Food Waste Ninjas and Sleeping Sheep: Understanding how collaboratively designing vernacular data visualisations in self-trackers influence consumer food-wasting habitual behaviours

<p dir="ltr">This research investigates how collaboratively created, analogue data visualisations can support long-term reductions in household food waste. In contrast to conventional digital tracking tools which raise concerns around ethics, efficacy, and exclusion, this study explores playful, physical representations of data co-designed with participants. Conducted over nine weeks across 30 Australian households, the study found that engaging participants in the creation of their own visual data fostered sustained behavioural change. The findings suggest that vernacular approaches to data visualisation can enhance agency, reflection, and accountability, offering a more inclusive and context-sensitive model for designing environmental behaviour change interventions.</p>