Context

Climate action often feels abstract, especially at home where the impact of our choices is hidden. Food waste is one of the clearest examples, a global environmental crisis driven by tiny everyday moments we barely notice. Without feedback loops
or emotional resonance, sustainable behavior remains an ideal rather than a habit.

Ecora speculates on a alternate future. One where the products we use reflect our behavior back to us, where sustainability feels intuitive, and where technology nurtures self-awareness instead of guilt. It transforms food waste from an invisible issue into a visible, sensory, and empowering experience.

Challenge

Most systems designed to reduce food waste rely on guilt, reminders, or educational messaging. These approaches trigger short-term compliance, but rarely long-term change. People need experiences, not instructions, that help them build emotional connection with the environmental impact of their choices.

The challenge became:

How might we design a home ecosystem that makes the environmental impact of food waste visible, tangible, and emotionally resonant, turning sustainability into
a naturally rewarding habit?

Research Insights

These insights reframed Ecora as a system that must translate invisible environmental consequences into lived emotional experiences.

01/

“I know wasting food is bad, but I don’t see its impact immediately.”

Make waste visible through data visualization and feedback.

02/

“Sustainability tools feel moralizing and heavy.”

Use playful, gentle communication so users feel encouraged, not judged.

03/

“I want to improve, but I forget my goals after a few days.”

Integrate reminders, small goals, and immediate feedback loops.

Design Stategy

Ecora is designed around three behavioral design principles that make the invisible impact of food waste both understandable and motivating. Together, these elements make sustainable action feel engaging, sensory, and rewarding.

Tangible Awareness

A physical eco-bin tracks and classifies
waste, giving real-time feedback through lights and sounds.

Sensory Reflection

A digital “sound aura” that transforms
weekly waste patterns into ambient colors, movement, and sound.

Playful Progression

A gamified weekly challenge that rewards reduction not through points, but through evolving visual ecosystems.

Solution

The Smart Bin

‍The bin recognizes and classifies food waste. Instead of warning the user, it responds through soft lights and tones  creating a non-judgmental moment of reflection.

The Ecora App

Sound Aura: A calming, me ditative goal-setting ritual that reframes improvement as creation rather than correction.

‍Weekly Puzzle: A calming, meditative goal-setting ritual that reframes improvement as creation rather than correction.

‍Insights: Gentle suggestions for reuse and reduction based on your patterns.

Outcome

Ecora demonstrates how speculative design can reveal new pathways for sustainable change not through instruction, but through emotional engagement.

For individuals:

• Awareness becomes intuitive and embodied
• Waste habits shift through soft cues rather than pressure
• Sustainable actions become integrated into daily rituals

For environmental futures:

• Household products become agents of awareness
• Behavioral change is driven by empathy and perception
• Data becomes emotional, not just informational

My Role

• Led research into household waste behavior and emotional triggers
• Identified key psychological patterns that influence sustainable choices
• Designed the interaction ecosystem between the physical bin and digital app
• Created speculative prototypes exploring how sensory feedback can shape habits

Personal Reflection

This project required blending behavioral psychology, product design, and speculative thinking to envision how homes
might encourage sustainable futures. Ecora taught me that the future of sustainability lies in designing for perception, not persuasion. When people can feel the impact of their actions, they naturally move toward better choices. This project deepened my belief that speculative design is not about predicting the future, it is about revealing possibilities that help
us redesign the present.