Colorblind: Understand How Consumers Think About the Environment

Wesley Wang, a fellow industrial design student at Georgia Tech, sent me this really interesting article written by Design Continuum yesterday. It raises the question, “How do we [as designers] talk to people about Green”. Continuum acknowledges the fact that the average consumer probably does not know how a product they are buying affects the environment. For example- consumers may recognize excess packaging and recyclability — but how much insight do they have into transportation and manufacturing?

I personally have had a difficult time talking to people about what makes a product “sustainable”. There are so many complex factors to consider. I am currently taking a course about sustainable design and materials and it continues to raise more reg flags in my mind about how hard it is to be green! And I mean really green, none of that green washing. Any one can create a green-leaf-shaped logo and dump their product into a cardboard box and claim they are green. How can we really educate consumers so they can make good decisions? I think this is going to be a big hurdle for designers [now] and in the future.

Click here to read the article >> Colorblind: Understand How Consumers Think About the Environment