1. Open.Company
Open.Brand
Open.Product
Open.Retail
Open.Information
Open.System
Open.Object
An exploration into how future technology scenarios might
cultivate increased transparency of product information,
particularly in retail environments; empowering
consumers to make more sustainable product choices.
Jessi Baker
Solo Project Report
Innovation Design Engineering
6th June 2011

3. Executive Summary
Barbara Kruger, 1987
This experimental project aims to encourage reflection, research, and
comparison of products’ sustainability and ethics criteria, whilst raising the
debate on brands’ rights in an Augmented Reality and the potential for future
technology to foster ethical and democratic ‘choice architecture’.
A process of research and experimentation was conducted looking at
three main topics: Radical transparency of product information, Pervasive
computing and, eventually, Augmented Reality supporting new models for
consumerism. I designed and experimented in the negative space between
the user and the product, using a series of interventions designed for current
and future physical urban retail environments. I am primarily looking at the
fashion and beauty industry, but also food and consumer goods industries,
as part of my research and experimentation.
My final experiment is a prototype of a system to aid better selection of
products; two experimental interventions in the form of an installation that
enables Augmented Reality and information ‘curation’ to change the ‘choice
architecture’ of consumer shopping scenarios in order to empower more
sustainable choices. I am designing using technologies that are available now,
but still in their infancy, with a view to further development of technologies
such as Pervasive Computing and Augmented Reality.
“
Beyond the Age of
Information is the Age of
Choices
”
- Eames
3

5. Contents
Statement of originality 7
Project Context 9
Glossary 11
Sustainability Positioning 13
Research Summary 15
Radical Transparency of Product Information 15
Transparency of Information and Pervasive 17
Computing
Augmented Reality and alternative models for 18
consumption
Hypothesis 21
Project Plan: Summary of Key dates 22
Design and Research Process 23
Experimentation 25
One shopping list, one street, 27 countries 25
Where is it from? 27
Scenario presentation 27
Provenance AR/web interface design 28
Collective shopping basket 31
User journey mapping 31
Evolving choice architecture 33
Changing choice architecture with AR and object 34
recognition
Projection of information around objects 36
Final show experiments
Open.Object 39
Interface design 41
Technology Description 43
Conclusions 45
Bibliography 47
Appendices 50
5

7. Statement of Originality
Except where indicated in the text, all work in this report is my own original
work. The technologies pervasive computing and augmented reality are
not my own invention, but the system, control and application of these
technologies are my own work.
7

8. Do you know what you are buying into?

9. Project Context
“
We propose a reversal of priorities in
favour of more useful, lasting and
democratic forms of communication – a
mindshift away from product marketing
and toward the exploration and
production of a new kind of meaning.
The scope of debate is shrinking; it
must expand. Consumerism is running
uncontested; it must be challenged by
other perspectives expressed, in part,
”
through the visual languages and
resources of design.
- First Things First Manifesto, 1964
The world’s environmental and social problems are evident to many of
us as citizens; however, as consumers we are lacking truthful and timely
information to guide our purchasing decision making to truly change them.
Worse, we are often misled. “Without understanding the impacts of goods
and services, we buy into systems that deplete natural resources, worsen
environmental and social problems and endanger humans and ecosystems”
(Bonanni, 2009). Our choices in the market place successfully decide which
goods and therefore which companies thrive and grow above others.
“Every transaction in the scheme of things is small, incremental, seemingly
inconsequential, but each moment has the potential to create real change”
(Hawken, 1993).
So “we know that a dollar paid is a vote cast for the kind of world we want”
(WorldChanging) yet there still appears to be a branded smokescreen
between the product in front of us and the impactful system, effecting many
environments and communities, behind it. The good news is that consumer
choices also represent “daily opportunities to support alternatives that are
better for our health and for the environment” (WWG Good Stuff Guide).
There is an increasing volume and management of available information via
the internet, but it is currently not fully utilised to empower consumers to
invest in products that are genuinely better for society and the environment.
As consumers our freedom of comparison and decision is a programmed
freedom ; “we can only chose from that which we are presented” (Flusser,
1999), but through technology we could be presented with more, better,
filtered choices. What if our choice architectures reflected our choices as a
society not only as an individual?
9

11. Product Provenance
Referring to the origins of products including their supply chains;
encompassing many places, communities, processes and materials.
Transparency
I define transparency of a particular product as
the accessibility to truthful information on the
product itself, its life-cycle and its supply chain,
whether it is economic, environmental or social.
This can be applied to the point of view of any
stakeholder in the product’s direct use, life-cycle
or supply chain.
Information Curation
The sifting through, selecting and visualizing of information with the aim of
adding value and ease of use.
Choice Architecture
Describes the way in which decisions are influenced by how the choices
are presented (in order to influence the outcome) (Nudge Blog, 2011).
Ubiquitous Computing
(Also referred to as pervasive computing and ambient intelligence) is a post-desktop
model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been
thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities (Wikipedia, 2011).
Augmented Reality
Also referred to as AR. A special case of the wider concept of ‘Mediated
Reality’, which refers to the ability to add to, subtract information
from, or otherwise manipulate one’s perception of reality through
the use of a wearable computer or hand-held device such as a smart
phone . Augmented Reality can enhance our situational knowledge
by providing visual information that supplements what we naturally
perceive.
Sustainability
Defined by the United Nations as “meeting the
needs of the present without compromising
the needs of the future generations to meet
their own needs.” Sustainability encompasses
environmental, economic and social preservation
and welfare.
Key Concepts 11

13. Sustainability Positioning
Environmental Sustainability Ethical/Social Sustainability Economic Sustainability
Key environmental sustainability Finite as well as qualitatative The essence of this project is
criteria are brought to the measures of social sustainability about financially supporting
forefront of consumer decision are highlighted in my system. the ‘fittest’ businesses in terms
making with my system. I created the system with the of sustainability criteria rather
premise to pave the way for than just profit (or return on
I have chosen to focus on three qualitative representation of investment).
measures of environmental social issues.
sustainability: Carbon Footprint, A key part of my project is
Toxic Materials and Water Usage. I chosen to focus on two issues the idea of an ‘augmented
My final experiment will consist related to social sustainability: alternative’, where when
of a matrix of products where Animal Welfare and the measure viewing the products through
each product has stored data of Living Wage. Information on a filter based on your interests,
on these measures, depending these issue will, again, be visible, if required, an alternative
on whether the consumer to varying degrees, depending presented is manifested virtually
is interested, comparative on the consumer’s interest. for the consumer based on the
information about these information consulted. This
measures will become visible in allows consumers to choose
the product environment. things that are not presented to
them, but better suit their criteria
I am using a selection of 7 for choice. to the selection of
independent bodies to provide products.
information on the products
(including Ethiscore and There is proof of an expansion
GoodGuide). of marketplace for more ethical
goods, yet ‘greenwash’ is strongly
hindering its productive
development. Seamless access
to independent information
‘curated’ by you as you shop
could allow consumers to
economically support the kind of
corporations and products that
match their values.
13

14. Structural Hole
Indonesian workers
Shareholders
Subcontractor
Subcontractor Store Customers
Subcontractor
Subcontractor
Chinese workers
New York Times 60mins FLA
Indonesian workers
Shareholders
Subcontractor
Subcontractor Store Customers
Subcontractor
Subcontractor
Chinese workers
The Structural Hole and The Structural Hole
Filled, reinterpreted from ‘Ethics and Network
Organizations’ by Robert A. Phillips, 2009

15. Project Research: Summary of Findings
“
The question now is how to enable
rational and ethical behaviour in a world
too complex for applied rationality, how
to make our ignorance an opportunity
”
for continual learning and adjustment.
-New Scientist 14/05/11
Radical Transparency of Product Information
When people encounter the word transparency, they often think of glass.
Transparency is a material property of glass; light passes directly through
it and you can see clearly what’s behind it. There is another context for the
term transparency and that is “transparency can mean conveying the truth.”(
Henriques, 2007). Transparency can be a trait of candid openness denoting
accessibly of information, be it in a person, a product or system. For a product
this implies accessibility to timely and understandable information relating
to the products’ supply chain details, provenance and life-cycle impact, in
order to facilitate open choice.
Radical transparency of product information
has been a rising issue for over a decade,
provoked by books such as No Logo (Klien),
independent media exposes and the internet.
However, transparency has been an issue
perhaps since production of our products left
our communities, for example with reporters
such as Upton Sinclair depicting the lives of “the
targets of unseen enemies” (Sinclair, 1906) in the
Chicago meatpacking industry in1906.
Independent media, governments and NGOs
have all attempted to aid transparency of
product information, closing the ‘structural Ethical trading marks, various sources
hole’ that has emerged largely due to the
fast globalization of business, between the
product supply chains and the consumer facing ‘Brandscapes’ (Koolhass).
There have been some amazing leaps forward, from the Fair Trade mark,
compulsory ingredients listing on all food, to Smart Phone applications such
as the GoodGuide. However, the plethora of factors and the enormity and
complexity of the issue mean the issue is far from ‘tackled’ and will need new
dynamic platforms as a new age of ubiquitous technology approaches.
“Brands will soon be forced to be more transparent, they will realise
consumers are more aware of the environment and that it costs less to go
green.” (Beyond Branding, 2006). Through researching the issues surrounding
and the successes in transparency of product information, it became clear
that it is not the quantity of the information that is import, but that the right
stakeholders getting the right information (from the right source) at the right
time (i.e. in line with an action, such as product purchase).
15

16. Transparency of product information has “traditionally been championed
by watchdog organisations and government agencies” (HSIM, 2010), such
as Global Witness and Transparency International. Relatively few are directly
consumer - or designer - facing; they are more focused on governmental level
legislation and regulation as this is most certainly the most proven manner
Air Freighted’ sticker for immediate change. A notable success being The Kimberly Process which
(2009) by Tesco. came about after “Global Witness, a small London based non‐governmental
Food that has been organisation (NGO), published a report on A rough trade” (NCCR Paper on the
transported by air Kimberley Process) in 1998. Government regulation and global governance
and is marked. are currently essential in the fight against injustice in sustainable development
and human rights, but consumer - and designer - facing transparency can only
aid in the eradication of the need for regulation at all, a much
longer term ideal. “The need for regulation is a sign of design
failure, [it’s often just] a license to harm at an ‘acceptable rate’.”
(Braungart and McDonough, 2002). During my research I
formulated a Manifesto for Designers for Transparency, which
is included in the appendices of this report.
Independent data integration onto product packaging
has been led by the food industry through clear labeling
of ingredients and also ‘food miles’ as a quick aid to carbon
footprint comparisons between products. There are many
Farm Number by Dole: Organic logos and marks of approval from various independent
bananas are labelled with a number organisations that can be marked on packaging and products.
indicating a banana farm location. The From ‘Fair Trade’ certified to ‘Forest Stewardship Council
code can be entered into the website (FSC)’ approved, the independent seal has risen as a clear
online to reveal images of the farm way to replace branding as a mark of trust, providing clues
location and conditions to the company’s good treatment of at least one aspect of
environment and society. However, the aesthetics of ethical
shopping marks and guides are still crude, unemotional
and having been developed for the
food and commodities industries
and are not translating well into the
more complex clothing and consumer
goods markets, such as the fashion and
beauty industry.
Media and tools which develop
Product Supply Chain Transparency
capability have existed in many forms
for some time, although it is only since
the widespread use of the internet that
truly radical transparency has been
able to grow and give rise to online
open source collective approaches
to reveal the truth behind products,
GoodGuide(2007) by Dara O’Rourke: Website like phone it’s these platforms, for example
aplication providing information about the health, Sourcemap (sourcemap.org) that need
environmental and social performance of products and to be integrated into information about
companies products at the point of sale.
16

17. Transparency of Information and Pervasive Computing
Globalization has increased overall complexity of the production of our
products but the internet enhanced out global interconnectivity (Lawson,
2009). The ‘Internet of Things’ or Pervasive computing, will enhance
our interconnectivity still further. In the near future all objects will have
“
intelligence and the ability to
communicate. Indeed we are seeing The future will see a new kind of object,
this ‘third wave’ of computing come we have the primitive forms of them
into play already. “We’ve moved now in our pockets and briefcases: User-
from a desktop internet to mobile alterable, baroquely multi-featured, and
phones and mobile internet - the programmable, that will be sustainable,
”
next step is buildings and objects,
enabling us to communicate with enhanceable, and uniquely identifiable.
them directly or enabling them to
even bypass people entirely and
communicate directly with each -Bruce Sterling, 2005
other.” (BBC News, 2011) Social
objects open up opportunities for brands to connect with their customers,
brands will also have to be prepared for consumers’ experiences around social
objects to overshadow the objects themselves. Services like ‘Stickybits’ enable
users to attach digital content (videos, links, audio, text) to physical objects,
and we’ll see virtual communities form
around these real-world items (www.
JWTIntelligence.com).
Currently, however, we are in a state
of a multitude of relatively ‘dumb’
objects; although we are equipped
with smart devices. The proportion of
people who access the Internet only
through mobile devices will “grow from
14 million in 2010 to 788 million by
2015. Meanwhile, the number of smart
phones will rise from about 500 million
today to 2.5 billion.” (Fast Company,
2011) This means we can recognize
objects around us, pinpoint location
and integrate a search for information A smart wine rack - every bottle has a RFID tag, and the
via search engines of various types. rack is connected to the internet to let the owner know
If objects become more intelligent when a bottle has been removed.
and start to carry digital information,
either self generated or appended to it
via some kind of tagging system, then it becomes an important issue as to
how the information associated with that object is controlled, aggregated,
presented and in what form and hierarchy and, most importantly, by who?
Data Object
17

18. Augmented Reality and Alternative models for consumption
Augmented Reality (AR) enhances our awareness of the interconnected world
around us; it can vastly increase our situational knowledge by providing
visual information that supplements what we naturally perceive. It is a tool
for ‘seeing’ (or experiencing) digital information appended to objects. Just as
eco-labels strive to accelerate sustainable behavior, AR could be an important
vehicle for communicating sustainability achievements and benchmarking
the products in front of you.
“Augmented reality is the best chance we have to speed crucial information
about our world to the people living in it. Better Choices through Technology”
(Good magazine, 2011). AR could become the most crucial platform
to mediate choice. Augmented Reality is relatively its infancy in
terms of possible development, current uses include branding,
marketing offers, and computer games and media gimmicks. AR
has great potential to encourage “reflection, research, inquisition
and comparison” (Slow Lab, 2011) of products.
Part of the research phase for this project included taking part
in ‘6 Billion Ways’ (5th March 2011) a workshop on alternative
6 Billion Ways Conference, 2011 models for our consumer society, I got the chance to investigate
what kinds of information people are interested in knowing about
products and also discuss the philosophic potential for AR. Later I
interviewed the philosopher Kate Soper (29th April 2011), this allowed me
to discuss how some of her ideas about alternative models for ‘consumer
society’, could become integrated into the new world of AR. AR has the
potential to facilitate a increasingly democratic consumer environment
encouraging dematerisation and even an ‘alternative hedonism’ contesting
blind consumption. This lead to investigation into legislation surrounding
pervasive computing and Augmented reality. Brands currently do not have
Augmented Reality provides you with information that depends on what
channel you look through. Through what glasses do you want to view your
surroundings?
18

19. y
om
How do other websites rate this?
i st
th
?
d hand
ng
lli
se
Cong
let
secon
t
ou
lo
?
air
mera
il
is
ta
e?
ap
r
buy th
he
re
et
On
ted ra
? st
row
ar
ion se
lin
es
at clo
bor
yl
Can I
er
W
st
tings
oc e
ho
t l th
r
evi
nI
ila
ra
en is
ew
Ca
Bl sim
te
rr re
?
o er me
s
st
cu he
g fit
fe th
hi
W
d
Wa at to ran
s?
ur
tch es ha is b
aY
ouT W
ai r/th
What ub sp
’s a m
ore tra
eH
au ll t hi ?
nspare l Wi ring
them
nt co mpan li ke wea
y look
altern
ative will I
? What
What’s a more ethical alternative? Affiliated brands, events and sponsorship
try/buy it?
? Adve
ands rtisin
es/br g ima
d s/styl ges an
ar bran d video
are simil ? Ce
leb
What ad riti
dh es
/b ran we
d uct g?
W
he
ari
ng
p ro tin re t h is
t his po
r ca
h as re n
Ca
ss Ib
nt
lit s
pre uy
bi er
de n
y?
at
na th
Ig
n th
Fa
Wh pe
in?
is
ai o
de et
vou
i
st ith
Whic
n
What’
cha
in a
What’s the carbon footprint of this product?
a
su e w
by di sa
rit
sc l e?
ply
d
on par
h
e je
te ou
s the
ra
of my
n
sup
m
t ts
an
i
co
is om
s
nd
the
ow
lifecyc
in
eh
frien
ra
H ow
my
at’s
/b
?
ct
ds w
soc
le of
du
Wh
ro
al i
sp
ear th
this p
ne
i
th
tw
es
ork
is
rodu
do
bran
s?
ow
ct?
H
?d
Research map of a selection of the possble information you could digitally append an object using AR
protections over the use of their logos in AR (specifically as the marker to
launch an AR experience). Currently anyone has the right to use trademarks
as AR markers, and can append any information they like to them.
Some notable alternative consumption approaches include ‘Anti-
consumption’ shown by downshifters such as the Compactt Collective, who
lived off only essential goods for a year, using services not buying products
e.g. community rental schemes, green/sustainable products, organic
consumption and ethical consumption, which is focused slightly more on
human rights. In AR these concepts could get a voice right in our current
consumer environments, when we are about to buy an item. This will require
the most popular AR exploration platforms to be open and democratic.
Currently AR is only operating in discrete channels that you have to select
and then they facilitate your ‘view’, like choosing a pair of glasses to see the
world through. Indeed with the development of AR contact lenses it may be
exactly like that.
19

20. Initial key words for my project

21. Hypothesis
Project hypothesis
If technology can cultivate transparency of information
about products then consumers can make more sustainable
product choices.
Research Question
Can future technology scenarios cultivate increased
transparency of information about products, particularly
in retail environments; empowering consumers to make
more sustainable product choices?
21

22. Feburary
Meta theme of
Transparency of
Information Research &
Inspiration visits
GenY consumer
Interviews
March
Small business
Consumer interviews
6 Billion ways
journey
event
mapping
Product Provenance
Experiements Series
Identify and
brainstorm ideas
and intervensions
Interviewed Kate
Soper
Choice Archtiecture
Experiments
Research into
AR
Experimented with
shopping via GPS in
Collaborative ‘brand
Processing
story ‘ wiki design
and model Design a website to
April shop by Provenance
Data visulation
experiments
Idea generation on Shopping with
aesthetics of AR AR ideas
Data vis
& AR
May
Projection mapping
Design experiments with
informative AR AR
experiment control
Developing AR in
Layers
Projection mapping
choice architectures
Controlling video
with dials using
processing Developing AR in
Make final
experimental set Layers
ups
June Testing of AR choice
architectures with
users
Key Steps in my Process 22

23. Design and Research Process
PRODUCT SELECTION JOURNEYS
Understanding PROVENANCE AUDIT
the problem LIMITS TO PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
experiments
INTERVENTIONS
NETWORKS
INFOMRATION VISUALISATION
Final
UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING/AR Research Experiments
ANALOUE-DIGITAL
CONSUMPTION
MOCK UP SCENARIOS
Design PROTOTYPE SOFTWARE
Experiments
EXPERIENCE CREATION
UX/UI EXPERIMENTATION
My process was based on a cycle/spiral of research and two different types
of experimentation styles, eventually leading to a final set of experiments
experiment.
23

24. The Shopping List Wholefoods
Tomatoes from Portugal Marks & Spencer Mange
vs. tomatoes from a Tout from Guatamala,
hothouse in Kent vs. Mange Tout from
Serbia
Tesco Oranges from I made a custom google
South Africa, vs. oranges map of the shops I
from Sevile visited
Carbon potential saved Sourcemap of different
through choosing the shops
lowest carbon option
of the same food stuff
inevery store vs the
highest 5.4kg
CO2
Photographs from the different supermarkets and screenshots

25. Experimentation
Connecting food with points on a map
1
Understanding the problem: One shopping list, one street, 27 countries
I made a shopping list and went out to High Street Kensington to shop for it
in several different supermarkets and then compared the carbon footprints
of the offering of each supermarket using the Sourcemap interface. The
potential difference in carbon footprint between combinations of products
is a staggering 5.4 kg CO2, which is roughly the equivalent to a half a gallon
of petrol fuel consumed (timeforchange.org, 2011).
Insight gained: If I had had access to this independant comparitive
information whilst shopping you could potentially save 5.4 kg of CO2.
25

26. Brainstorm

27. 2
Understanding: Where is it from?
How much do people know and care about where commonly bought
products come from? How does brand effect this knowledge or perception?
I asked 40 people to mark where an array of different branded products were
made on a world map.
3
Understanding: Scenario presentation
Looking at choice architecture with users to identify intervention points and
opportunities for change with post-its. What questions would you want to ask in
these scenarios if you could?
27

28. “
Data visualization could
”
become the interface.
-Insight from user research
using esty interface design
4
Designing: Provenance AR/web interface design
Information curation and data visualisation in the form of infographics
have enlightened many to the world of data present on the web. How
can I incorporate an infographic style into augmented or curated product
selection? Currently the choice architectures of the high streets, department
stores and internet shopping sites are largely dictated to us by corporations,
as is the branded world we live in, can Augmented Reality and other new
technology platforms provide different perspectives and methods of
curating our own choice architectures? What could future technology
scenarios present in terms of potential to challenge our current ‘consumer
society’, offering perhaps increasingly intangible consumerism and the
fostering of ‘better’ purchasing decisions? I researched data visualization for
e-commerce and Etsy (see the above photograph) is by far the best, if only,
example I have found of a company pushing the boundaries of traditional
search capability and product filtering on its site, I think this will be a large
future trend for e-commerce and could aid ethical shopping enormously
with the right filters and cross brand personal e-commerce curation. As data
becomes more abundant we don’t want to make more noise, but a better,
cross verified, sound for things.
Key Questions raised:
Are information filters the biggest brands of the future?
How can we curate the information we see in AR?
28

29. Mock up of a website and AR visualisation that allows the user to PROVENANCE
shop for products by provenance. Browsing ‘fruit’...
What if ‘Provenance’ was a company; an online department store
for products that have transparent supply chains? You could
buy local, compare on ethics easily and on CO2 etc whilst still
considering price and brand. Here are some mocked up screen
shots.
The idea is you use the ring to decide on the provenance, here the
example shows a very small map area, therefore the indicators Ashford house community garden
Apples trees, PYO £1/kg
are only showing local producers.
PROVENANCE
Map view
Browsing ‘wooden double bed frames’...
Sort by PRICE WIDTH COLOUR
Sort by relevant ethical criteria CO2
PROVENANCE
Browsing ‘wooden double bed frames’... Grid view
Sort by relevant ethical criteria CO2

30. ACCESSORIES
HOME
OD
Foot pump £39 Hardware store
Newspaper holder £15
Cooking pot
Light £90
Olive O
The Or
FO
Wate
Bag
We
Su
rmelo
of C
agami
eta
il £3.65
Ba
shi
Shop
bix
na
Ice
hee
£10 App Icec stau
n £2 .
£59 Online
na
-c
Ch
£1.
Lamp £
t os
rea food
s & 1.80 3 Re
.80
Corner
ine
W
75
ES
55/g
Bo
m
in
s e 99
99p
Jap £1. am nt
e
IC
ttl
Sup entr esco
£
£6
A e
RV
10 Hab
les
an
Lidl
ro o
.
Sup rket
om f c
shop
erm e
SE
£2
Fli id
C
gh in er
erm
a
tt a
25
Mo o G ho £2.
re
itat
v ie oa use 50
arke
T
£2
Tic .9 £4 £5 M&
va
ra
ket
ES
s fo 9 iTu 60 S 00 S
t
n
Prin rR n T A /m
TH
ting .Ke es Lo
flye lly nd
CLO
Jea r& £2 on
ns £ bus 08
19.9 ine
Suit 9 (in sse
£420 the
Savi sale s card
Boots lle R ) GA s £
ow
ACCESSORIES
£125 P 125
Shop
Headpho
nes £15
Selfridge
Headphones £49.99 s
Currys
Novel £45 Book shop
n
k £3.49 Amazo
Non-fiction boo
ots op
s £6 Bo ike sh
Condom 1.20 B t
l £4
Wh e e ne
inter Black
s
Bicycle £270 0
ne £9
opho ack
Micr Ba ck p p on
lling Sho ond
ENT
Tr ave 2 50 0 L
rp £ ,00
oha 49
Aut £2
PM
e!
o us
Ah
UI
EQ
A collaborative Shopping Basket

31. 5
Understanding the problem: Collective shopping basket
Simple experiment/research asking people to draw and price their last non-
essential ‘significant’ purchase, what products are fuelling our unsustainable
consumption habits? Interviews and discussion on non-essential
consumerism and the Compact Collective. The image opposite shows the
results of our collective shopping basket.
6
User insights: Shopping journeys
Photos from one of my ‘journey mappings’ of the shopping habits of one of
my 14 year old users; the future of shopping in the UK. She is savvy with
technology, but highly influenced by brand, price, her friends and, although
claims to be interested in ethical fashion, has no contact with any ethical
fashion alternatives and no ways to compare brands, ask questions or find
out more.
31

32. Changing choice architecture

33. “
If we have a certain amount of participation,
the information you might get when you
take a picture [or purchase] a product
will be information about how healthy it
is, how healthy it is for the environment,
how much people were paid to make the
product, whether there were labor issues
involved, all those things. But if we don’t
have the participation and the literacy
to make that happen, instead we’ll have
just a barrage of advertising, which is
obviously biased towards selling the product.
That’s the problem. We need people with
human interests and not market interests
participating. That means people need to
participate in their spare time and not when
they’re on the clock for some company.
The hopeful vision is that we have enough
literacy and participation to become a
”
smarter planet, but that’s going to require a
push.
- Michael Wesch, 2011
7
Physically evolving choice architecture
Would you rather oranges from Spain, California, Argentina or ‘don’t care?
I hosted an evening of conversation about provenance and consumption
habits: Is provenance important and why? How could provenance become
integrated into your shopping habits.
This is an experiment looking into choice architecture and provenance, the
oranges form a dynamic bar chart (a sort of live infographic) as people select
them from the ‘bars’ based on provenance information (with and without
price), the number of oranges in each bar affected people’s choice, the first of
which was chosen by place of origin.
Understanding how users participate in creating information, in however a
subtle way, is central to my project.
33

34. AR Channel Tests

35. “
Sustainability is about living well but
consuming much less; it is a social
learning process and will involve moving
from a ‘product-based well-being’ to
thinking about products, dematerializing
products, services and enabling solutions
”
to satisfy our needs.
- Manzini & Jegou , 2003
8
Changing choice architecture with AR and object recognition
Experimenting with Augmented reality, I started by using the traditional
marker system stuck onto products, appending information to these
markers. I also investigated using QR codes on products and then appending
data to a wiki-like website which would be customized to your information
preferences. At the time of conducting this experiment, very few examples
of ‘markerless’ AR existed.
This lead me to the idea of making brand logos markers in themselves, as
they are sufficiently differentiated from each other and have high definition,
contrast and colour consistency by design. I then experimented using object
recognition technology to recognize brand logos. I also investigated how I
might append data to these logos. I created AR channels that recognized
brand logos and, then later, product shapes and called information
depending on your preferences.
I created the term ‘Augmented Alternatives’ and experimented with how we
can evolve choice architecture by adding things, that aren’t presented in real
life, in AR that are relevant to firstly what you are looking at and secondly
your preferences.
See the appendices for the coding for this experiment.
35

36. 9
Projection of information around objects
Experimenting with how to present data in augmented reality around
objects using several projectors and MaxMSP (VPT), controlled via an HTML
website via Processing.
For the code written for this experiment please see the appendices.
Here I experimented with my concept of ‘Information Volume’ in AR.
36

37. Projections create a different media for AR

38. ‘Dumb’ objects can Objects are Objects are Objects can talk to Objects are Smart devices
be identified with identified with a identified with a each other and react identified with a
object recognition or unique code they unique coUnique and show their unique code they
bar code scanning have linked NFID, objects can be information have linked
and you can look up information placed with GPS. shadows when information
information about shadows on the net Objects have smart desired shadows on the net
the product on the information
net using your smart shadows linked to
device the object. de they
have linked
information
shadows on the net
increasing uniqueness,
smartness and connectivity
An Evolution of Objects uniqueness, intelligence and connectivity
Work in Progress...

39. Final experiment
Interface design process
Projection cabinet made for the show
Open.Object
An experimental prototype for the design of a new digital scenario.
The Open.Object system allows the user to curate the kind and amount of
information they wish to see when looking at a product in Augments Reality.
Open.Object acts as a buffer, between, you and your personal preferences,
products you might buy and the cloud where all the data is stored. You have
control over an ‘ambient app’ on your phone to change your preferences. The
product in front of you has a sea of data appended to it and you can control
what you see from the product. You only interact with the Open.Object
interface when you want to change your settings, otherwise it just keeps on
using your settings and evolving with your interaction with the AR data.
I am looking at objects about to go through the first step of their evolution
from ‘dump’ objects to smarter, more unique objects, see the image opposite
for a possible evolution (although all objects have thresholds to how smart
they need to become).
Aditional ‘Design Enterprise’ Flavour
There is a strong Design Enterprise aspect to the experiment. As Jan Kees
Vis, Unilever’s global director of sustainable sourcing, says “Companies and
brands are struggling with the question how to mobilise consumers to
give preference to products and brands that have the potential to deliver
positive social and environmental outcomes.” The design of my final
experiment focuses on the beauty and fashion industry, facilitating selection
in a department store stsyle environment incorporating the design for the
business operation into the experiment.
39

40. 40