Learning from Green Designers: Green Design as Discursive Practice
summary
Study compares 22 designers at a major smartphone maker (10 green, 12 traditional), each interviewed three times over 16 months, using open inductive and axial coding and participant feedback to surface five distinct behaviors: biased advocacy, designing from a deep ethos, embracing uncertainty, and relying on alternative ways of knowing. Concrete outcomes include successful packaging reductions that saved money and harder choices like costlier material swaps that improved environmental profiles; authors frame green design as a discursive practice that shifts roles and influences decisions beyond strict market data.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Introduction and context
- 1:10Green designers defined
- 3:17Study methodology explained
- 5:47Five key themes identified
- 7:11Biased advocacy in green design
- 8:37Embracing uncertainty and intuition
- 9:41Multiple roles of green designers
- 11:47Discursive practice concept
- 13:33Implications for organizations
- 15:42Success and impact assessment
- 16:27Conclusion and Q&A
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