Design for sustainable perception

Over the last decade, designers have become aware of the impact they have in terms of sustainability. The trend to use more sustainable materials in their new designs is slowly becoming a habit. Designers are supported in all kinds of areas through toolboxes that should make materials selection easier. However, we see that several of these toolboxes focus on the use of technical properties of these sustainable materials and less on the sensorial attributes that can have an influence. This is precisely an important factor that comes into play in the materials selection, because products are designed for consumers. It would be a great added value if these sensorial attributies were also included in the tools that are already available. Unfortunately, we see that little research is done into the influence of these attributes on the sustainable perception of the consumer. Through this master's thesis, I try to map the sensorial attributes and to see to what extent they influence the sustainable perception of the consumer in the field of sustainable plastics. In this way, I hope to gain insight into the variables that have an important influence on the consumer.

Therefore, the aim of this master's thesis is to bring all this information together and to see where the pain points lie in terms of this type of materials selection. The following research question was formulated for this purpose: 'How can sensorial variables in recycled plastics influence the consumer's perception of sustainability?'

To create a clear picture of this research question, the research has been divided into four different parts. On the one hand, a literature study was carried out looking at existing phenomena within this theme. All the different elements that can influence the research question in a certain way are also discussed. Three studies were then carried out to see which properties could be found that had an influence on the sustainable perception of the consumer. After examining all the results, it turned out that there are indeed properties that exert an influence. However, further research will show how this can be applied in the existing way of materials selection.