Cigarette litter 5 - design interventions

My final couple of design interventions focus on the cigarette packet itself, as a means of easily getting smokers attention and giving them no reason not to be aware of the issues of littering. This first design works simply as a sleeve, informing smokers of the problems that their used butts can cause. I have tried to give the message a harder impact by relating it to people, and how deadly used cigarette ends can be to us. Displaying the fact that the chemicals left in the butts from a 20 pack are capable of killing 16 adults. 

The final intervention takes this idea a step further by designing the sleeve to feature a waste section for used butts, thereby providing a solution for to smokers throw them away. One issue is the lack of bins for butts, there are some products for smokers to buy such as portable ash trays. However, most people can't be bothered to buy them or simply aren't aware. 


This sleeve centres around a storable compartment to store their fag ends, which can been thrown away when the packet is finished. The compartment is foil lined to stop the butt burning the package. It uses a push mechanism for easy access and is designed with a maximum opening distance to avoid spilling its contents. 

Cigarette litter 4 - design interventions

My next intervention leads on from my previous bus stop poster. It takes inspiration from the 'face in a hole' stands you see at zoos and such places. The idea being a fun way to emphasise the horrific amount of cigarette butts dropped each day, playing on the idea of drowning ourselves. This encourages interaction for people and is hard to miss due to its size and the 3D form of the hands reaching out of the poster. 

The last photo illustrates my following design, which co-incidently worked well alongside the bus stop poster. This print uses the road warning signs as influence, altering the meaning from water to cigarette butts. It is a simple idea but clearly gets across the message and makes people aware of the issue, although not as tragic (yet!) as the sign makes out. These can simply work as fly-posters around town and would be more impressive as an actual road sign.

 

Cigarette litter 3 - design interventions

This next intervention plays on the idea of scale of dropped cigarettes, emphasising how millions are dropped each day. I created the large cigarettes out of paper and by tearing and burning the edges to represent cigarette butts. Each one shows the fact that 122 tons of cigarette related litter is dropped everyday, making the message evident. People couldn't help but notice these when walking by and they are clearly recognisable as giant cigarettes. 

Cigarette litter 2 - design interventions

Here is a large scale poster I created for a bus stop, again targeting smokers who are tempted to light up while waiting for their next journey, as well as promoting general awareness. I chose the bus stop for the location of my poster, as I related the weight of the littered cigarettes to London buses, to highlight the amount of cigarette rubbish on the streets. In this case it is equivalent to 17 double decker London buses.


I took photographs of a mass amounts of piled cigarettes, to get across the message of 120 tons being litter a day. We all notice cigarette butts on the street but having them presented complied together clearly conveys the vast scale. 


The poster caught people's eye, and was convincing as an intentional poster because it was designed to fit the window in the shelter, making passers-by judge it as a genuine piece. 

Cigarette litter - design interventions

Here I have opted for a more hard hitting approach, of questioning people's behaviour outside their home. No one would want to be at home amongst a pile of cigarette butts, so wouldn't we rather clearer streets to actually enjoy the most out of our environment. The scene below comfortably illustrates this, by covering furniture with scraps of cigarette packets and butts. A framed poses the question towards littering by smoking. 


This intervention successfully gained people's interest as they walked by and it would prove hard going not to notice such a set.

Cigarette Bin Solutions - design interventions

I have continued with my target intervention, creating an attachment for bins. This uses a circular design was made for bins in a nearby park. I redesigned the appearance of the piece so it is more pleasing and uses a colour combination better associated with cigarettes, of orange and black. 


I left the design on the bin and a day later it is still there, however it is difficult to actually capture it in use as after waiting a short while no-one smoking ever walked by. 

Cigarette Solutions - design interventions

Due to most of my previous interventions having quite a serious undertone, I have decided to implement a fun theme. In this case basing it around an interactive target game, taking inspiration from the boards with holes cut for kids to kick footballs through. The obvious difference being it's for cigarettes to be flicked through, and into a bin or waste bag of sorts. 

I have only created the board itself rather than the bin, which could be an extra attachment if created. However, after testing the design I have decided that my next intervention should be a specific form to fit onto existing bins. The main issue is there are barely any specific cigarette bins (clearly emphasising my cause) and the few there are are quite small. Therefore my next piece would render the chosen bin (it's attached to) just for cigarettes. 

Cigarette Solutions - design interventions

I have noticed that my interventions for cigarette littering all lean towards creating awareness, which is key but would be more effective if I could tie in a possible solution for the issue. Therefore I have continued with my theme of wildlife and based my design around a fish bowl. The idea being for smokers to throw their butts into the bowl of water, emphasising the fact that if they were to throw their cigarettes onto the street they could end up in waterways and harm or kill marine life.


The piece is situated by a bus stop as it seemed an appropriate place where smokers are likely to light-up and get their attention while they are waiting. 

Cigarettes - design interventions

I have decided to focus on the one area of litter, in this case I've chosen cigarettes since they are the most frequently found item of discarded rubbish. 


The designs focus around the statistics, as people are aware of litter just not necessarily the hard facts. Many smokers probably don't know that cigarette butts are toxic waste because of the high level of harmful chemicals left in the filters. However, these facts alone aren't too likely to provoke smokers so I have based it around the wildlife that cigarette ends can harm or kill. This is to encourage some form of sympathy and consideration, as smokers seemingly innocent disregard has consequences on other living things. 

These were left on the ground intentionally to catch people's gaze, however because of their size they aren't too evident and would inadvertently contribute to littering. Therefore for my next intervention I decided to make it far more noticeable. I based it on the fact that 122 tons of cigarette litter being dropped. But the statistic, although shockingly high doesn't provoke enough of a response. As a result I related it to a common 'known', in this case elephants. Featuring the piece on a life size male elephant painted onto a street wall, in order to really instigate some thought and create a clear comparison.

Cigarettes and Paper - design interventions

My next idea to publicise the amount of litter was through cigarette butts, as i found they take 12 years to biodegrade and cigarette related rubbish contributes to 70% of rubbish in UK towns. I decided to use the waste items themselves to create the piece which, was quite frankly a pretty disgusting job although you'll be glad to know i did use gloves!


The video below shows the making of my intervention followed by the final pictures, illustrating the fact that 120 tons of cigarette litter is dropped every day in the UK. Looking back over the design i under estimated the amount of butts i'd collected and could have produce a larger scale outcome and i may try and revisit it as i progress.

My following intervention focuses on paper as an issue of litter. I decided to make a small, yet reasonably life-size tree out of scraps of thrown-out paper and card, using the scale of it to help emphasise the problem. I believe this could work well as a series, ideally 6 pieces to get across that fact that the average family throws away the equivalent of 6 trees worth of paper a year. If i decide to continue with paper as my chosen form of litter, I might try combining interventions with trees themselves.

Litter - design interventions

I have a new project to create 15 design interventions within the next 3 weeks based upon a news article. I was reading about litter in London and thought it a positive one to create new forms of awareness for. 


These are my initial interventions, using the street as its main location.

The main idea was simply to highlight the litter dropped by people, surprisingly a condom was left which, is probably one of if not the worst thing to litter. I chose yellow as my colour as it's associated with warning and therefore related rather well.


I did however, find myself getting frustrated when taking the pictures as the rubbish kept blowing around, but thought just the circles alone worked well showing where someone had thrown their litter. This could be quite effective seeing streets dotted with yellow rings, with the obvious intention to be as little as possible.

This was my following intervention to write bold messages on the pavement, not dissimilar to those 'STOP' writings on the road. I felt by personifying the street it would make people more inclined to at least stop and take notice if not act. It is certainly more effective than the signs left by officials saying 'do not litter £50 fine' as they simply seem less considerate and almost warrant some form of rebellion. 


I did originally want to spray the message and although i thought it would be better as a set design, i did also think that to some it may seem itself as litter or graffiti despite the good intent. Therefore i opted for chalk because of its temporary and less intrusive display.