Shaping Sustainable Behavior. Kinetic Materials Experience of Morphing Artifacts

The development of innovative smart materials plays a critical role in reimagining the structure, functionality, expression, and interactivity of artifacts. In the majority of literature, the evaluation of the environmental impact of smart materials focused on technological aspects such as manufacturing and mechanical properties to boost high functionality compared to conventional materials. However, the dynamic properties of smart materials, especially those capable of changing shape in response to external stimuli, open new design opportunities exploiting artifact experiential features for motivational purposes. For this, shape-changing materials can be an opportunity to foster design for environmental sustainability by motivating users’ sustainable behavior. In this paper, we analyze the kinetic experience of moving artifacts made of shape-changing materials and build a framework able to help designers use shape-changing materials in order to motivate user behavior. We use case studies methodology of morphing artifacts to demonstrate the potential contribution of shape-changing materials. The analysis is based on an experiential framework from literature encompassing four parts: movement perception, emotional response, meaning attribution, and behavioral impact. The paper proposes a strategy that emphasizes the possibility of integrating the experience of morphing artifacts to enhance pro-environmental awareness and motivate pro-environmental behavior while considering how shape-changing materials can contribute towards achieving a sustainable future through design.