När grönt inte räcker : En undersökning av hur designval inom hållbar marknadsföring påverkar konsumenters upplevelse av hållbarhet.

Sammanfattning

For companies seeking to communicate their sustainability efforts, the challenge of standing out in the market has become increasingly prominent. The risk of green fatigue, as a consequence of growing greenwashing, threatens to undermine trust in sustainable marketing. This study aims to investigate how consumers perceive sustainable marketing through unconventional design choices. It also seeks to explore how unconventional design choices can maintain a sustainable impression while simultaneously strengthening brand identity. The study focuses on examining these questions through the lenses of color, symbolism, and copywriting. The development method included a literature review, competitor analysis, survey, prototype creation, and semi-structured interviews. A mixed-method approach was applied, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection. The literature review provided an overview of previous research and established the theoretical framework. The competitor analysis mapped the current market of companies using unconventional design in sustainable marketing. This formed the basis for the subsequent survey, which investigated consumers’ perceptions of sustainable marketing. The survey results were later used in the creation of two prototypes: one based on consumer insights, using unconventional design, and another serving as a control, based on previous research and traditional sustainable design practices. Finally, semi-structured interviews provided qualitative data that, through thematic analysis, offered deeper insights into the findings. The results of this study highlight that there are no significant differences in perceived sustainability between traditional and unconventional design. However, the findings suggest that unconventional design can enhance brand identity. Ultimately, symbolism and copywriting were identified as the primary influences on sustainability perception, whereas color choice was somewhat less decisive. The insights from this study open up new creative opportunities within the sustainable market and point to areas for further research.