With a little help from a friend: a shower calendar to save water

Abstract

This design case presents and discusses the Shower Calendar, a "persuasive" concept for reducing the con-sumption of water for showering. It starts from a dis-cussion of different types of feedback employed by earlier design cases. Based on this, we designed the Calendar concept as an ambient, persistent and indi-vidualized feedback. A field study with two families (6 individuals) revealed that the Calendar fosters goal setting, comparison, competition, and communication. In addition, quantitative data showed one family to have been more successful in translating the Calendar's offer into actual behavior change, i.e., saving water. This highlights that change is not achieved by the product itself (as in automation or regulation), but by the people involved.