Our Mission

We want to inspire and educate students and staff to gain knowledge and insight that will increase the rate of sustainable behaviors. By researching the effects of visual prompts around college campuses, we want to find ways to make prompts useful in reducing water and energy consumption and preventing waste.

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In 2012, prompts have been taken down from certain building at University of Michigan because some argue that they are not aesthetically appealing. Feedback shows that some university employees are concerned with clutter and unnecessary signage. Facility managements have questioned the efficacy of the prompts in being environmentally beneficial. We took it upon ourselves to find out what prompts can really do for the public and how they can be improved. Research proves that certain visual variables as well as proximity and language regarding prompts can increase desired behaviors.

Explaining Prompts

Technological interventions can impose extra costs, may not be universally feasible, and are ineffective without proper education (Derijcke and Uitzinger, 2006). Studies indicate that merely focusing on the design of technologically efficient products without recognizing the significant role of users’ behavior are destined to fail and do not result in change. A challenge in improving the efficiency of energy, waste and water use is not primarily technical--but behavioral. Studies have shown that if the population is familiar with a sustainable concept and is not opposed to it, eliciting attention to the behavior can be achieved through creating cues, signs or signals that appeal to sensory perception and that are close in proximity to a suggested action. Signs, tags, stickers, and other things suggesting an action to the public with attention grabbing visual elements are considered visual prompts.