Title: Aiming to miss: lessons for design research from the study of everyday energy practices

Authors: Svenja Jaffari; Ben Matthews

Addresses: Institute of Technology and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Allé 1, 5230 Odense M, Denmark ' School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072, Australia

Abstract: This paper argues that the historical focus of design research on the design process - designers themselves, their activities, decisions and rationale - conceals many design relevant phenomena that emerge in the use of products and systems. With regard to designing for sustainability, these phenomena become vital, since sustainability is itself a use practice. We present a set of vignettes from an ethnographic study of people's everyday energy practices, in an effort to show how consumption is grounded in the intersections of various elements including architecture, habit and social values. This gives pause to reconsider designers' roles in determining (through products and architecture) such patterns of energy use, and leads us to recommend that a different kind of scenario, i.e., one that 'aims to miss' the deliberate and intended use, may be helpful in sustainable product design. We conclude with a discussion that outlines how the study of mundane practices of use might be instructive for agendas and concepts in design research, particularly those of framing and design intent.

Keywords: design-in-use; design research; user studies; indoor climate; scenarios; design for sustainability; DfS; design process; ethnography; design intent; energy practices; energy consumption; architecture; habit; social values; energy use; sustainable product design.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2013.055136

Journal of Design Research, 2013 Vol.11 No.2, pp.107 - 125

Received: 14 Aug 2012
Accepted: 16 Dec 2012
Published online: 28 Jun 2014 *

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