Fulbright Proposal: Visual Explainations of Product Life-Cycles

Fulbright Grant Awarded: September 2004 - May 2005
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Fulbright Grant Application: Statement of Proposed Study and Research
Applicant: Arlene Birt
Country of application: The Netherlands
Field of proposed study: Communication

Project Description: To promote consumer understanding about the effects of individual consumption on global environment and society, this project will use visual cues to more directly link a product’s life-cycle to the actual product in an attempt to fill a gap between the information and the consumer. During one nine-month academic year within a design institution in the Netherlands, the project will explore how information on product life-cycles can be communicated visually and will result in ‘example’ posters and an accompanying report. The project is based on the idea that the multiple levels of information about product life-cycles could be effectively illustrated visually: translating technical and scientific data into a format more easily readable by consumers. Research and audience evaluation are important components of this project. As a country with high standards in design and in implementing initiatives in sustainability, the Netherlands is the ideal location.

Outcomes and Results: Conducted within a Dutch design institution, this project will result in a series of posters and an accompanying report.

Posters: Each ‘poster’, whether they develop into printed or digital interactions, will use a specific product to serve as an example of communicating on the life-cycles of products. All the important inputs and outputs that go into making a specific product from before product creation to after use will be communicated through the poster.

For example: A ceramic cup. How was this cup made? Where? By whom? What are the working conditions? Was it traded fairly? What materials were used? What pollutants resulted from the process? From the transportation? How was the cup glazed/painted? What materials were involved in packaging? How durable is the cup? When will it need to be replaced? What will happen to it when it is no longer usable?

The goal of these ‘visual explanation’ posters is to educate and increase consumer’s awareness about how their individual purchases (consumption) affect global environment and society. The poster design will be content-driven and based on research into the product and methods of visual communication for multi-layered information. Therefore, in the poster designs, importance will be placed on hierarchy of information and graphical representation.

Report: The report will include research exploring the role of information graphic design in communicating complex layers of information to consumers. It will also outline the research that informed the design of the posters, go into greater depth on the statistics behind the poster and how similar posters on different products can be developed.

Research and Methods: The Netherlands is the ideal location for this study because of the high level of social and environmental awareness in Dutch companies, the general population, and in institutions of design education. In recent years, the Netherlands has shown leadership in implementing innovative programs in sustainability. Throughout history, the Dutch have also made significant contributions to information and graphic design.

Developing this project within the framework of a Dutch design institute of higher education will provide insight from visual communication specialists and allow the research to be supplemented by communication and design-related studies.

A large component of the research for the posters will be based on observation of the cultural attributes that contribute to the current state of social and environmental awareness in the Netherlands. This includes consumer perspectives and business initiatives. Therefore, contact with experts in sustainability, design, business and with related organizations will guide the project, provide insight into current practices in the Netherlands and provide access to networks from which to evaluate the effectiveness of the posters. Contact has been set in motion with several Dutch organizations; after arrival in the Netherlands, interaction with these organizations and others will be further developed.

Background: With increasing attention towards the ideal balance of economy, environment and social equality that sustainability stands for, there is also an increasing need to disperse information and heighten awareness among consumers. Although socially and environmentally-responsible agendas are being developed in response to consumer demand, government urging and business initiative, as of yet, there is seemingly little to communicate this overwhelming amount of information to the public on visual terms.

In the pursuit of sustainability, it is important to look at the entire life-cycle of each product. Efforts in this direction to communicate on product life-cycle have been mostly undertaken on the industry side through the highly-technical technique of Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) and through business’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports. However, LCA generally results in complex sets of data and long written reports and CSR is specific to the internal workings of a company and is rarely seen by consumers.

There is a need for an approach more accessible to consumers. By using visual cues to directly link a product’s life-cycle to the actual product, this project attempts to fill the gap between the consumer and the communication. The use of visual information design can be an effective means to translate technical and scientific data into a format more easily understood by consumers.

Contribution to Personal Future Professional Development: This project is an ideal combination of my interests and experience. The opportunity to carry out this project, coupled with my prior experiences in promoting sustainable development, will put me in a good position to contribute to advancement of this area and work with organizations in the United States that are developing programs on sustainability. I can learn from successful practices in communicating and designing to promote more informed consumption.