Commuting by river, behavioural economics and what the Fiat Panda can teach us about design in tough times.
Public transport
Streams of thought
Can design encourage more people in the capital to take a boat to work? Transport for London (TfL) believes it could be the key to a more sustainable and efficient commuter infrastructure.
Around two million passengers used the Thames river services in 2000. That had risen to more than five million by 2008. But only 2,000 Londoners commute by boat every day on one of the two main routes: from Putney to Blackfriars and the Embankment to Woolwich. More river travel would help the environment and alleviate overcrowding on buses and the Tube.
“We want services to continue to flourish, potentially carrying over 7.5 million people by 2012,” says Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor’s director of transport policy and chair of an association of the city’s pier owners, boat operators, councils TfL.
To meet this aim, TfL will hire designers to advise how it can make river travel easier. “We need to focus on removing barriers that stand in the way of growth, such as poor signage to piers and limited pier capacity in central London,” says Ranger. Oyster cards will soon become valid on part of the service.
In the short term, signage will be improved at piers and stations to show commuters the boat can be quicker than the tube. To heighten awareness at transport interchanges, pier signage will be incorporated into the Legible London wayfinding project. Tower Pier will be extended by 2011, which should help the Thames play its part in transporting athletes for the Olympics.
Social change
Designing better behaviour
Why do we make the decisions we do? And how can these judgments be channelled into change that is socially useful? These are questions now being answered by designers, who are attempting to engage directly with users’ emotions to influence positive behavioural change.
According to research into behavioural economics, people are prone to irrationality when making economic decisions. For example, a happy face on a utility bill has been shown to make the average person reduce energy consumption by 8%.
In North America, energy companies (such as Sacramento Municipal Utility District) are using smiley faces to grade customers on their energy use: one or two if they’ve saved more energy than average, none if they haven’t. It sounds daft, but this has been shown to encourage people to cut down on their consumption even more.
Nate Wittasek, a former LA firefighter who is now an engineer with Arup, knew from experience that people’s response to a fire is irrational. Impressed by the software used in The Lord of the Rings films to give each Orc its own ‘brain’ within a moving army, he used it to predict group evacuations and influence the design of new buildings.
“Designers have a big role to play here,” says Jamie Young of the RSA. But he cautions: “Designing to influence behaviour throws up ethical questions, as persuasive technology can mean less choice.”
Prince Philip Designers Prize
Two wheels good
The winner of the 2009 Prince Philip Designers Prize may not be a household name but the fruits of his labours will be familiar to many commuters. Andrew Ritchie created the Brompton folding bicycle and still runs the company. A former landscape gardener, he spent 30 years designing and building prototypes in his bedroom and trying to license his ideas to big companies before going it alone.
Today, Brompton is one of only two major producers of quality bikes in the UK and invests 50% of its profits in design.
Find out more about the Prince Philip Designers Prize
Fiat Panda
A design-driven success story
In tough markets, many companies look to prices as a competitive edge. But Roberto Verganti, one of the top authors on innovation, thinks bosses should turn to design and, in his new book Design Driven Innovation, suggests they could learn from the profitable longevity of the Fiat Panda.
Today, six years after the Panda finally became extinct, the car’s boxy look already seems comically dated. But the rugged little runabout’s enduring success was, Verganti says, down to design.
The Panda was never the cheapest, fastest or sexiest vehicle in its class but it enjoyed a 40% repurchase rate (the industry average is less than 20%), was usually one of the best sellers in its sector and stayed in production from 1980 to 2003 (the average life cycle of rival cars was only 8.5 years).
Fiat CEO Carlo De Benedetti briefed the celebrated car designer Giorgietto Giugiaro: “What I want is a car with lots of room for passengers and their luggage, at the price of a small car.” But De Benedetti left and in the resulting chaos Giugiaro was left to his own devices and enjoyed “maximum freedom”.Conceived as an affordable, no-frills utility car, the Panda had a personality people were drawn to. Following the principle of robust simplicity, its visible hinges and flat windows allowed quick – and cheap – assembly and ease of maintenance. Inside, removable seating, washable covers and open storage pouches offered great versatility of use.
Verganti says the Panda changed the way people saw city cars, which was why so many consumers, stayed loyal. In a difficult economy, Fiat used design to build a far more enduring profitable advantage than it might have achieved by cutting prices.
Creative cities
Santa Fe
History and culture
Once part of Mexico, Santa Fe is compact (with a population of 70,000), rich in history and is America’s first UNESCO creative city.
Lights, camera, action
The surrounding desert makes an ideal location for filming such movies as Independence Day and No Country for Old Men. There are three Western sets, and a 25% tax rebate on production expenditure.
Folk art city
Culturally influenced by Native Americans, and feted for its artistic community and pueblo-style architecture, Santa Fe has more than 200 galleries and its art market is worth £1bn ( $1.6bn). As part of the city’s creative strategy, it helps cultural workers find affordable housing and is planning to beef up training for entrepreneurs in the creative sector.
Green is good
All new buildings must be carbon neutral by 2030. A new 135,000 sq ft commercial development must meet a target of 60% reduction in fossil fuel.
Business brains
The New Mexico Small Business Development Centre – based at Santa Fe Community College – has helped to start 7,600 new businesses in the past 20 years. While the city attracts up to two million visitors a year and tourism supplies 40% of its budget, a burgeoning technology base, dubbed the Info Mesa, has helped the city diversify its economy.
Article first published in Design Council Magazine, Issue 7, Winter 2009
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