) and I’m generally interested in how designers can contribute to sustainable transportation. Transportation systems are so big and complex, it can seem overwhelming in terms of where to start.… Continue Reading
recycling: weapons into jewelry
Reuse and recycling are at the core of sustainable design, but in an ideal scenario you don’t just recycle…you upcycle. You make something of even higher value out of the material you are reusing. That’s what high-end jewelry and watchmaker Fonderie 47 is doing with confiscated weapons such as AK-47s. According to this Huffington Post… Continue Reading
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