Information Visualization for Sustainability

Context

The global interest is focusing on the solution to overcome the environmental change as a result of global warming. In the design area, the sustainable design is the key to planning and realizing the eco-friendly and organic structure by avoiding the previous roles of design, which are consumption-oriented and commercial. We discover the social issues for sustainability of the ecosystem with the eyes of designers, and analyze the causes and processes which result in the issues and their social context altogether. For the understanding of sustainability, the wholistic viewpoint to grasp a variety of relations to interact with each other in the social structure is needed, rather than the unilateral view. We have sought after the methods to deliver our views on each and every issue by visualizing the whole process interestingly. Furthermore, we suggested and tried the creative solution to cope with the issues through the design.

Project

A variety of issues such as a new type of virus, organic agriculture, nuclear power generation, national land development, and a waste of energy, etc. are selected as the themes. The assignments which started from the personal interests happen to have the objective grounds based on the researches on the relevant precedent studies and statistical data, etc. By way of these, the social cause and effect, or the structure and flow have been analyzed as solutions. We strived for the sustainability in a way of visualizing the related contexts and the social issues that can be caused by them. We have proceeded with the debate and criticism for about a month in a row to check whether what we try to emphasize is to be clearly revealed after making correction to those that can be distorted or corrupted in the process of visualization. As a result, the posters which express the information flow and relation regarding the phenomena and the stickers for energy-saving reminder which can alert us to the desirable pattern of life have been devised.

Design role  

Designers have effectively suggested the relations between the information elements related to sustainability and their social and environmental influences. Designers could develop the solutions to the socially critical issues easily and interestingly, and facilitated the intuitive understanding by simply visualizing many stories to be delivered. Also, they proposed the creative solution fit into the cause of problems. One of the most successful examples is the sticker project for saving energy. In this project, tissues, water supply or electronic gadgets, etc., many take for granted, are tagged with small energy-saving stickers for reminder. These start from the solution to tackle the causes of problems directly, which are found in the pattern of daily life styles of people. These efforts are expected to enhance the interest of society in the sustainable issues.