A Protocol to Address User Behavior in the Eco-Design of Consumer Products

Abstract

Today, it is difficult to integrate the use phase optimization of consumer products into eco-design methodologies. Current eco-design approaches are in fact mainly focused on improving the technological performance of products while it has been proven that users behavior plays an important role in the overall environmental performances of products. This paper deals with the need to address the notion of user experience and behavior in the design process of today's low-complexity consumer products in order to improve their environmental performance. The research protocol presented in this paper is a new eco-design approach in six steps that can be used by designers to support eco-design decisions and integrate user behavior parameters into design activities. The first step consists in the identification of critical environmental aspects in use and usage drifts potential of the product. Steps two, three, and four support designers in the analysis of the use phase for the selection of efficient design for sustainable behavior (DfSB) strategies to be implemented on the product. Finally, steps five and six aim to test the selected strategies with product-in-use observations. Life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is used for the evaluation of the environmental benefits of the strategies. To illustrate this work, a case study of a coffee maker is described together with the eco-design solutions chosen for this product. The solutions reflect strategies targeting DfSB.