Consider the idea of water.

Most of us will probably think of a few things – a stream, an ocean...

A glass half full – or half empty.

We tend to think about these things in the abstract. Whatever the source, the water itself is just a clear liquid, soemthing to satisfy our thirst and clean our bodies. It’s part of an infinitely large supply connected to our homes. We don’t want to think about how it gets there.

For some of us, the problem of water is more immediate.If you’re a farmer facing drought –

– Or a mother trying to keep her children safe and healthy, you probably think about water in a more direct way.

You think about where it comes from, how clean it is, and how you get it. Water is one of those things people

never thing about until they need it.

Our planet is water. It’s the basis of our lives. Through it, we are all intimately connected and interdependent. It’s something that should unify us and help us work together, but just as often it inspires conflict.

The problem is a gulf of understanding.

In order for us to meet the water challenges of tomorrow,

we have to communicate so that we can share our concerns, problems, and solutions today.

our•water is designed to facilitate this commnication. By talking to each other, people can better realize their common bonds and their connection

through the intricate matrix that is the world’s water supply.

They can share experiences and knowledge, ask for help, and

collaborate on projects that will make the future better for everybody.

The problems we face are big. They can’t be solved by one

individual, one organization, or one government, but the first step

towards change is understanding. If people start to think about water –

Not just ‘water’ –

or ‘my water’ –

but ‘our water’ –

then we’ll have a platform on which to build.

Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.

Water is the universal element of life that connects us all at every

level of our existence. It is essential to our health, our food supply,

and our environment. Across the globe, massive numbers of

people lack access to this basic necessity — and the problem is

worsening as climate change and overpopulation continue to

place strains on this precious resource.

our challenge

We set out to research the water issue, wondering how

we, as designers, could begin to think and talk about the

problem. During the course of our research, we found many

organizations devoted to helping people gain access to

fresh, clean water, operating both locally and globally. Almost

universally, however, they failed to address the complexity of

the problem in a simple way, and lacked means of unifying

and connecting individuals and organizations. Most appealed

simply for donations or volunteer work without addressing

the larger problems of understanding and communication.

our findings

Our program will help people change perceptions,

provide tools and encourage engagement within the worldwide community

while promoting sharing, communication, collaboration

and action regarding global water issues on a local and international level.

To inspire a worldwide community of diverse individuals to develop solutions to global water issues through a framework enabling education, communication, and action. our vision

our mission

action

education

communication

Three tools became apparent during our

search for a design philosophy, stemming

from our mission statement’s goals. We

came to realize that in order for real change

to happen, people would first need to be

educated on the challenges facing them, their

communities, and the globe. In addition, they

would need to be connected to others from

around the world through a system design

for communication that would facilitate

collaboration and shared understanding. And

finally, this system would need to offer the

resources and information needed by volunteers

and concerned individuals to be able to take

action, helping to solve the water problems

of millions of people around the world.

Our design philosophy, encompassing

Education, Communication, and Action,

has been a model for us to respond to the

challenge of the global water crisis.

our philosophy

Our research has shown us that no one single

problem facing a village or nation or continent

can be solved from the outside, those living

there must tackle it. But the assistance of

their global friends cannot be discounted,

nor should the responsibility of those living

in relative water-safety be forgotten. We

propose that in order to solve the water

crisis globally and locally a framework that

educates individuals and communities, allows

for open communication of experiences and

hardships and that supports and facilitates

action taken by individuals and organizations

We call this framework our•water.

our solution

Everyone in the world must be made aware

of the prevalent and universal crisis facing all

individuals and where they fit in. our•water

will seek to ensure just that through programs

designed to educate students in school,

shoppers at the market and officials in

government. Our website and print materials

will inform and remove the mystique and

fear of the water crisis, relieving people of

the stress of such a scary problem. They will

be assured that no only is there a problem

but that it is solvable and they can help.

educationalproducts

storytelling

buzzdevelopment

awarenesscampaigns

localeducation

internationalawareness

education

Now that people have been educated on the

crisis facing our globe and that they too can

have an easy hand in solving it, our•water will

also seek to connect individuals from across the

globe to others who share their concern and

even to people who face these crises everyday.

our•water will tell the stories of mothers facing

shortages for their families, of farmers who

cannot water their crops or herds or children

who become sick from contaminated sources.

Individuals will be able to reach these

stories on our website and through printed

newsletters and other means. Those who

wish to tell their stories that are without the

proper technology will be able to use the

regular mail system and use the regional

agents of our•water to tell their tales.

These connections will out human faces to the

water crises and problems facing the planet.

manufacturingpartnerships

ngopartnerships

our•waterlevels

website

communication

After true exposure to the human face of the

water crisis, our•water will make clear just

what all individuals can do to help others.

It will offer programs that help people use

less water in their daily lives and how to

conserve what they do use responsibly. In

addition, it will offer resources and tools to

those who want to take up being leaders in

their communities as educators in schools or

as organizers of events and causes that help

conserve and more efficiently use water.

our•water will also connect people from

around the world to help solve local issues.

Individuals will be informed of the needs

of particular families or communities and

will be told how they can help them out,

either financially or through other means.

These three steps, Education, Community and

Action are the cornerstone of our solution.

volunteercoordination

widgets andmobile apps

conservationproducts

action

our heroes

Olivia, a young Tanzanian

mother, quickly became

our primary persona. She

represents the archetypal

person in need, an individual

whose limited access to clean

water represents a huge threat

to her health and welfare.

Shelly is a community leader

and water activist whose

knowledge and passion are

reshaping her neighborhood’s

water usage. She represents

concerned citizens already

willing to take up the charge

of saving water’s future.

Dave is a businessman and

student whose exposure

to water issues is extremely

limited. Through interaction

with others in his community,

he comes to realize the broader

impact of his water usage.

One of the first stages in any design process involves the conceptualization of use cases through the creation of personas. During the development of our•water, we identified three key personas which we eventually came to realize correlated strongly with the three main components of our design philosophy.

Olivia is our primary persona, the person most in need. She

tries to scrape out a living for herself and her family in an

impoverished village in sub-Saharan Africa. Her husband farms,

her daughters help around the house, and they send their

son to a local school, investing much of their hope for their

future in him. Olivia spends much of the day going to and

from her home to the stream where her village gets water.

The water crisis in her area is simple. The region’s natural

conditions and rising population have caused the

increasing demand for water to reach dangerous levels.

In addition to the difficult of simply acquiring a fundamental

need, Olivia’s situation also illustrates several other ways water

can negatively affect human life. She and her daughters have

been incapable of receiving an education and thus any hope of

improving their impoverish conditions on their own since they

must spend much of their time simple attempting to acquire

the resources for survival. In much of Africa, the burden of caring

for this basic water need is placed on the women’s shoulders.

In addition, disease and parasites found in non-filtered water

acquired from untested and unsafe sources have also wreaked

havoc on her village and have even killed one of her sons.

The availability of fresh clean water has a direct affect on the

opportunity for human beings to fulfill their potential and see

to the improvement of their lives and the lives of their children.

olivia: communication

Dave’s persona is more general than Olivia’s. He is a

businessman in Denver, Colorado. The water crisis has a

direct impact on his local community, but Dave is oblivious

to it. He waters his lawn at inappropriate times and washes

his car every weekend. He wastes water in a myriad of ways

without regard to the challenge facing his community.

Thanks to our•water, Dave begins to see how his other

neighbors are starting to conserve water and he enters

into a dialogue with his community on how he can

start to be a better member of the community.

Next, Dave becomes an active member of our•water,

which helps him to catalog his journey from a waster to a

conserver with programs and products that illustrate his

successes and how those successes are helping those around

the world. Eventually, Dave can use his ties in business

and the community to assist in and coordinate efforts for

the conservation and equal global access of water.

Dave reflects everyday people, so that they will consider

what they are doing everyday in their lives that may be

inappropriate, irresponsible or ever dangerous for water’s future.

Dave experiences certain struggles and challenges in place

of viewers. In addition, Dave illustrates the our•water journey,

changing from an uneducated water waster to a concerned

member of the global community, ready to face the challenge

of water’s future and help people around the world to live.

dave: education

A leader in her community and a caring citizen, Shelly

is our persona that represents those already in our

global community that want to be involved and are

already ahead of the pack. She is educated and ready

to start working and in many cases she already is.

Shelly participates in conferences throughout her region that

discuss and propose solutions to local water problems, from

depleting aquifers in northern Colorado to unsafe runoff that

flows into Nebraska. She also leads efforts to improve water

education throughout local governments and schools, and has

proudly coordinated campaigns to increase stricter water controls

on industry, business and residences. Shelly uses our•water with

ease and experience, using it to coordinate efforts with her

friends and supporters in her local community while at the same

time learning about what other challenges people are facing

throughout the world. She is a veteran of the My•Water system

and it has taught and rewarded her for conservation efforts.

Through Shelly we can show individuals just what they can

aspire to be, or perhaps what they don’t want to be. Maybe

they just want to be involved in the my•water levels program,

conserving and using their water efficiently. Or maybe they do

want to become community leaders and activists, or are inspired

to develop new systems for conservation and want to share

their discoveries. Even if individuals don’t want to become as

involved as Shelly, then she does illustrate to them that ordinary

people like her can tackle the problems facing our societies.

shelly: action

What our•water seeks to achieve, at the

most basic level, is to bring Olivia, Dave,

and Shelly together – to link them to

a worldwide community through the

realization that water is at once our most

precious and most neglected resource.

One of our most important goals is bottom-up

communication: giving people like Olivia, who

are normally deprived of a voice in the first

world, the ability to speak about their problems

and dreams. Through our•water, Olivia can

communicate with people like Dave, whether

by traditional means of communication such

as mail and telephone, or through the Internet.

our•water seeks to partner with organizations

such as the One Laptop Per Child project in

order to facilitate communication for people

like Olivia. We hope that Olivia’s story will

help Dave to realize the value of water.

Simultaneously, we want to give people

like Shelly a place to share their stories of

success, their skills and experiences, and

their passion so that Dave is inspired to help

lead water efforts in his own community.

We believe that giving Olivia, Dave, and Shelly

a platform to communicate freely, we are

helping to foster awareness of our mutual need

to preserve water for the future. Even if Dave

decides only to reduce his own water usage, he

is helping to improve the world around him, and

because he is now better able to understand

Olivia’s situation, he is in a position to spread the

word and help others to realize that water is one

of our most important challenges for the future.

our hope

The our•water website, ourwater.org, is central

to our system. It is the primary means through

which networking between individuals

and organizations is facilitated to enable

education, communication, and action.

The site, which fulfills various roles such as

social networking, news and information

distribution, and fundraising, provides users

with the means to understand water in

their own backyard and across the globe.

our platform

The site is organized into three primary

sections oriented around education,

communication, and action.

In the education section, users can research

information regarding global water issues.

They can quickly see pressing issues,

areas of concern, and recent news.

The communication section functions similarly

to popular social networking sites – users are

involved with groups based around shared

interests such as expertise or locality, and can

interact and socialize. Recent stories connected

with these groups are also highlighted, and

users can seamlessly share this information.

In the action section, users can find ways to

take positive steps towards a more water-

conscious future. They can learn about and

join efforts underway in their communities or

across the globe, and explore products and

strategies to help conserve water. Furthermore,

with the my•water system, they’re able to get

direct feedback on how their contributions are

making a difference on a day to day basis.

my•water is a feedback system which enables

the user to experience a sense of personal

accomplishment for the actions they have

taken to conserve water and help others. When

a new user logs on to the system, they are

given a list of simple conservation techniques

and told how much water they can save by

the application of these techniques. As they

continue to fulfill conservation goals, their water

efficiency rating improves and they are given

encouragement to interact with others to help

spread positive change. Essentially, my•water

functions as an inducement to help new users

transition towards becoming experienced

users – to help Dave become more like Shelly.

my•water is a prominent feature of ourwater.

org, and if the user chooses, they may

check their conservation status through

other means, such as desktop widgets

and mobile phone applications.

my∙water

our•water’s brand mark and identity system

addresses the need to communicate clearly

with a global community in a straightforward

way. The three circles of the primary mark

are easily recognizable and reproducible in a

variety of formats, from a three-dimensional

realization to a simple hand-painted sign.

They represent the primary aspects of our

mission while also signifying the ascendancy

of water as a global issue and our goal

of increasing access and awareness.

our identity

The construction of the mark allows for

transcription into many languages – an essential

feature for a globally active organization.

The secondary mark, consisting of the

three vertical circles, can be employed

in a variety of configurations.

By changing color, it can specify education,

communication, and action, and it can be used

for sequencing and as a user interface element.

The three circles also have a corresponding

sound – a melody composed of

ascending bell tones – which increases

brand awareness and can be employed

in motion graphics applications.

Products are an important tool for increasing

awareness and working toward a better

future. In addition to offering educational and

practical water products, our•water works

to build partnerships with manufacturers

of water efficient goods, helping people to

make informed choices and incrementally

accomplish their conservation goals.

our•water also collaborates with companies

working to create solutions to water issues

in developing nations, and encourages

members of the community to invest

financially and emotionally in these efforts.

our products

Products such as the cups and shirts shown here

help to build our•water’s brand awareness while

also encouraging people to start saving water

and become involved with the community.

They also act as tools for partnerships – for

example, by bringing his our•water cup to a local

restaurant or concert venue, Dave can receive a

discount on his drink while the vendor benefits

by their association with an environmentally-

aware humanitarian organization.

awareness builders

educate. communicate. act.

www.ourwater.org

our waterour wat

educate. communicate. act.

www.ourwater.org

our waterour wat

The problem of water is staggering in its depth and complexity.

Local solutions are badly needed to address water issues globally.

The people creating these solutions need tools to communicate and share.

our•water aims to help these people, whether farmers, scientists,

or politicians, to understand their common bonds.

Our future is our water.