Eco-Packaging Rethought
Role: UX Researcher & Designer
Research Methodology: Mixed Method (user surveys for quantitative data and interviews for qualitative insights, followed by synthesis based on emergent behavioural patterns).
Solution: A service-level intervention designed to encourage sustainable behaviour in food delivery through behavioural nudges and incentivized choices. The experience reframes sustainability as both rewarding and personal, making green choices feel meaningful rather than costly.
The growing reliance on food delivery has amplified packaging waste, yet sustainable alternatives remain underutilized. This gap stems not from lack of concern, but from the absence of clear prompts, perceived value, and meaningful integration into the user journey leading even well-intentioned users to default to less sustainable choices.
The Problem
To reimagine the packaging experience in food delivery apps by making eco-friendly options feel intuitive, rewarding, and worth choosing through behavioural design interventions that reduce cognitive friction, introduce positive reinforcement, and elevate the perceived value of sustainable choices.
The Goal
Businesses prioritize scalability and cost-efficiency, often making sustainability optional due to operational and financial constraints.
Current service touchpoints offer limited flexibility, with static checkouts, hidden packaging options, and low personalization, reducing opportunity for engagement.
Users are presented with minimal interaction, where packaging decisions feel passive or default, not actively designed to influence perception or value.
The overlap shows a misalignment of incentives, where engagement gaps and disconnected experiences prevent eco-friendly options from being compelling across the journey.
Understanding the Gap
VENN DIAGRAM FOR THE PREVAILING SITUATION
To capture diverse user behaviours and perceptions around packaging choices, a survey was conducted with 52 participants across varied age groups (18–45), including frequent and occasional users of food delivery apps. The questionnaire focused on awareness of eco-packaging, perceived value of sustainability efforts, and motivational triggers like discounts or personalization. This helped validate assumptions and surface behavioural trends that would later shape key design interventions.
QUANTIFYING USER CHOICES THROUGH SURVEY
Most users are somewhat aware of environmental impacts, but this awareness doesn’t strongly influence their behaviour, over two-thirds don’t consider sustainability when choosing food delivery services. While a fair portion engage in recycling, convenience plays a major role in whether they do it regularly. Preferences lean toward mixed or biodegradable packaging, yet only a small fraction are clearly willing to pay extra for sustainable options. Most remain undecided, depending on how reasonable the added cost feels. This reveals a clear gap between environmental concern and consistent sustainable action.
Unpacking the User Mindset
USER SEGMENTATION & BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS
To design with empathy, we moved beyond surface data to decode recurring behaviours and emotional drivers. Interviews and surveys uncovered how values, habits, and perceived trade-offs shaped user decisions offering a deeper lens into what guided their choices.
Bridging the Gap with Ideas
IDEATION
The aim was to reduce hesitation around eco-packaging by aligning it with user values and everyday decision-making. Each concept explored here was rooted in making sustainable choices feel intuitive, relevant, and worth acting on.
Stitching the System Together
Every insight gathered, every behavioural cue decoded, now finds its place within a cohesive system. This phase focuses on translating user motivations into structured journeys by aligning touchpoints, decisions, and design logic.
Aftertaste of the Project
EXPECTED IMPACT
Encourages conscious decision-making by embedding eco-points directly into the ordering flow, subtly influencing user behaviour without creating friction, it's a nudge rooted in behavioural design.
Increases adoption of sustainable choices through reward loops, making environmentally friendly packaging feel more valuable, visible, and rewarding in fast-paced ordering contexts.
Drives platform differentiation and loyalty by linking sustainability with personalization, building an emotional connection that users associate with responsibility and thoughtful service design.
TRACING USER BEHAVIOUR THROUGH INTERVIEWS
To peel back the "Why" behind the survey responses, we moved into conversations. Through in-depth interviews, we listened closely to stories of real moments: late-night cravings, rushed checkouts, second thoughts, and silent guilt. These narratives offered what numbers couldn’t and i.e., nuance. They helped us trace the subtle tensions between good intentions and convenient actions.
KEY INSIGHTS BACKED BY MIXED METHODS
Eco-friendly is valued, but deprioritized in urgency
Most users recognize and appreciate eco-conscious packaging but when ordering in a rush, they often avoid it to save time, effort and money even if the option is clearly presented.
Convenience consistently overpowers environmental intent:
In fast-paced or repetitive ordering situations, users tend to default to the most frictionless path, even if it means skipping sustainable options they would have otherwise considered.
Extra cost creates silent resistance
While users understand the environmental impact, they hesitate when eco-packaging adds a premium, especially when the value isn’t immediately felt or the benefit isn’t reinforced visually or socially.
Sustainability influences perception, not always action
Participants often judged a brand's ethics based on packaging choices, this shaped trust and overall sentiment, even if it didn’t always alter purchasing behaviour in the moment.
There is a desire to act, but it needs reinforcement
Users want to feel their sustainable choice matters. They look for encouragement or validation, such as visible rewards or clear impact, to justify the small extra effort or cost involved.
PERSONA: CONVENIENCE-FIRST CONSUMERS
PERSONA: ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE BUT PASSIVE CONSUMERS
Positive Reinforcement
Rewards (points/discounts) increase the likelihood of repeating eco-conscious behaviour.
Gamification Effect
Taps into intrinsic motivation and creates a sense of progress or achievement (linked to the Goal Gradient Effect; users are more motivated when they see visible progress toward a reward).
Low Aversion Bias
Users may start to fear losing out on eco-points or future discounts if they don’t choose sustainable options, which subtly nudges behaviour.
Cognitive Justification
Even if the packaging costs more, users perceive it as “worth it” because they’re gaining something in return—helping to reduce choice paralysis and price resistance.
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF ECO POINTS
A reward system where users earn points for choosing eco-friendly packaging. These points convert into future discounts, making sustainable choices feel rewarding and financially worthwhile.
Scarcity Principle
Exclusivity adds perceived value, users are more likely to engage with something when access feels limited or earned.
Commitment & Consistency Bias
Once a user chooses eco-friendly packaging once for the personalization perk, they’re more likely to stick with it to remain consistent with that identity
Emotional Resonance
Personalized elements make the experience feel more emotionally connected and memorable increasing satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Priming for Identity Shift
It subtly communicates that eco-conscious = rewarded and recognized; encouraging users to internalize the identity of a responsible, thoughtful consumer
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF OPTIONAL PERSONALIZATION
Users can customize their order (e.g., messages, themes, illustrations) only when they choose sustainable packaging; adding exclusivity and emotional value to greener decisions.
USER FLOW
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
MOCKUPS
These mockups are not designed as part of a new or standalone food delivery application. Instead, they serve as hypothetical interface screens crafted to demonstrate how the proposed eco-friendly packaging features like personalization and eco-points could be seamlessly integrated into existing food delivery flows. The goal here is to focus on the functionality and user experience of the added features, rather than redesigning an entire app from scratch.
Designing for behaviour, not just interface
I learned how subtle behavioural nudges like eco-points or contextual personalization can create meaningful shifts in user decisions without forcing change.
Bridging user values with business goals
The challenge was to align user empathy with business feasibility, and this project taught me to think in terms of mutual wins rather than trade-offs.
Crafting clarity in constraints
Working with hypothetical, service-agnostic screens pushed me to communicate design intent clearly even without a full app ecosystem which is indeed a valuable exercise in storytelling and modular thinking.
Letting research shape the feature, not justify it
The process reinforced that at times, ideas must emerge from users, not be retrofitted into their needs. The survey + interview synthesis helped me to stay grounded.
TAKEAWAYS
Semi-structured Questionnaire: Framed for User Behaviour Inquiry
Q.1. Can you describe your recent experience with food delivery packaging?
Follow-up: What stood out to you in terms of how it was packed or what materials were used?
Q.2. What specific aspects of the packaging do you usually find inconvenient or wasteful?
Follow-up: Is it about size, material, volume, or how it’s sealed?
Q.3. How do you usually dispose of packaging from your orders?
Follow-up: Do you recycle or throw it away? What influences that choice?
Q.4. Have you ever felt guilty or frustrated while discarding food packaging?
Follow-up: What triggered those feelings?
Q.5. Have you taken any steps on your own to reduce this waste?
Follow-up: What made you want to act? Did it feel impactful?
Q.6. What does eco-friendly packaging mean to you personally?
Follow-up: Does it change how you perceive the brand?
Q.7. What would make it easier or more compelling for you to choose a sustainable option?
Follow-up: Is it about cost, design, clarity, or something else?
Q.8. Do you feel that food delivery platforms are doing enough about packaging waste?
Follow-up: What more would you expect or appreciate from them?
Q.9. Have packaging concerns ever impacted your decision to order (or not order) from a service?
Follow-up: What made you hesitate or switch?
Q.10. If you could redesign one part of the food delivery packaging experience, what would it be?
Follow-up: And how would that change your overall satisfaction or behaviour?
Immediate Experience & Friction Points
Disposal Patterns & Emotional Response
Personal Action & Perception of Sustainability
Motivations & Expectations From Platforms
Behaviour Impact & Reimagining the Experience
decision making drivers, perceived barriers, platform responsibility
influence of packaging on user behaviour, latent user needs & aspirations
current disposal methods, feelings of guilt, disconnection b/w use & responsibility
proactivity, value alignment, meaning attached to eco-conscious
first-hand reactions, packaging flaws, emotional triggers
© 2023 Aakriti Srivastava
Research-forward. Design-focused. Let's build what matters.
Eco-Packaging Rethought
Role: UX Researcher & Designer
Research Methodology: Mixed Method (user surveys for quantitative data and interviews for qualitative insights, followed by synthesis based on emergent behavioural patterns).
Solution: A service-level intervention designed to encourage sustainable behaviour in food delivery through behavioural nudges and incentivized choices. The experience reframes sustainability as both rewarding and personal, making green choices feel meaningful rather than costly.
The Problem
The growing reliance on food delivery has amplified packaging waste, yet sustainable alternatives remain underutilized. This gap stems not from lack of concern, but from the absence of clear prompts, perceived value, and meaningful integration into the user journey leading even well-intentioned users to default to less sustainable choices.
The Goal
To reimagine the packaging experience in food delivery apps by making eco-friendly options feel intuitive, rewarding, and worth choosing through behavioural design interventions that reduce cognitive friction, introduce positive reinforcement, and elevate the perceived value of sustainable choices.
Understanding the Gap
VENN DIAGRAM FOR THE PREVAILING SITUATION
Businesses prioritize scalability and cost-efficiency, often making sustainability optional due to operational and financial constraints.
Current service touchpoints offer limited flexibility, with static checkouts, hidden packaging options, and low personalization, reducing opportunity for engagement.
Users are presented with minimal interaction, where packaging decisions feel passive or default, not actively designed to influence perception or value.
The overlap shows a misalignment of incentives, where engagement gaps and disconnected experiences prevent eco-friendly options from being compelling across the journey.
QUANTIFYING USER CHOICES THROUGH SURVEY
To capture diverse user behaviours and perceptions around packaging choices, a survey was conducted with 52 participants across varied age groups (18–45), including frequent and occasional users of food delivery apps. The questionnaire focused on awareness of eco-packaging, perceived value of sustainability efforts, and motivational triggers like discounts or personalization. This helped validate assumptions and surface behavioural trends that would later shape key design interventions.
Most users are somewhat aware of environmental impacts, but this awareness doesn’t strongly influence their behaviour, over two-thirds don’t consider sustainability when choosing food delivery services. While a fair portion engage in recycling, convenience plays a major role in whether they do it regularly. Preferences lean toward mixed or biodegradable packaging, yet only a small fraction are clearly willing to pay extra for sustainable options. Most remain undecided, depending on how reasonable the added cost feels. This reveals a clear gap between environmental concern and consistent sustainable action.
Semi-structured Questionnaire: Framed for User Behaviour Inquiry
Q.1. Can you describe your recent experience with food delivery packaging?
Follow-up: What stood out to you in terms of how it was packed or what materials were used?
Q.2. What specific aspects of the packaging do you usually find inconvenient or wasteful?
Follow-up: Is it about size, material, volume, or how it’s sealed?
Q.3. How do you usually dispose of packaging from your orders?
Follow-up: Do you recycle or throw it away? What influences that choice?
Q.4. Have you ever felt guilty or frustrated while discarding food packaging?
Follow-up: What triggered those feelings?
Q.5. Have you taken any steps on your own to reduce this waste?
Follow-up: What made you want to act? Did it feel impactful?
Q.6. What does eco-friendly packaging mean to you personally?
Follow-up: Does it change how you perceive the brand?
Q.7. What would make it easier or more compelling for you to choose a sustainable option?
Follow-up: Is it about cost, design, clarity, or something else?
Q.8. Do you feel that food delivery platforms are doing enough about packaging waste?
Follow-up: What more would you expect or appreciate from them?
Q.9. Have packaging concerns ever impacted your decision to order (or not order) from a service?
Follow-up: What made you hesitate or switch?
Q.10. If you could redesign one part of the food delivery packaging experience, what would it be?
Follow-up: And how would that change your overall satisfaction or behaviour?
Immediate Experience & Friction Points
Disposal Patterns & Emotional Response
Personal Action & Perception of Sustainability
Motivations & Expectations From Platforms
Behaviour Impact & Reimagining the Experience
decision making drivers, perceived barriers, platform responsibility
influence of packaging on user behaviour, latent user needs & aspirations
current disposal methods, feelings of guilt, disconnection b/w use & responsibility
proactivity, value alignment, meaning attached to eco-conscious
first-hand reactions, packaging flaws, emotional triggers
TRACING USER BEHAVIOUR THROUGH INTERVIEWS
To peel back the "Why" behind the survey responses, we moved into conversations. Through in-depth interviews, we listened closely to stories of real moments: late-night cravings, rushed checkouts, second thoughts, and silent guilt. These narratives offered what numbers couldn’t and i.e., nuance. They helped us trace the subtle tensions between good intentions and convenient actions.
Eco-friendly is valued, but deprioritized in urgency
In fast-paced or repetitive ordering situations, users tend to default to the most frictionless path, even if it means skipping sustainable options they would have otherwise considered.
Extra cost creates silent resistance
While users understand the environmental impact, they hesitate when eco-packaging adds a premium, especially when the value isn’t immediately felt or the benefit isn’t reinforced visually or socially.
Most users recognize and appreciate eco-conscious packaging but when ordering in a rush, they often avoid it to save time, effort and money even if the option is clearly presented.
Convenience consistently overpowers environmental intent:
Sustainability influences perception, not always action
Participants often judged a brand's ethics based on packaging choices, this shaped trust and overall sentiment, even if it didn’t always alter purchasing behaviour in the moment.
There is a desire to act, but it needs reinforcement
Users want to feel their sustainable choice matters. They look for encouragement or validation, such as visible rewards or clear impact, to justify the small extra effort or cost involved.
KEY INSIGHTS BACKED BY MIXED METHODS
Unpacking the User Mindset
To design with empathy, we moved beyond surface data to decode recurring behaviours and emotional drivers. Interviews and surveys uncovered how values, habits, and perceived trade-offs shaped user decisions offering a deeper lens into what guided their choices.
USER SEGMENTATION & BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS
PERSONA: CONVENIENCE-FIRST CONSUMERS
PERSONA: ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE BUT PASSIVE CONSUMERS
Bridging the Gap with Ideas
IDEATION
The aim was to reduce hesitation around eco-packaging by aligning it with user values and everyday decision-making. Each concept explored here was rooted in making sustainable choices feel intuitive, relevant, and worth acting on.
Stitching the System Together
Every insight gathered, every behavioural cue decoded, now finds its place within a cohesive system. This phase focuses on translating user motivations into structured journeys by aligning touchpoints, decisions, and design logic.
USER FLOW
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
MOCKUPS
These mockups are not designed as part of a new or standalone food delivery application. Instead, they serve as hypothetical interface screens crafted to demonstrate how the proposed eco-friendly packaging features like personalization and eco-points could be seamlessly integrated into existing food delivery flows. The goal here is to focus on the functionality and user experience of the added features, rather than redesigning an entire app from scratch.
Aftertaste of the Project
EXPECTED IMPACT
Encourages conscious decision-making by embedding eco-points directly into the ordering flow, subtly influencing user behaviour without creating friction, it's a nudge rooted in behavioural design.
Increases adoption of sustainable choices through reward loops, making environmentally friendly packaging feel more valuable, visible, and rewarding in fast-paced ordering contexts.
Drives platform differentiation and loyalty by linking sustainability with personalization, building an emotional connection that users associate with responsibility and thoughtful service design.
I learned how subtle behavioural nudges like eco-points or contextual personalization can create meaningful shifts in user decisions without forcing change.
Designing for behaviour, not just interface
Bridging user values with business goals
The challenge was to align user empathy with business feasibility, and this project taught me to think in terms of mutual wins rather than trade-offs.
Crafting clarity in constraints
Working with hypothetical, service-agnostic screens pushed me to communicate design intent clearly even without a full app ecosystem which is indeed a valuable exercise in storytelling and modular thinking.
The process reinforced that at times, ideas must emerge from users, not be retrofitted into their needs. The survey + interview synthesis helped me to stay grounded.
Letting research shape the feature, not justify it
TAKEAWAYS
© 2023 Aakriti Srivastava
Research-forward. Design-focused. Let's build what matters.
© 2023 Aakriti Srivastava
Research-forward. Design-focused. Let's build what matters.
Aakriti | UX Researcher & Designer
Eco-Packaging Rethought
Role: UX Researcher & Designer
Research Methodology: Mixed Method (user surveys for quantitative data and interviews for qualitative insights, followed by synthesis based on emergent behavioural patterns).
Solution: A service-level intervention designed to encourage sustainable behaviour in food delivery through behavioural nudges and incentivized choices. The experience reframes sustainability as both rewarding and personal, making green choices feel meaningful rather than costly.
The Problem
The growing reliance on food delivery has amplified packaging waste, yet sustainable alternatives remain underutilized. This gap stems not from lack of concern, but from the absence of clear prompts, perceived value, and meaningful integration into the user journey leading even well-intentioned users to default to less sustainable choices.
The Goal
To reimagine the packaging experience in food delivery apps by making eco-friendly options feel intuitive, rewarding, and worth choosing through behavioural design interventions that reduce cognitive friction, introduce positive reinforcement, and elevate the perceived value of sustainable choices.
Understanding the Gap
VENN DIAGRAM FOR THE PREVAILING SITUATION
Businesses prioritize scalability and cost-efficiency, often making sustainability optional due to operational and financial constraints.
Current service touchpoints offer limited flexibility, with static checkouts, hidden packaging options, and low personalization, reducing opportunity for engagement.
Users are presented with minimal interaction, where packaging decisions feel passive or default, not actively designed to influence perception or value.
The overlap shows a misalignment of incentives, where engagement gaps and disconnected experiences prevent eco-friendly options from being compelling across the journey.
QUANTIFYING USER CHOICES THROUGH SURVEY
To capture diverse user behaviours and perceptions around packaging choices, a survey was conducted with 52 participants across varied age groups (18–45), including frequent and occasional users of food delivery apps. The questionnaire focused on awareness of eco-packaging, perceived value of sustainability efforts, and motivational triggers like discounts or personalization. This helped validate assumptions and surface behavioural trends that would later shape key design interventions.
Most users are somewhat aware of environmental impacts, but this awareness doesn’t strongly influence their behaviour, over two-thirds don’t consider sustainability when choosing food delivery services. While a fair portion engage in recycling, convenience plays a major role in whether they do it regularly. Preferences lean toward mixed or biodegradable packaging, yet only a small fraction are clearly willing to pay extra for sustainable options. Most remain undecided, depending on how reasonable the added cost feels. This reveals a clear gap between environmental concern and consistent sustainable action.
TRACING USER BEHAVIOUR THROUGH INTERVIEWS
To peel back the "Why" behind the survey responses, we moved into conversations. Through in-depth interviews, we listened closely to stories of real moments: late-night cravings, rushed checkouts, second thoughts, and silent guilt. These narratives offered what numbers couldn’t and i.e., nuance. They helped us trace the subtle tensions between good intentions and convenient actions.
Unpacking the User Mindset
To design with empathy, we moved beyond surface data to decode recurring behaviours and emotional drivers. Interviews and surveys uncovered how values, habits, and perceived trade-offs shaped user decisions offering a deeper lens into what guided their choices.
USER SEGMENTATION & BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS
PERSONA: CONVENIENCE-FIRST CONSUMERS
PERSONA: ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE BUT PASSIVE CONSUMERS
Bridging the Gap with Ideas
IDEATION
USER FLOW
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
MOCKUPS
These mockups are not designed as part of a new or standalone food delivery application. Instead, they serve as hypothetical interface screens crafted to demonstrate how the proposed eco-friendly packaging features like personalization and eco-points could be seamlessly integrated into existing food delivery flows. The goal here is to focus on the functionality and user experience of the added features, rather than redesigning an entire app from scratch.
Aftertaste of the Project
EXPECTED IMPACT
Encourages conscious decision-making by embedding eco-points directly into the ordering flow, subtly influencing user behaviour without creating friction, it's a nudge rooted in behavioural design.
Increases adoption of sustainable choices through reward loops, making environmentally friendly packaging feel more valuable, visible, and rewarding in fast-paced ordering contexts.
Drives platform differentiation and loyalty by linking sustainability with personalization, building an emotional connection that users associate with responsibility and thoughtful service design.
© 2023 Aakriti Srivastava
Research-forward. Design-focused. Let's build what matters.
© 2023 Aakriti Srivastava
Research-forward. Design-focused. Let's build what matters.
Low Aversion Bias
Users may start to fear losing out on eco-points or future discounts if they don’t choose sustainable options, which subtly nudges behaviour.
Cognitive Justification
Even if the packaging costs more, users perceive it as “worth it” because they’re gaining something in return—helping to reduce choice paralysis and price resistance.
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF ECO POINTS
A reward system where users earn points for choosing eco-friendly packaging. These points convert into future discounts, making sustainable choices feel rewarding and financially worthwhile.
Positive Reinforcement
Rewards (points/discounts) increase the likelihood of repeating eco-conscious behaviour.
Gamification Effect
Taps into intrinsic motivation and creates a sense of progress or achievement (linked to the Goal Gradient Effect; users are more motivated when they see visible progress toward a reward).
Scarcity Principle
Commitment & Consistency Bias
Emotional Resonance
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF OPTIONAL PERSONALIZATION
Users can customize their order (e.g., messages, themes, illustrations) only when they choose sustainable packaging; adding exclusivity and emotional value to greener decisions.
Exclusivity adds perceived value, users are more likely to engage with something when access feels limited or earned.
Once a user chooses eco-friendly packaging once for the personalization perk, they’re more likely to stick with it to remain consistent with that identity
Personalized elements make the experience feel more emotionally connected and memorable increasing satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Priming for Identity Shift
It subtly communicates that eco-conscious = rewarded and recognized; encouraging users to internalize the identity of a responsible, thoughtful consumer
Sustainability influences perception, not always action
KEY INSIGHTS BACKED BY MIXED METHODS
Eco-friendly is valued, but deprioritized in urgency
Most users recognize and appreciate eco-conscious packaging but when ordering in a rush, they often avoid it to save time, effort and money even if the option is clearly presented.
Convenience consistently overpowers environmental intent:
In fast-paced or repetitive ordering situations, users tend to default to the most frictionless path, even if it means skipping sustainable options they would have otherwise considered.
Extra cost creates silent resistance
While users understand the environmental impact, they hesitate when eco-packaging adds a premium, especially when the value isn’t immediately felt or the benefit isn’t reinforced visually or socially.
Participants often judged a brand's ethics based on packaging choices, this shaped trust and overall sentiment, even if it didn’t always alter purchasing behaviour in the moment.
There is a desire to act, but it needs reinforcement
Users want to feel their sustainable choice matters. They look for encouragement or validation, such as visible rewards or clear impact, to justify the small extra effort or cost involved.
Gamification Effect
Cognitive Justification
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF ECO POINTS
A reward system where users earn points for choosing eco-friendly packaging. These points convert into future discounts, making sustainable choices feel rewarding and financially worthwhile.
Positive Reinforcement
Rewards (points/discounts) increase the likelihood of repeating eco-conscious behaviour.
Taps into intrinsic motivation and creates a sense of progress or achievement (linked to the Goal Gradient Effect; users are more motivated when they see visible progress toward a reward).
Low Aversion Bias
Users may start to fear losing out on eco-points or future discounts if they don’t choose sustainable options, which subtly nudges behaviour.
Even if the packaging costs more, users perceive it as “worth it” because they’re gaining something in return—helping to reduce choice paralysis and price resistance.
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF OPTIONAL PERSONALIZATION
Users can customize their order (e.g., messages, themes, illustrations) only when they choose sustainable packaging; adding exclusivity and emotional value to greener decisions.
Scarcity Principle
Exclusivity adds perceived value, users are more likely to engage with something when access feels limited or earned.
Commitment & Consistency Bias
Once a user chooses eco-friendly packaging once for the personalization perk, they’re more likely to stick with it to remain consistent with that identity
Emotional Resonance
Personalized elements make the experience feel more emotionally connected and memorable increasing satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Priming for Identity Shift
It subtly communicates that eco-conscious = rewarded and recognized; encouraging users to internalize the identity of a responsible, thoughtful consumer
Every insight gathered, every behavioural cue decoded, now finds its place within a cohesive system. This phase focuses on translating user motivations into structured journeys by aligning touchpoints, decisions, and design logic.
Stitching the System Together
The challenge was to align user empathy with business feasibility, and this project taught me to think in terms of mutual wins rather than trade-offs.
Crafting clarity in constraints
Letting research shape the feature, not justify it
I learned how subtle behavioural nudges like eco-points or contextual personalization can create meaningful shifts in user decisions without forcing change.
TAKEAWAYS
Designing for behaviour, not just interface
Bridging user values with business goals
Working with hypothetical, service-agnostic screens pushed me to communicate design intent clearly even without a full app ecosystem which is indeed a valuable exercise in storytelling and modular thinking.
The process reinforced that at times, ideas must emerge from users, not be retrofitted into their needs. The survey + interview synthesis helped me to stay grounded.