This week I investigate existing resources for those in fuel poverty. I end up redefining the problem based on the answers I find, and - despite beginning to formulate something of a design solution - ultimately conclude that I need to explore a new direction due to limited scope.
STUDIO REVIEW
Figure 1: Marius Watz. 2010. Blocker. [generative art]
This week I take a look at the work of Marius Watz.
Watz produces generative art, both physical 3D and digital 2D. His work is often colourful and always captivating.
Watz shows the level of experimentation it's possible to have with digital design while still creating beautiful artefacts.
PROJECT REVIEW
THE SOUND OF SURVIVAL
Figure 2: Smithsonian. 2022.
This inspirational project uses the latest Microsoft AR technology to immerse users in the aquatic life of orcas.
The project demonstrates the potential of immersive technology to generate awareness and empathy. Since empathy is a powerful motivator, my own project would do well to tap into it. If I were to seek donations to aid those in fuel poverty, for example, creating an immersive experience that puts people in other’s shoes could go a long way to helping bring in support.
WHAT GUIDANCE EXISTS ONLINE FOR ENERGY REDUCTION?
Given the pro-active stance of the Isle of Man Government around the fuel crisis, I was acutely aware that some initiatives may already be underway to the address the problem I had defined.
I began to look for existing resources to determine whether an adequate solution had already been provided.
The netzero.im website offers energy saving tips, and the Government owned Manx Utility Authority has published guidance on the energy use of individual appliances around the home.
So, in relationt to my research questions, I had answers as follows:
(1) What can graphic design do to educate people to about their energy consumption behaviour?
A lot, but the problem does not appear to be one of the existence of content, rather discoverability and accessibility of content.
(2) What can graphic design do to connect people with available support?
More, since many of the resources don’t seem to be reaching their target audience.
(3) What can graphic design do to educate people the bill reducing potential of renewable energy sources?
As with question 1.
DEFINING PROBLEM AS AN ACCESSIBILITY ISSUE
My research showed that there were plenty of resources available when it came to the problem of energy efficient behaviour. There was also a lot of guidance for people struggling to pay bills in general. For example, the following guide published by Denbighshire County Council is incredibly informative:
Denbighshire County Council's Fuel Poverty Help Guide
Despite this, further research highlighted that people may not be aware of the resources, people may find them difficult to use, and that there might be a need to tailor the resources to the Isle of Man. Additionally, a lot of the resources were spread across multiple sites, so it seemed like there was potential for “single-source” project. I therefore defined the problem to solve as one of accessibility.
The new research question I derived from this definition was:
What can graphic design do to connect people with guidance and support related to difficulty paying energy bills?
At this stage I felt comfortable moving towards developing some ideas that could address the issue.
DEVELOP IDEA OF A SINGLE ONLINE SYSTEM FOR GUIDANCE.
Figure 3: Fuel poverty guide user interface pre-styling/design and with accompanying code
The solution I had in mind was an online graphical interface that would connect people with a lot of the guidance that was available already. I started to code the interface to get the general skeletal structure in place (click here to view the web page).
I felt I may be getting a bit carried away and leaping into code, so before going any further, I stopped to ask myself a few design questions.
WHO WOULD ACCESS THIS SYSTEM?
I had to ask myself whether I would create this system for a specific type of individual (e.g., a single parent), or if I would open up its design to a broader audience.
Although I had previously identified single parents as being the people potentially most at risk, the emerging energy crisis made it desirable to extend my target audience.
I defined the audience as anyone struggling to pay their energy bills, although I acknowledged that some refinement would likely be necessary if I took this idea forward.
WHAT SPECIFICALLY WOULD THEY BE ACCESSING?
I felt it important to think about specific content such that the most useful and meaningful guidance would be curated.
The content that met my goals was tips to do with energy efficient behaviour, information about publicly available grants, and phone numbers for departments, charities, and other offices that could help.
HOW WOULD THEY ACCESS THIS?
The established behaviours of my target audience would need to be considered to determine a point of entry/access, but at this stage the broadness of the target group made them difficult to specify. Nevertheless, I needed to start with a general idea.
There are very few people in the Isle of Man without a mobile phone or other device. I reasoned that people struggling with bills would use these devices as their primary means of information gathering, and as such I defined distribution in terms of social media sharing.
As well as this, the Isle of Man’s residents typically use Facebook as a place to gather and share information related to many day-to-day concerns and interests. For this reason, sharing through social media, particularly Facebook, appeared to be the best choice for reach.
However, I acknowledged at this stage that distribution via social media might not offer the widest reach, and that I could not be completely certain that those most in need do have devices that would allow them to access my solution. As such, format and distribution would be subject to continual review.
WHY WOULD THEY ACCESS THIS?
I moved to a consideration of target audience motivation. Specifically, what would move people struggling to pay bills toward my online guidance?
I concluded that motivation may sit at the level of one of the most basic needs: a need for warmth. Added to this are feeling of fear about upcoming winter bills.
Put simply, people would access the system because they want to find out how they can stay warm and alleviate fears surrounding financial outgoings.
WOULD THIS BE ADVANTAGEOUS BEYOND EXISTING SYSTEMS?
Although I was mostly satisfied that I had defined the problem – one of a need to give clear guidance and information to those struggling to pay their bills – I needed to be certain that this system would be doing something different.
Continued surveillance of emerging guides similar to the one I had planned revealed that systems in this area were being developed at a rapid pace.
Official Government guides had begun to organise themselves in easy to access and understand formats, and almost every day a new government or citizen led system or guide appeared on social media.
LIMITED SCOPE FOR A MEANINGFUL PROJECT IN THIS AREA
The pace at which new resources were being developed led me to conclude that there was not much I could do in this area that would have greater impact that the resources already available or just around the corner. The rate of evolution of the energy situation and related initiatives also meant that whatever I created could very quickly become redundant.
It was for these reasons that I decided to abandon this particular solution and to focus my attention on something else.
