This was an ethnographic study done on secondary usage of refrigerators in a household. A refrigerator, commonly known as fridge is not just used for storage of food etc but more than that. Our focus was on to study the surroundings of the fridge instead of inside of the fridge to understand its role in everyday life.
We went to around 50+ houses, taking interviews of people and took pictures of how the refrigerators were being used in each case.
Data collected were images of fridge, their location in the house and the number of people staying in the house.
After collection of data we categorized it according to what type purpose it served; categories being Utility, forgettables, emotional, reminders, decorative and eatbles. These were the type of things that were found around refregirators.
After around 2 levels of classification,we tried to relate the variables to each other to find some sense in usage pattern of refrigerators.
By the end of the study, refrigerators were identified as an effective communication space in a household. Conclusion to this study was identifying this domain as an opportunity for innovation in products and accesories for refrigerators.
For more detailed understanding have a look at the documentation.
