20 February 15 Let’s pause a moment for SWEP.

This month we presented at Pause Fest 2015 and were stoked to be involved with such a great event on the digital calendar.

Zoë Warne gave a keynote address on the Schools Water Efficiency Program (SWEP) and the positive impact that making data beautiful has on sustainable initiatives.

It was a great opportunity to be able to contribute to the discussions on creating web projects for good. The response we received was beyond anything we expected. We were humbled and proud to showcase the positive results of SWEP and its impact.

Pause Fest is an awesome event on Australia’s digital calendar. It is a platform for thought-leaders locally and internationally to share their innovative ideas and leadership. It draws a diverse crowd of industry professionals and tech-enthusiasts that numbers in the thousands.

A quick recap on Zoë’s presentation.

SWEP is designed to help the next generation learn, understand and change their behaviour around water usage. It’s about making data beautiful, informative and interactive.

The online platform acts as a tool for teachers. It gives them and their students real examples in maths and science.

Our approach was to take boring, ordinary and difficult to consume data and make it meaningful. The interface design has a human quality about it – soft edges for the chosen font, bright and beautiful colours, and friendly illustrative icons.

The interface is slightly different for each of the primary, secondary, facility manager and Bureau of Meteorology dashboards. This means that relevant information and tailored content can be delivered to each user group. While there is an abundance of data in the background, what the user sees is relevant and meaningful to them.

The results are pretty awesome.

To date, SWEP has saved more than 1.2 billion litres of water in schools across Victoria.

These savings mean money: $3.5 million worth to be exact. It’s money that schools could used elsewhere, perhaps to buy more books, technology, sports equipment or musical instruments.

SWEP is operating in more than 500 schools throughout Victoria. The aim is to reach 1500 schools in the near future. There are also plans to extend the program into the monitoring and reporting of electricity usage.

Sustainability is important to us at August. We’re excited about the results that SWEP has achieved so far and we’re eager to see it progress.

To find out more about SWEP, take a look at our case study and check out the slides below from Pause Fest. We’re always up for a chat, too, so drop us a line if you’ve got any questions.

Image credit: Photos from Pause Fest by Brook James