The role of emotion and logic in sustainable design

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in August 2018.

Tougher economic times have led to an increasing scrutiny of sustainability initiatives. Despite this, the environmental imperatives for action are not diminishing, which means that designers must use all available tools to sell the sustainability of our designs. This paper summarises why the traditional economic, moralistic and information-based approaches can be inadequate to engage clients, and draws upon a literature review and the author’s own experiences to propose a broader range of communication tools for pitching sustainability initiatives to decision makers.