Buy Nothing Day
Visual Communication 4 | 2022
There is a growing awareness on the topic of sustainability and the impacts of climate change. However, despite having intentions to incorporate greener habits into their lifestyles, many still struggle to make conscious decisions for the environment in their daily lives.
This means that there is a lack of action from consumers to make conscious decisions despite having the intention and awareness to consume responsibly. On top of that, the widespread expansion of E-commerce has greatly influenced buyers to consume mindlessly, leading to irresponsible consumption and poor waste management.
Targeted at online consumers, typically students and working adults aged 16–40 that enjoy online shopping but would like to be more environmentally conscious, Buy Nothing Day hopes to encourage Singaporeans to buy less, make informed decisions as well as to educate them on the impacts of overconsumption.
To communicate this message, a website as well as 9 social media posts for Instagram was created. The website serves as an educational platform that highlights the pressing need for Singaporeans to assess their current possessions through a featured homepage showcasing entries about items people have regretted purchasing.
It also teaches Singaporeans about the consequences of wastage generation as well as information about Buy Nothing Day and what the day encompasses. Since Buy Nothing Day is proposed to be an actual event, the 9 social media posts for Instagram would be used publicise the event to reach large amounts of people.
Buy Nothing Day hopes to highlight the importance of individual actions and how each person has a part to play towards taking care of our planet.
The focus was on promoting Buy Nothing Day as an annual event, using emotions to convey an urgent message about the consequences of mindless consumption and waste generation. An online survey was carried out to collect data about regretful online purchases.
The colour scheme eventually evolved to convey a more serious tone to highlight the severity of the topic. The choice of typeface for body text was to allow legibility of huge chunks of texts, while the chosen display type was something more casual and approachable.
The main visual rhetoric used was analogy, where the screen symbolises the landfill size, and the illustrated items signified items that the survey participants had regretted purchasing. This interactive page allows visitors to witness an online exhibition showcasing these items, and clicking on them would reveal a personal story behind that particular item.
This page was used to explain the significance of our landfill space and why it is important for consumers to buy less and adopt more sustainable habits.
This page explains what Buy Nothing Day means, and shows a Buyerarchy of Needs that has some examples of what you can do on Buy Nothing Day.
In order to promote the actual event, a series of 9 Instagram posts were created. These feature some information from the website, as well as potential partners that Buy Nothing Day could work with in celebration of the event & promotion of the cause. You may also see the Instagram page here.
