Short answer

Incorporate user-focused strategies like 'enabling' (making care easy) and 'awareness' (highlighting the benefits of care) into product design to encourage long-term product maintenance and sustainable consumer behaviour.

Field: User-Centred Design
Source: Journal of Sustainability Research (2021)
Method: Multi-method approach including brainstorming sessions and analysis of existing solutions.
Evidence: Strong effect

Design interventions can significantly encourage consumers to care for their products, thereby promoting sustainable behaviour and prolonging product utility. This user-centred design research insight is drawn from a 2021 study published in Journal of Sustainability Research. Using Multi-method approach including brainstorming sessions and analysis of existing solutions., researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Incorporate user-focused strategies like 'enabling' (making care easy) and 'awareness' (highlighting the benefits of care) into product design to encourage long-term product maintenance and sustainable consumer behaviour.

Study

User-Centred DesignHigh ImpactStrong effect

Eight Design Strategies to Foster Consumer Product Care and Extend Product Lifespans

Design interventions can significantly encourage consumers to care for their products, thereby promoting sustainable behaviour and prolonging product utility.

Journal of Sustainability Research · 2021

Key Findings

01Eight core design strategies can foster product care: social connections, informing, enabling, appropriation, control, awareness, antecedents & consequences, and reflecting.
02These strategies, focused on the consumer's psychological perspective, complement existing technology- and product-oriented approaches to repair and maintenance.
03A toolkit was developed to assist designers in implementing these strategies within the product development process.

Application

Design takeaway

How to apply

When designing a new product, consider how to make maintenance intuitive, how to educate users on proper care, and how to foster a sense of ownership that encourages longevity.

Project actions

01When researching user needs, explore their current habits and challenges related to product maintenance.
02Consider how your design can 'enable' users to perform care tasks easily or 'inform' them about the benefits of maintenance.

Method & Evidence

AimHow can design strategies be developed and applied to stimulate consumer product care behaviours, leading to extended product lifespans and more sustainable consumption?

MethodMulti-method approach including brainstorming sessions and analysis of existing solutions.

ProcedureResearchers conducted individual and group brainstorming sessions to generate ideas for stimulating product care. These ideas were then analyzed and clustered into distinct design strategies and sub-strategies.

ContextProduct design and development, consumer behaviour, sustainability.

Variables

IV["Design strategies aimed at fostering product care (e.g., informative labelling, modular design for easy repair, gamified maintenance reminders)."]

DV["Consumer engagement in product care activities (e.g., frequency of cleaning, repair actions taken, perceived ease of maintenance, product lifespan)."]

CV["Product type, user demographics, pre-existing user attitudes towards sustainability and product care, economic factors influencing repair vs. replacement decisions."]

Strengths & Limitations

Strengths

+Provides a structured set of actionable design strategies derived from user-centric principles.
+Offers a practical toolkit to aid designers in implementation within the product development process.

Limitations

It can be challenging to isolate the impact of specific design strategies on actual long-term consumer behaviour without extensive longitudinal studies.

Reliability & validity

The reliability of the identified strategies could be assessed through repeated application across different design teams and product contexts. Validity would be strengthened by empirical studies demonstrating a causal link between the application of these strategies and observed increases in consumer product care behaviour.

Think critically

To what extent can design alone overcome ingrained consumer habits or economic pressures that favour replacement over repair?

Design Principles

"Design for longevity by designing for care; empower users to maintain and cherish their products through intuitive and psychologically resonant design interventions."

Understanding and implementing design strategies that promote product care shifts the focus from mere product functionality to the user's ongoing relationship with the product. This approach not only enhances user satisfaction but also contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing waste and resource consumption.

What This Means for Your Design

Designers can use specific strategies to help people look after their products better, making them last longer and be more eco-friendly.

How to use in your project

1.Use the identified strategies (e.g., informing, enabling) as a framework for your user research and design development, explaining how your design choices aim to foster product care.

Add to My Project

Quick Cite

Paragraph starter

This design project explores strategies for fostering consumer product care, drawing upon research that identifies eight key design approaches—social connections, informing, enabling, appropriation, control, awareness, antecedents & consequences, and reflecting—to encourage users to maintain their products. By integrating these user-centric principles, the design aims to extend product lifespans and promote sustainable consumption.

Source

Journal of Sustainability Research

Design for Product Care—Development of Design Strategies and a Toolkit for Sustainable Consumer Behaviour

journal · 2021

View source

Questions About This Research

What does the research say about eight design strategies to foster consumer product care and extend product lifespans?: Incorporate user-focused strategies like 'enabling' (making care easy) and 'awareness' (highlighting the benefits of care) into product design to encourage long-term product maintenance and sustainable consumer behaviour. Evidence: Journal of Sustainability Research (2021).
Why does "Eight Design Strategies to Foster Consumer Product Care and Extend Product Lifespans" matter for design?: Understanding and implementing design strategies that promote product care shifts the focus from mere product functionality to the user's ongoing relationship with the product. This approach not only enhances user satisfaction but also contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing waste and resource consumption.
How can designers apply this research?: Incorporate user-focused strategies like 'enabling' (making care easy) and 'awareness' (highlighting the benefits of care) into product design to encourage long-term product maintenance and sustainable consumer behaviour.
What were the main findings?: Eight core design strategies can foster product care: social connections, informing, enabling, appropriation, control, awareness, antecedents & consequences, and reflecting.. These strategies, focused on the consumer's psychological perspective, complement existing technology- and product-oriented approaches to repair and maintenance.. A toolkit was developed to assist designers in implementing these strategies within the product development process.
What research method was used?: Multi-method approach including brainstorming sessions and analysis of existing solutions..
How strong is the evidence?: Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2021 journal from Journal of Sustainability Research.
What should I do differently in my next project?: When designing a new product, consider how to make maintenance intuitive, how to educate users on proper care, and how to foster a sense of ownership that encourages longevity.
What are the limitations?: The effectiveness of these strategies may vary depending on product category, cultural context, and individual consumer differences.