This graduation thesis aimed to explore how product design can improve consumers’ lifetime expectations for electronic devices, with prevention of premature replacement of these products as the eventual desired outcome. Prior research has identified the damaging effects of mass consumption on the environment, due to the continuous demand for new materials and the rising deposition of toxic waste. This thesis proposed a theoretical model that related consumers’ predicted and intended lifetime (two types of lifetime expectations) of a product to its mental book value. It then explored potential strategies to influence these factors of replacement behaviour in order to reduce the eventual desire to (prematurey) replace a product. These strategies were supplemented by examples from practice, and used as inspiration in a creative process to develop a design intervention for smartphones and headphones. This intervention should stimulate consumers’ lifetime expectations for these devices.

The design intervention consisted of a ring of twelve LED segments implemented on the exterior of the smartphone or headphones, as well as an additional widget for more information. Each LED segment represents half a year of ownership for the smartphone, and one full year for the headphones. The main purpose of this ring is to stimulate consumers to complete the ring at least once, and thus, to use it for longer than the average lifespans of these types of products. The total number of segments should also give them an indication of its potential physical lifetime. The widget was developed to complement the message of the ring through more detailed information on the current status of factors related to the device’s life.

An experiment with 2 (device: smartphone/headphones) x 2 (with/without intervention), between-subjects design was conducted to test whether the intervention would be effective in increasing consumers’ lifetime expectations and mental book value for an electronic product, and in decreasing their intention to replace it. Division of the participants among the two device groups was based on their experience with either of the devices. The data analysis showed a significant decrease in the depreciation of the mental book value of smartphones, and an increase of the total predicted lifetime (in years) of headphones, among the treatment groups. This suggests that the design intervention of this thesis may successfully affect these factors of consumers’ replacement behaviour. The intended lifetime and replacement intention, as well as the remaining measures for the predicted lifetime and mental book value, were not affected by the intervention during the experiment. This could partially be explained by participants’ difficulty with the subject, the experiment’s design, and certain variables that acted as covariates.

Follow-up research could, for example, address the less represented factors from the theoretical model, other strategies from practice, or the discontinued concepts from the design phase. The intervention may also be tested on other devices, or with a physical model within a more realistic use context instead of an online experimental setting. Further exploration of the intervention’s business implications and its potential decreasing effect on sales, is also advised.