One of the most common methods designers use in their works to spread environmental awareness is through educational messages. The simplest application of such a method is to print a piece of sentence or text containing the message on the product itself. We come across these often: On plastic bags reminding us to reuse them on our next shopping trip, on drink packets reminding us to dispose of them properly, on newspapers reminding us to hand them over to another person for reading to reduce paper wastage.
Such messages can affect consumers’ and audiences’ behaviors and attitudes. According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Semenik, Allen, O’Guinn, & Kaufmann, 2012), there are two main ways that this can be done. The Central Route to Persuation does so by presenting facts and figures that appeal to the viewer’s cognition. The Peripheral Route to Persuation on the other hand relies on manipulating the viewer’s emotion to induce relevant actions and behaviors. Both can be effective in helping to elicit change in the viewer’s attitude towards the environment, but the Central Route produces a more lasting change. Nonetheless, design has the ability to appeal to viewers using both routes at the same time.
The effectiveness of such messages depend on the ways that these messages are provided to the consumers. Information works best when they are attention-grabbing, credible, induces commitment and involvement and makes use of social means to diffuse information (Gardner & Stern, 2002). In design, which involves visual presentation of messages, how “attention-grabbing” the message is is of most relevance. Such messages should be clear and visible on the first look of the product, and not embedded in small print or in corners of the product that are overlooked by consumers.
Also, rather than relying on ambiguous slogans such as “Save The Earth!”, printing concrete methods and steps that consumers can take to conserve the environment would work better in influencing consumers to display environmentally-friendly behavior. Even though many consumers are aware of the environmental crisis, an information barrier exists where people have to take an extra step to find out more about sustainable behavior. A direct presentation of relevant tips to take would overcome this barrier of and inform consumers first-hand about recommended actions one could take to literally “save the earth”.
Designers have an added advantage of using visual imagery to convey messages. Therefore, apart from persuading the audience using the Central Route of Persuasion, they can also do so using affective visual images, which is the Peripheral Route of Persuasion. In fact, there are occasions where visual imagery alone is enough to evoke an affective feeling in the audience that can make one aware of his or her environmental attitudes. Design can achieve this through aesthetic images that are visually appealing, attracting the attention of viewers and gaining their liking.
Some designers also undertake personal projects to express themselves freely out of the confines of commercial assignments. These also present opportunities for designers to create works which purpose is solely intended to spread environmental awareness. These works can take many forms, such as posters, paintings, books, exhibitions, decorations and even consumer products. As these works deviate from commercial assignments, they tend to fall more into the realm of “art” and personal expression.
The background and intention behind eco-friendly “artwork” may or noy not be directly understood by people who view them. For the “Consider This: Paper Wastage Calendar” (Sai, 2010) designed by Paul Woods, the messages (which revolve around the theme of how paper is wasted in our everyday lives and what we can do to reduce this wastage) are clearly printed on the calendar itself, hence requiring little on the part of the viewers to infer the message behind them.
For others, however, more effort may be needed to understand the message. For example, “New York Garbage” (Gignac, n.d.) is a set of ornamental and decorative products designed by Justin Gignac that are created by rubbish picked up from Times Square. The idea is to package rubbish in an aesthetic way such that people would want to purchase and bring back. The concept of “bringing back your own rubbish” requires more efforts on the part of the viewer to inference, hence it may not come across as intended to as many viewers as it would have been with the more direct “Consider This” calendars.
Also, the nature of such individual assignments means that the focus may be centred towards a niche audience, as opposed to commercial assignments that are focused towards a mass audience. This means that the message will only be able to reach out to a few “in-the’know”, art-savvy or interested parties. To overcome this, designers who are carrying out individual projects may focus on products that have a mass outreach. Likely attributes of such products are applicability to everyday life, ease of use, relevance to the mass market and so on. The “Consider This” calendars would certainly have a larger audience outreach than the “New York Garbage” ornaments.