Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Burden of Options

A point easily forgotten, but the burden of good, healthy, and sustainable design lies not on the consumer, but the producers.

Presently, in order to make intelligent, informed decisions, consumers must perform extensive research through external sources (such as EWG.org, and goodguide.com), or by shopping in stores which offer a score or ranking service for their products (such as wal mart's proposed "sustainable product index").

The increasingly ubiquitous burden on consumers has even evolved into augmented reality (AR) applications as exhibited by MIT's Sixth Sense.


However, these solutions all beg the question: "Why are unhealthy, products even available?"