Empathize: Our target user base for this assignment is the entirety of the ocean. So we have looked into the design life cycle of one of one of the major problems that is causing our ocean harm: plastic straws. Micro-plastics as well as ghost fishing equipment are also major contributors to harmful ocean debris. Moreover, increasing ocean temperatures coinciding with acidifying waters that are rising can only lead to ecological disaster at the hands of the human race.
Define: What are the users needs? Does the need addressed by this product also address other basic human needs mentioned by Hari, Maslow, or Center for Humane Tech? Pick one or more of these rubrics and show how your design uses best practices
User that is unwittingly or uncaringly polluting the oceans with their actions. Therefore, user needs a wakeup call via direct images of their impact. We will use Humane Tech guide found here.
Part I
Emotional – Not highly supported as the design is meant to be emotionally impactful and eye catching. Creates stress and despair, but puts the user in a state that makes them more likely to feel the need for action.
Attention – With a minimalist aesthetic, the few words of white text reading “Sensitive Content” will be very eye catching. Furthermore, the dark gray background of the piece would contrast well against the lighter backdrop its placed on.
Sensemaking – Sensemaking is supported as the information is presented in an intriguing fashion while incorporating information about hot button issues related to the ocean.
Decision Making – The mural would incorporate QR codes with links to videos pertaining to the topic as a starting point. From there, links to charities for donation to help fund ocean-saving efforts as well as links about ways that the average person can lessen their impact will be included.
Social Reasoning – QR codes embedded in the mural itself would enable wide sharing of the mural. However, if the mural has multiple installations at different points in the country, it would enable each user to have an individual experience with it.
Group Dynamics- The design supports forming a cohesive group as the ocean is a key part of the Earth and therefore an important issue for many people. Moreover, it would feature a sense of belonging on this Earth and motivate groups of people who see it to take action as a group instead of as individuals
Part II
In what ways does your product/feature currently engage Human Sensitivities?
The mural engages the emotions of each user as well as their attention by way of its design. Although the mural is intended to grab the attention of each user by way of partially stressing them out, the goal is to motivate each individual to take action against the dilemma decimating our seas.
How might your product/feature support or elevate human sensitivities?
The mural elevates the user’s sense of sensemaking and social reasoning by the strong topics and ideas presented in video form primarily and supported by the webpage that is accessed after watching said video.
Action Statement
A mural is versatile, easy to read, and an impactful method of disseminating information. Our idea of a minimalist aesthetic is to both draw in the crowd as well as create an easy way to share this via a simple statement. We endeavor to change the minds of individuals with stunning imagery and strong words that will fill their hearts with a burning passion for change on a global scale.
Ideate:
Reusable Hand Warmers
Recharge stations could be placed around high-traffic areas for portable hand warmers that can be shared by the community. Sanitizing would be difficult
Gentler Wake-up Device
A softer and more gentle wake-up device to replace alarm clocks so that users may feel better rested when awakening and thus are more productive and generally happier throughout the day.
Collaborative Art Project
Mural
A mural can be put in many different places around the world and can be changed about so many different issues and it doesn’t have to be specifically about the ocean. You can go to New York City and it can be about the homeless population. Since the QR codes can be switched to anything that is how it applies. And the info that can be found on the QR codes can be shared on social media through a hashtag.
Thinking about people who don’t like technology or don’t have it (thinking about nyc and the homeless topic) we can make it physically, but this would be more of an art installation. If it was in a store or a store window and it was just videos and then you would have a flap that can open up and then the video would start playing and then anyone can view it and it’s not just technology driven. But in order to continue having it with social media, the QR codes will be up the flaps.
Fish Tank
Have a tank full of water connected to a display above it. The tank is clear and once a person dunks their hand in, a stat pops up on the screen about how many fish there will be in the ocean in 2050. Then, as the screen switches toa fact about how much plastic will be in there by 2050, dozens of tiny pieces of plastic whirl around in the pool. The water in a confined space with the plastic will feel disgusting and hopefully motivate people to spread awareness and educe their presence on this Earth.
Every year, over 8 millions tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean and invade every ecosystem from the deepest trench to the shallowest pool. Plastic is so invasive that over 90% of seabirds have or have had plastic in the stomachs during their lifetime. The trend is only going to continue as nearly half of all plastic has been manufactured in the past 20 years. Efforts to ban straws are a good start, but reforming commercial fisheries and their harmful practices are the only way to truly make a difference.
Nearly half of all plastic has been made in the last 20 years
Over 90% of seabirds have or have had plastic in their stomachs
As of 2018, global plastic production has reached an all-time high of nearly 360 million metric tons per year
More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in the ocean each year
The oceans of Earth cover roughly 71% of the surface and are the lifeblood of countless current ecosystems and where innumerable organisms flourish. Yet, the planet’s dominant species has routinely pumped pollution into the atmosphere, 25% of which is then captured by the oceans. Ocean acidity has increased by about 30% since the industrial revolution and the rate at which the ocean’s pH balance is changed has continually accelerated as well. Each year, the ocean absorbs almost 25% of all human-made CO2
Ocean acidification throws off the balance in the food web
Ocean acidity has increased by about 30% in total since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and if CO2 emissions continue to grow, the rate of acidification will accelerate in the coming decades. This rate of change, to the best of our knowledge, is many times faster than anything experienced in the last 250 milion years.
Overfishing the oceans has resulted in a great loss of biodiversity. Over the past 50 years, 90% of the ocean’s top predators have had their populations dwindle down to near-nothing. And the system isn’t even stable economically. Government subsidies are the only thing keeping the commercial fishing industry alive. Overfishing has introduced countless tons of plastics into the largest bodies around the world only to decimate their ecosystems and drive native species into extinction.In the past 50 years, 90% of the oceans top predators have had their populations dwindle down to near-nothing
In 1989, roughly 90 million metric tons of fish and other marine animals were caught. That was the peak of commercial fishing with returns diminishing each year since
Government subsidies have lead to the viability of the commercial fishing industry
Since 1880, average sea levels have risen a total of over 8.0 inches. With at least 2.6 inches of that being from the past 26 years alone. On Average, sea levels are currently rising at a rate of roughly ⅛ inch per year leading to an increase in the frequency and severity of storms. Leading to losses of habitat and life for humans and other organisms. From the peoples of island and coastal regions who will lose their homes, to those whose area is flooded with climate change refugees. Sea levels rising affects everyone.Sea levels rise at roughly ⅛ an inch per year
Sea levels rose a total of 2.6 inches from 1993 to 2014
Sea levels rising has led to an uptick in the frequency and severity of storms
Coral Bleaching is caused by a variety of factors, primarily pollution and rising temperatures in the water. The world’s largest reef system, Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef, is over 20 million years old, stretches over 1600 miles, and is home to hundreds of different species of marine fauna. It’s also dying. Since 2016 alone, half of all the corals in the reef perished from the increase in heat. Corals play a vital role as the habitat of an ecosystem and need to be protected to prevent the downfall of the entire area.Caused by rising ocean temperatures and by pollution in area as well as CO2 pumped into the atmosphere by fossil fuels
the Climate Council of Australia reported that 93 percent of individual reefs in the Great Barrier Reef have suffered some degree of bleaching, with northernmost reefs most severely affected.
Loss of corals leads to a loss of both the individual animal as well as a habitat for a diverse range of marine entities.
Abstract For our project, we will be formulating a plan to create an interactive art piece that is both widely accessible and that enables each individual viewer to have a unique and personal experience. A mural was decided upon to be the most suitable for this campaign. The mural will be of a minimalist design featuring the words “This is Sensitive Content” with a set of QR codes below. For quick and easy accessibility, the mural will contain fives QR codes that can be scanned to reveal videos and information pertaining to (1) Ocean plastics, (2) Temperature change/ Acidification, (3) Overfishing, (4) Sea Levels Rising, or (5) Coral Bleaching. The information will be hosted on a website that is to be designed. For our purposes, we will create a mockup website using Adobe Xd and disseminate our plan via a Google Slides presentation. The aim of our project is to educate and invigorate people to take action against climate change and help prevent our oceans from dying.
The mural is a versatile and relatively portable medium. Therefore, this piece can be hung in a variety of places at the same time with multiple copies of the piece or the piece can be moved around to different areas over the course of a predetermined time period. Possible locations for the piece include The Memorial Union, Raymond H. Fogler Library, Murray Hall, and other places off-campus. In an ideal scenario, the mural would be hung in a high-traffic city such as New York City, Los Angeles, or Miami; places that have already or will in the future be affected by changes in the oceans.
Effectiveness of Murals
Murals are usually a passive tool in information dissemination. However, by incorporating a webpage loaded by easy-to-access QR codes, it becomes a more active tool in sharing information. As of 2019, 81% of Americans currently own and operate a smartphone that is internet capable that can be utilized to interact with the mural. Furthermore, more high-traffic areas such as NYC and LA are covered in a blanket of mobile data and WiFi so that connectivity is not an issue. Moreover, those areas having both of those attributes mean that they would be suitable locations for our project. Moreover, Murals are not as effective if they are overshadowed by the appearance of the surrounding area. If the location is run-down and generally unkempt, the mural will fade into the background and become a part of the mess. However, if the area is kept clean and orderly, murals become more effective as they are more likely to be noticed as an art installation rather than simply a small part of the environment. The key to an effective mural is balancing the aesthetic aspect of the piece with the surrounding area in order to maximize the viability of its message.
Test and Revise:
Testing showed that the mural was effective but a bit too harsh in its message. Therefore measures such as adding small ways to reduce one’s personal impact as well as links to helpful charities webpages are included in order to lighten the atmosphere of the product and have it be a beacon of hope rather than a bell of despair.
Images:
Sources:
The main type of plastic used in plastic straws is called Polypropylene. This is a thermoplastic that has a lot of advantages for the people who produce it, but can have an overall harmful impact.
The materials that go into straws and the processes that go into make them end up making this product extremely wasteful. One example is the excess energy being used to make straws is really harmful to the environment because of the greenhouse gasses it produces
At the end of their life-cycle plastic straws are usually incinerated, recycled, or brought to a landfill, but he main problem is that straws most commonly become litter
Up to 500 million straws are used a day and 8.3 billion pollute our worlds beaches according to recent study
Eight million tons of plastic flow into the ocean every single and years and plastic straws are just a small 0.025% of that plastic
Companies have tried making glass and metal straws so they can be less wasteful and reusable
There have also been many companies proposing to ban plastic straws as a whole with Seattle being the most productive in this movement. If the world can jump on this we can try to mitigate this situation
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