Fostering Sustainable User Behaviour: Exploring Meaning And Its Creation In Products And Services

This paper is integrated in our research project on fostering sustainable user behaviour by designing meaning. It explores different types of meaning in products and services, and their creation. For that, the results of a literature study are integrated into an initial taxonomy of meaning and an initial framework for creating meaning. From the taxonomy we derive four roles that products and services can play in meaning making. Additionally we discuss how five possible interventions in users meaning making for behavioural change can be pursued by design on the basis of the framework. We illustrate the role of designers in creating meaning with examples, touch on its potential for behavioural change of users and outline further research needs.