RESOURCES: How Consumers See Green

Although the green hype is growing, it is not always easy to lift sustainability to the top of the design & innovation agenda of producers. But what if businesses understood the real value of providing green products on the market? Mark Bates and Grant Kristofek of the design consultancy Continuum advocate that thinking green is actually a highly consumer-oriented tactic.

They share their experience in convincing clients to make sustainable products through their insightful report – Colorblind: How Consumers See Green.  This effort, in conjunction with an ongoing research project at Continuum, suggests that there are significant opportunities to make sustainability a valued factor in consumer decisions.

The title Colorblind implies that not everyone “sees” green the same way. Through their study, Bates and Kristofek aimed at uncovering how people think and feel about the environment and more specifically:

• What they do for it and why,
• Where they get their information from
• What influences their way of thinking
• What motivates them to choose green.

The answers to the above questions can really pave the way to sustainability. Some of the insights included in the report indicate that:

• People care about people
• The environment only matters when it directly affects them
• People view the environment as abstract
• People’s ideals were often inconsistent with the reality of their actions
• Being green and buying green don’t go hand in hand.
• It is not one or the other
• People’s green-ness is generally multi-dimensional

Access 'Colorblind: How Consumers See Green' by clicking here.