Emma Sanders

MFA Design Research and Development, 2015

Abstract:

The goal of this thesis is to uncover the reasons behind why certain products are kept and why others are not kept. It is important to consider and focus on how consumers actually use and live with items after they have bought or come to obtain them because that is where products have the most opportunity to serve their purpose and prove their value or not. Understanding how people feel about the products that they have, and why they make the decisions about them that they do, can lead to useful implications for better-designed and more environmentally sustainable products (and the systems that surround them) in the future.

Emma Sanders is an MFA candidate in the Design Research and Development program at The Ohio State University. She is a 2011 graduate from OSU’s Industrial Design program, and she is interested in the sustainable consumption and use of everyday products and objects. She is also interested in user experience and service design.