This presentation shows a short summary of my Design Master's thesis, which I worked on during my final year at Carnegie Mellon. During this time, I had explored how communication design could influence people's behavior related to environmentally-friendly decisions. I did exploratory and generative research, ran a couple of experiments, and ended up creating a handbook, which brought together established psychology principles that could be applied to communication design.

1. Designing for Behavior Change
Identifying communication design components that encourage and empower
individuals to act in environmentally-responsible ways
Jenny Shirey, CPID
Master of Design 2011 candidate
Carnegie Mellon University
Thesis Poster Presentation
April 14, 2011

2. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Designing for behavior change
Problem
COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENTAL
DESIGN knowledge gap PSYCHOLOGY
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

3. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Bridging the gap
My goal is to close the knowledge gap
by connecting communication designers
with insights and methods to encourage
environmentally-responsible habits
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

4. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Case study: bottled water
Potential for change
» Opportunity to increase awareness
» Individual behavior change makes sense
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

5. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Audience: 25- to 40-year-old adults
Potential for change
» Didn’t grow up with same emphasis on being “green”
as today’s children
» Being eco-friendly isn’t their first priority
» Generally willing to help out and try new behaviors
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

6. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Exploratory research
Research toward generalizable knowledge
» One-week journal study
» Contextual interviews
» Varying responses to tone and subject matter of images & texts
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

7. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Generative research
Study question
» How does a communication piece affect a person’s behavior
when matched to interests, learning style, and preferred emotional tone?
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

8. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Communication piece
Variables
Learning style Emotional tone Interests
Interactive Humorous Animals
or or or
Video Matter-of-fact Waste
or or
Dramatic Money
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

9. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Communication piece
Variables
Video
Humorous
Waste
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

10. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Two-week study
Study flow
Track bottled water
Answer YES Interview
1 WEEK
Track bottled water
Pre-survey Artifact COMMIT?
1 WEEK
MATCHED
Track bottled water
Answer NO Interview
1 WEEK
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

11. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Generative research
Resulting behavior change
Said the piece changed their feelings YES
Committed to not drinking
YES
bottled water for 1 week
Drank less bottled water (week 2) YES
Didn’t drink any bottled water (week 2) YES
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

12. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Study results
Findings
» Changing feelings led to behavior change
» Tracking primed participants for change
» One-week commitment encouraged people to try the new behavior
» Easy action plan
» Follow up study: mismatching: no indication that matching affected
behavior (narrative too similar?)
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

13. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Final design
Gathering findings
» Observations and ideas for practical application
» Design roadmap: a tool for communication designers
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

14. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
DESIGN SHOULD BE:
Transparent
Empowering
Caring
Open-minded
Humble
ETHICAL
PRINCIPLES
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

15. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
OBSERVATION EXAMPLE:
Educational campaigns
work well in some
situations and poorly
in others
ERVATIONS
OBS
Guiding
ETHICAL
PRINCIPLES
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

16. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
APPLICATION EXAMPLE:
Decide whether you
L I C AT I ON I D E A S
need to combine an A PP
educational campaign
with other methods
ERVATIONS
OBS
Guiding
ETHICAL
PRINCIPLES
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

17. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
ortunities & const
ng opp raint
D efni s
STRUCTURE:
LIC AT I ON I D E A
Five phases of an A PP S
ideal communication
design process
Di
ge
sc
an
ov
ch
ERVATIONS
er
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Encouraging &
pectations
ETHICAL
PRINCIPLES
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Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

18. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
ortunities & const
ng opp raint
D efni s
POINTS OF ENTRY:
LIC AT I ON I D E A
Questions to ask A PP S
before exiting and
entering each phase
Di
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ch
ERVATIONS
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Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

19. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
ortunities & const
ng opp raint
D efni s
CATEGORIES:
LIC AT I ON I D E A
A PP S
Guiding C
C
observation C B
C
Di
ge
Context B
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an
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ERVATIONS
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Emotions ha B B
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I E E
ee d
be
C I E
Knowledge,
li n g
s, d
B B
information B
enab
esire
E E E
B
s, & ex
Encouraging &
Behaviors B B E E
I
pectations
I E
I ETHICAL I
PRINCIPLES I
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Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

20. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Sample page
Defining Discovering Framing Crafting Enabling Consider the context of your audience
Observation I Educational campaigns work well in
some situations and poorly in others
Educational campaigns work best with behaviors that are low-cost and simple to do. “Education approaches work only Quotes
If the behavior is very expensive or time-consuming, or participants have to overcome
major external barriers, an education approach alone will usually be ineffective.
when the main barriers to action
are internal to the individual.”
Personal Observations —Gardner & Stern, page 92
For my studies, I focused on the issue of bottled water. Because most people were
Findings from my unaware of bottled water’s harmful effects, and because drinking tap water is a low- “...conventional wisdom [...] is
cost, easy behavior, I chose to create educational campaigns.
research studies oversimplified and misleading.
Some of my participants, though, said their tap water at home was not safe. Although The research shows that
this could have been a misconception, if true, this was an external barrier that would
require methods in addition to education. For example, my participants might need education can help but [is]
to buy a water filter; or the city might need a better filtration system or stricter anti- rarely sufficient.”
pollution regulations. —Gardner & Stern, page 72
Application idea How can I put this into practice? Where can I find out more? Resources
Gardner, Gerald T., and Paul C. Stern. “Educational Inter-
ventions: Changing Attitudes and Providing Information.” In
C Research barriers for the behavior you’re addressing Environmental Problems and Human Behavior, 71–94. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1996.
McKenzie-Mohr, Doug. “Promoting Sustainable Behavior:
I Decide whether you need to combine an educational campaign with other methods An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing.”
Journal of Social Issues 56, no. 3 (2000): 543-554.
Schultz, P. Wesley. “Knowledge, Information, and Household
Recycling.” In New Tools for Environmental Protection:
Education, Information, and Voluntary Measures, edited by
Thomas Dietz and Paul C. Stern, by National Research
Council, 67-82. 1st ed. Washington DC: National Academy
Press, 2002.
Page 9
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

21. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
Final thoughts
Potential impact
» Closes the knowledge gap
» Gives communication designers practical tips for behavior change
» Provides ethical principles to use when designing for behavior change
» Might be useful for other types of behavior change
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

22. Context Exploratory Generative Roadmap Future
For future research
» What are effects of varying the narrative structure
of a communication piece?
» Develop ethical principles further
» Test the Roadmap with my audience
Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011