The Blue Project

People want to make sustainable choices. However, there is an intention-action gap where people are unable to follow through on their intent to act in a sustainable manner. Narrowing this gap is crucial for meeting the world’s sustainability goals.

Through investigating behavior change strategies, this project aims to nudge users into new patterns of thinking, questioning the current habitual and mindless user-product interactions within the home setting.

We found that people need guidance and to feel agency in order to change their behavior. Therefore, the focus of this project has been to incorporate feedback and visualization of use in an everyday object: the water kettle.

By having a regulator that increases resistance as energy use increases, and a water controller that forces the user to choose water volume before filling the kettle, energy waste is limited.

A device that measures and visualizes ongoing energy use in the physical realm with an anxious shaking, the kettle calls attention to the use of resources in a more emotionally accessible way.

A marking that shows the date when environmental impact of its production has been compensated through use, can make users commit to keeping products longer. This also makes it easier for consumers to compare and choose between sustainable alternatives, and can act as an incentive for producers to lower their environmental impact.

The Blue project shows an alternative approach to sustainability, looking into behavior & making sustainability convenient.