The impact of graphic design on environmental concerns: How visual communication strategies can strengthen visual campaigns

This paper reports on research into the efficacy of visual communication campaigns aimed at changing attitudes and influencing behaviours towards the marine environment to mitigate the negative effects of human behaviour upon it. Much of the existing literature in the growing field of environmental communication examines the public’s perceptions of the world and how these perceptions shape human-nature relations. Consequently, it draws on the fields of environmental and conservation psychology which use “the insights and tools of psychology toward understanding and promoting human care for nature” (Clayton, 2012). As such these fields of research remain largely theoretical and propositional with little research into the efficacy of environmental communication campaigns in changing people’s attitudes and influencing their behaviour towards the environment. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the role of visual communication, one of the main communication forms used in environmental communication. This paper reports on research that draws upon these fields to develop a theoretical framework to evaluate and shape the use of visual communication in environmental communication with a view to having a more sustainable impact on changing attitudes and influencing behaviour towards the marine environment. This paper reflects the early stages of the research in the form of a literature review and case study analysis, with the research reported informing the next stage, which is the implementation and evaluation of a visual communication campaign.