The Impact of Food Packaging Design on Users’ Perception of Green Awareness

Abstract

Food packaging is a crucial domain of green design and serves as an important channel for conveying green concepts to consumers. Effective packaging design not only achieves environmental sustainability but also fosters green awareness among consumers, promoting sustainable development. Therefore, it is essential to explore the relationship between food packaging design and consumers’ perception of green concepts. To enhance the influence of food packaging on consumers’ green awareness and stimulate their environmentally conscious behaviors, this study employs a literature review and case analysis to extract the key elements of green design in food packaging and the common green concepts they convey. Using the conjoint analysis method (CAM), various combinations of representative elements were established and used to design sample packaging. Through questionnaire evaluation and user interviews, the study examined the differences in the strength of influence that various elements and their combinations have on consumers’ perception of green concepts. The results reveal that, among all factors affecting consumers’ perception of green concepts in food packaging, color is the most effective and direct way to communicate green information and evoke green awareness. This is followed by material, structure, text, and patterns. The combination of material and structure is the most effective way for users to perceive green concepts, while the combination of color and structure is the least effective. Consumers are most likely to associate biodegradable materials with green concepts. This study furtherly elucidates the relationship between green food packaging design and consumers’ green awareness and offers practical design strategies for embedding green concepts in food packaging by focusing on the selection of color, material, and structure to express different types of green ideas.

1. Introduction

Sustainable development heavily relies on human green consumption in order to counter the continuous emergence of resource and environmental problems. Globally, promoting green economic and social development and advocating green consumption have become important themes for all countries [1]. Food is a necessity for people on a daily basis. Packaging not only protects food, but also delivers green information about food suppliers, such as their usage of green raw materials and the recycling and reusing of the packaging. Consumers’ green lifestyles are positively impacted by packaging, which contribute to the formation of their green consumption concepts and the occurrence of their green behaviors [2]. As a result, the design of food packaging influences the consumer’s green life and green consumption. By 2030, more and more consumers will expect food, beverage, and catering packaging to be easier to recycle and reuse, according to data from the Asia–Pacific region [3]. A study on Chinese consumers’ willingness to purchase environmentally friendly products showed that 84% of respondents believed that green packaging products played an important role in protecting the environment. Furthermore, 71% of respondents were willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products, which indicated that consumers had a positive attitude towards green packaging and were willing to purchase green products to achieve environmental goals [4,5].

The expression method of green ideas in packaging affects users’ perceptions of these ideas, and will be ultimately manifested through users’ green behaviors [6]. In other words, users’ perceptions of green ideas in packaging are largely determined by packaging design, which also tells users how to classify, recycle, and reuse products, thereby helping them develop green behavior habits and to shape a green lifestyle [7]. Therefore, for food packaging design, exploring users’ perception characteristics of green information is of great significance for designers to correctly and completely express green ideas, cultivate users’ green consumption concepts, and induce the formation of users’ green lifestyles, ultimately achieving sustainable social development [8].

2. Literature Review

2.1. Green Packaging Design

2.1.1. The Concept of Green Packaging Design

Green packaging focuses on the environmental benefits of the product and packaging during its lifecycle. While achieving environmental goals, it should also ensure the proper functions of packaging, such as product protection, structural quality, cost, shelf life, etc. [9,10]. Green packaging design plans the entire lifecycle of the packaging, and to a large extent, it also uses packaging as a carrier to demonstrates the greenness of the products it packages, including the process of research and development, raw materials, production, sales, the use of the product, and materials waste recycling (Figure 1) [11]. Some scholars have also proposed a definition of green packaging. According to Yuzhu Yang [12], green packaging is a packaging material system that can minimize environmental pollution and meet people’s needs as much as possible while ensuring product safety and hygiene. It should be based on minimizing material usage and meeting moderate packaging requirements for protection, convenience, and sales. Buil et al. pointed out [13] that packaging design should follow the principle of ‘4R1D’, which is a key concept in sustainable packaging design, emphasizing the balance between environmental protection and economic benefits by reducing resource consumption, promoting recycling, and enhancing efficiently resource utilization [14,15]. In another way, it means reducing, reusing, recycling, recovering, and degrading.

The existing research about green packaging mainly focuses on three aspects: packaging itself, the relationship between packaging and user activities, and packaging and production. Cao G R argues that reduction design can be an effective strategy for implementing green packaging, starting with the packaging itself [16]. In order to reduce packaging materials, while saving the cost, we can achieve the purpose of saving resources and protecting the environment by reducing the form, color, shape, material, and structure of packaging in packaging design. In addition, some scholars have also proposed that green packaging had a positive impact on users’ green behaviors, including cultivating consumers’ environmental awareness and inducing their green behaviors [17]. In this case, the information on recycling and reuse of green packaging can encourage users to reprocess and reuse the packaging, resulting in the packaging becoming other useful items.

For the aspect of packaging and production, green packaging design emphasizes the usage of renewable and biodegradable materials in the packaging and commodities production process, as well as a reduction in resource consumption and waste generation, in order to minimize resource consumption and waste generation. In this way, enterprises can not only make better use of raw materials and save them, but also reduce their consumption of production materials and energy, and finally contribute to the protection of the environment and reducing pollution [18,19].

2.1.2. Ways of Conveying Green Information in Packaging Design

Pre-consumption, in-use, and post-use are three phases where packaging design could be considered to convey green ideas [20]. As can be seen in

Table 1. Ways of conveying green information in packaging design.

Consumption Phases	Delivering Methods	Delivering Ways	Delivering Contents
Pre-consumption	Material, form, visual language	Directly	Visual, tactile, and other sensory information created by green design
In-use	Small-capacity packaging, multifunctional structural design, simple structural design	Directly	Users’ green usage behavior
Post-use	Recycling, reuse, re-creation, green propaganda	Indirectly	User initiatives for green activities

, the green information delivered by packaging design before the consumer purchases is mainly visual, tactile, and other sensory elements, and during the use of the product, it becomes a green behavior guidance, such as telling users how to use products moderately, avoid waste, reduce losses, etc. [21]. However, in the phase of post-use, it becomes an inspiration for users to recycle and reuse products and packaging in a green way.

In the pre-consumption phase, packaging conveys green information primarily through its material, form, and visual languages [22,23]. Degradable plastic, natural materials, or recycled paper are examples of green packaging design utilizing materials. According to Lu Li [24], consumers are more likely to perceive the green information conveyed by the appearance and materials of packaging, which helps them make purchasing decisions more quickly and effectively. By reducing the volume of packaging, a packaging design can save the materials used per unit, which will enhance users’ intuitive green perceptions [25]. As an important part of design activities, visual language is a significant way to express green ideas. Frierson A et al. [26] believes that visual languages are created by combining graphics, colors and other elements together to meet consumers’ psychological needs and enhance their perception of goods.

In the phase of use, a simplified packaging structure can reduce the packaging materials used and influence consumer behaviors to save resources [27]. Also, packaging design with small volume quantification can achieve the effectiveness of reduction [28], thus avoiding unnecessary waste. For example, the packaging design of Leuven beer adopts the form of ice packs, which breaks the traditional beer packaging types and people’s inherent understanding of beer packaging. It packages beer in a small capacity form, reducing waste when users cannot finish it all at once. Meanwhile, the packaging is lightweight, simple, and cost-effective (Figure 2).

When the product cannot continue to be used, the green information in packaging design, such as recyclability, reusability, recreation, and green knowledge education, can inform users on how to reuse and recycle packaging and products, as well as how to classify and process them, thereby guiding users towards green behavior [29], improving their initiative to participate in green activities, and ultimately establishing a correlation between packaging and users’ perception of green. An ice cream package printed with temperature-sensitive ink in Figure 3, for example, shows that the polar bear in the picture will slowly disappear until it becomes a pile of skeletons as the ice cream is slowly consumed and the package’s temperature rises. This packaging design builds a relationship between the impact of climate warming on polar bears with the process of consumers consuming ice cream, which greatly arouses consumers’ emotions and stimulates users’ engagement with green consumption and environmental protection.

2.1.3. Packaging Design Elements

According to existing studies, packaging design elements can be generally classified into three categories: material, structure, and visual elements [30,31]. The material is the carrier for implementing packaging design schemes and is indispensable for packaging of any product. As Yonghui F [32] noted, the application of sustainable and recyclable materials is often the main means of green design. Magnier L et al. [33] argued that the naturalization of materials is the key to developing green packaging materials, because they can self-degrade after disposal, thereby minimizing their negative impact on the environment with maximum efficiency. Structure is the second element of packaging design. It is closely related to the protective effect of packaging on products, and also affects the way that products are opened and stored, making it one of the key elements in packaging design [34]. As such, structure plays an important role in the basic protective function of packaging. Finally, visual elements are the factors that can be most intuitively perceived by consumers [35], mainly including packaging’s form and its surface patterns, texts, colors, etc. Shen C C proposed that product packaging mainly relies on its color, shape, pattern, and text to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions [36]. According to the above studies, we conclude that the main design elements of existing packaging are the material, structure, form, pattern, color, and text. The form is mainly determined by the product’s volume and structure, and the packaging form of different types of products varies greatly. Therefore, we will not discuss it from the perspective of users’ perception of green information in this study.

2.2. User Perception of Green Information

2.2.1. Definition

A user’s perception of a product is ‘the moment of truth’ in the interaction between the user and the product, and it has a direct impact on their purchasing decisions [37]. The user-perceived value was first introduced in Woodruff R B’s user value hierarchy [38], which proposed that the user-perceived value consisted of a hierarchical combination of the product’s attributes, the user’s preferences for product attributes, and the user’s subjective evaluation of product attributes. With the increasing attention paid to green consumption theory, some scholars have also proposed the concept of user-perceived green value. Xu, F. pointed out that [39] the user perceived green value of a product consists of multiple dimensions, such as the greenness of the product, the user’s ability to understand green knowledge, and the user’s evaluation of the product greenness [40]. The green perceived value, according to Chen Y S [41], is not just a psychological feeling that the consumers generate when they choose a product, but also a kind of environmentally friendly value that the products possess. This attribute of a product can trigger a positive word-of-mouth effect among consumers and encourage more green consumption. For the whole perception process, customers’ ability to understand green knowledge and their emotions and experiences when purchasing green products have a significant impact on their perception of green information. Figure 4 illustrates the green perception process of consumers.

2.2.2. Evaluation of User Green Perception

User green perception evaluation refers to the evaluation of the consumer’s perception of the environmental nature of the product and packaging [42], which includes the process and contents of the user’s perception of the green information from the packaging and product. For example, this includes whether the green information perceived by users is accurate and comprehensive, and whether users can easily perceive it. Zhen Wei et al. [43] believe that user perceived evaluation is an evaluation and feedback system centered around the direct participation of users. Linlin Zhu et al. [44] constructed a perception evaluation index system for the quality of online comment information in multiple dimensions, such as the adequacy, reliability, relevance, comprehensibility, conciseness, completeness, and accuracy of information perception.

According to the above studies, we divided the evaluation of user green perception into three dimensions: the accuracy, convenience, and strength of perceived information. The accuracy means whether the green information perceived by the user through the packaging is accurate and free from misunderstanding; convenience evaluates how easy is it for the user to obtain the green information conveyed in the packaging; and strength refers to the degree to which users perceive green information.

2.2.3. Factors Influencing User Green Perception

There are a variety of factors involved in forming users’ perceptions of green information [45]. Research indicates that advertising, marketing, and other factors have a significant impact on this process. According to Luo B et al. [46] in marketing practice, more and more companies are using advertising to convey their various environmental claims in order to attract more consumers’ attention and persuade them to purchase their products, while also enhancing consumers’ willingness to engage with green consumption and sustainability awareness. Yiran S et al. [47] pointed out that packaging, as the first part of the product that consumers come into contact with, has always played the role of a silent salesperson in product sales, and that it is also the last advertisement for users before they purchase the product. Especially in the process of purchasing environmentally friendly products, consumers’ first impression of the product packaging will have a significant impact on their judgment of the greenness level of the product. Kim N et al. [48] believed that the constituent elements of product packaging included shape, size, color, graphics, materials, and design style. The design style of different packaging elements can also have different effects on consumers’ purchasing intentions. Therefore, as a medium for direct contact between users and products, packaging can actively enhance users’ awareness and consciousness of green ideas, promote the formation of their green habits, and influence their purchasing decisions and consumption.

3. Research Design

3.1. Research Purpose

Food is the most essential product in human life, and people need food every day. Therefore, green information in food packaging has a significant impact on the formation of consumers’ green awareness and green lifestyle. A large amount of research focuses on how to achieve environmental benefits through packaging design, such as material selection, packaging volume reduction, etc., while little research has explored the differences in users’ perception of green information for different food packaging. The lack of this research direction has affected the transmission of green information through packaging, making it difficult to fully stimulate the formation of users’ green awareness and hindering the generation of their green behavior. Therefore, from the perspective of food packaging, we explore the impact of packaging design on users’ perception of green information. Specifically, this study mainly answers the following questions:

• What factors or aspects of green design for food packaging have an impact on consumers’ perception of green ideas?
• What are the differences in the impact of various elements in green food packaging on consumers’ perception of green ideas?
• How can manufacturers reasonably implant green concepts in food packaging improve their perception by consumers and promote green behavior?

3.2. Research Methodology and Process

3.2.1. Research Methods

• Conjoint Analysis Method (CAM)

In the CAM, a number of product attributes that can be defined in detail are used to assess the relative importance of consumer preferences for products with different attributes [49]. According to this method, a product is described as a profile, with each profile consisting of one or more attributes that can describe the important features of the product. By analyzing the collected user preference data for the product, the relative importance of each attribute of the product can be obtained, and finally the optimal combination of product attributes will be predicted. In our study, the CAM can help identify how users perceive green information from different packaging design elements, such as materials, colors, and structures. This approach reveals which elements most effectively enhance people’s green awareness perception. Unlike traditional analysis methods, the CAM more accurately reflects consumers’ real preferences, making it particularly useful for this type of research.

2.

Questionnaire Research

The survey method is a research approach that collects quantitative data through structured questionnaires. Researchers can gather large quantities of sample data via questionnaires, allowing for statistical analysis. Compared to other data collection methods, surveys can systematically capture users’ multidimensional opinions, covering a broader sample and providing a statistical foundation for further analysis. To quantify the impact of different elements and their combinations on the transmission of green concepts in food packaging, we use questionnaire research to collect quantitative data from users. The survey focuses on user information, the transmission of green concepts through individual design elements, and the effectiveness of different element combinations in conveying green ideas. In order to quantitatively discuss the transmission of different elements and different combinations of packaging design elements on the green idea of food packaging, we collected quantitative data from users by developing a questionnaire which is centered on user information, the transmission of green ideas of each different elements, and the transmission of green ideas of different combinations of elements. See Section 3.4.3 for the specific questionnaire distribution process.

3.

User Interview

The user interview method involves conducting in-depth one-to-one interviews to obtain users’ genuine thoughts and feelings [50]. Through open-ended questions, researchers can gather insights into users’ attitudes toward green food packaging design and the underlying reasons for these attitudes. Additionally, the flexibility to adjust questions based on user feedback during the interviews allows for deeper exploration of their perspectives, making the research more detailed and comprehensive. Therefore, we use this method to explore users’ experiences in perceiving green concepts in food packaging. This approach could also serve to further compare and validate the findings from the questionnaire survey, providing a clearer understanding of users’ perception of various green elements in packaging design. A total of 26 consumers were chosen to participate in in-depth interviews at the store. All participants were aged between 20 and 60 years old, with a high frequency of participants purchasing food and being concerned about environmental issues.

In the interview, participants were asked to describe which design elements or combinations of elements would enable them to better acquire, perceive, and understand green information in food packaging, and which elements would leave a deep impression on them and inspire their green behaviors. At the same time, they were also required to elaborate on the problems encountered in obtaining, perceiving, and understanding the green information. All participation was voluntary and anonymous. Prior to the interview, participants were informed of the purpose of the interview and assured that all information gathered during the interview would not be used for any other purpose.

Table 2. Questions from the user interviews.

NO.	Question
1.	What design elements do you think would make you better able to access, perceive, and understand the green ideas in food packaging?
2.	Which of the current green idea in food packaging design do you think gives you the greenest idea perception? E.g., small size, reusable, multi-functional, etc. Which green idea in the green design of food packaging do you think is easiest for you to perceive? (such as small size, reusable, multifunctional, etc.)
3.	Which design forms in green food packaging do you think will most stimulate your green behavior?
4.	What problems have you encountered in acquiring, perceiving, or understanding green ideas from food packaging?

shows the questions used in the interviews.

3.2.2. Research Process

This study mainly used the CAM [51], a questionnaire survey, and user interviews.

We collected green packaging from existing popular food products as cases, extracted the main design elements from these cases based on existing research, and combined them into various product profiles. Then, we used the CAM to screen some combination samples and drew design drafts for each combination. Finally, users were invited to evaluate the design proposals of each combination. The flowchart of the research is shown in Figure 5 and the specific steps were as follows:

• Identify the main elements of green packaging design.
• Screen the combinations of the packaging elements using the CAM and draw design proposals.
• Invite a certain number of users to rate the design proposals based on the green information they perceived.
• Analyze user rating data, summarize the impact of different design element combinations on users’ perception of green information, propose the optimal combination scheme to stimulate users’ perception, and provide specific design recommendations.

3.3. Extraction of Green Food Packaging Design Elements

This study extracted the design elements of green packaging from existing popular food products and used the CAM to screen the design elements and their combinations. The food packaging cases were mainly collected from two sources. The first source was to select the top-selling foods from current shopping malls, supermarkets, and online sales platforms, including liquid foods (such as milk, beverages, coffee, wine, soy sauce, etc.), solid foods (cookies, candies), etc., while the second source was to select local specialty foods with high recognition. Finally, a total of 520 packaging cases were collected. We classified 520 cases and ultimately obtained 5 design elements in 3 design dimensions using the literature research method, namely visual attributes, material attributes, and functional attributes. The specific design elements are shown in

Table 3. Design elements in green design for food packaging.

Attributes	Design Elements	Elemental Content	Cases
Visual attributes	Pattern	Abstract pattern, concrete pattern
	Color	Warm colors, cool colors
	Text	Environmental label text and regular text
Material attributes	Material	Degradable, recyclable, renewable materials, etc.
Functional attributes	Structure	Simplicity, multifunctionality, reusable structure, etc.

.

The CAM can theoretically derive 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 = 120 combinations of design elements. Due to the large number of combinations generated, in order to reduce the difficulty for consumers to make choices among numerous combinations and improve the pertinence of the study results, we used an orthogonal design method to process the design element combinations. Finally, 12 representative combinations were selected after excluding the meaningless ones. Each combination represented a product packaging design scheme.

Table 4. The final selected combinations of the design elements.

NO.	Pattern	Color	Text	Material	Structure
1				√	√
2			√	√	√
3		√	√	√
4		√		√
5	√	√		√	√
6			√		√
7			√	√
8	√	√	√
9		√			√
10	√			√
11	√	√
12	√		√

Note: “√”: Select the design element, e.g., the first group of design schemes is “material + structure”.

shows the combinations for each design element.

In order to investigate which green ideas were more easily understood and perceived by consumers in the green design of food packaging, two professors of visual communication design from art colleges and two design directors from design companies were also invited to form an expert group to examine and extract the green ideas conveyed in the cases collected above. As shown in

Table 5. Green design ideas extracted from the food packaging cases.

NO.	Green Ideas	NO.	Green Ideas
Y1	Small size	Y5	Multi-functional
Y2	Low consumption of materials	Y6	Less decorative
Y3	Low energy consumption	Y7	Reusable
Y4	Use of biodegradable materials	Y8	Eco-friendly materials

, eight green ideas were ultimately obtained.

3.4. Empirical Research

The empirical research mainly focused on consumers’ evaluation of green information perception in food packaging.

3.4.1. Evaluation Samples

For the sample selection of food packaging, we considered the fact that some of the participants were familiar with the packaging design of food products already available on the market, which may affect the accuracy of the results. We redesigned 12 new types of food packaging schemes according to the 12 different element combinations shown in Table 4. Each newly designed packaging scheme is guaranteed to convey all 8 of the green design ideas listed in Table 5.

3.4.2. Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire used a 7-point Likert scale [52]. It mainly focused on the accuracy, convenience, and transmission intensity of 8 green ideas perceived by users in 12 samples. The questions include 3 parts: basic user information, the transmission of green ideas by the 5 elements in the 12 samples, and the transmission of green ideas by each sample.

Table 6. User evaluations content.

Green Ideas		Y1			Y2			Y3			Y4
		Y5			Y6			Y7			Y8
Sample	Design Element	D1	D2	D3	D1	D2	D3	D1	D2	D3	D1	D2	D3
1	C
	P
	T
	M
	S
2	C
	P
	T
	M
	S
…	C
	P
	T
	M
	S
12	C
	P
	T
	M
	S

Note: Y1–Y8 represent 8 green ideas: Y1 = small size, Y2 = low consumption of materials, Y3 = low energy consumption, Y4 = use of biodegradable materials, Y5 = multi-functional, Y6 = less decorative, Y7 = reusable, and Y8 = eco-friendly materials; C, P, T, M, S, represent 5 design elements: C = color, P = pattern, T = text, M = materials, and S = structure; D1–D3 represent the 3 evaluation dimensions of green ideas conveyed in samples: D1 = accuracy, D2 = convenience, and D3 = transmission intensity.

shows the user evaluations content.

3.4.3. Data Collection

This survey collected data through online questionnaires. We distributed questionnaires to participants through WeChat groups, inviting them to evaluate their perception of green information in 12 redesigned samples. All participants were informed of the purpose of the study in advance, and everyone participated voluntarily. The survey was conducted on 15 February 2024 and ended on 15 March 2024, and a total of 236 questionnaire results were returned. After excluding questionnaires with the same answer for all questions, or answering within 30 s, or incomplete data, 204 valid questionnaires were finally obtained.

The information about the participants is shown in

Table 7. Descriptive statistics of the participants.

Categories	Characteristics	Quantity	Proportion
Gender	Male	98	48.04%
	Female	106	51.96%
Age	Under 18 years old	5	2.45%
	19–24 years old	63	30.88%
	25–30 years old	45	22.06%
	31–40 years old	36	17.65%
	41–50 years old	37	18.14%
	51–60 years old	11	5.39%
	61+ years old	7	3.43%
Education level	Junior high school education and below	32	15.69%
	High school diploma	38	18.63%
	Vocational education	28	13.73%
	Junior college education	31	15.20%
	Bachelor’s degree	38	18.63%
	Graduate degree or above	37	18.14%
Monthly income	CNY 1500 and below	38	18.63%
	CNY 1501–3000	42	20.59%
	CNY 3001–4500	53	25.98%
	CNY 4501–6000	30	14.71%
	Above CNY 6000	41	20.10%

. There were relatively more females (51.96%) than males (48.04%), and the proportion of those aged 19–40 was relatively high (87.79%). The participants showed a balanced level of education, with the highest proportion of monthly income ranging from CNY 3001–4500 (25.98%), indicating that they can basically represent the characteristics of the general public.

4. Results

4.1. Reliability and Validity Test

We used SPSS software version 19.0 for statistical analysis [53]. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to test the reliability of the data [54], and the KMO and Bartlett analyses were used to determine the validity of the data. The Cronbach’s alpha value of the overall questionnaire was 0.878 and the KMO coefficient of the overall questionnaire was 0.919, which indicates that the data have good reliability and validity.

Table 8. Values of Cronbach’s alpha, KOM, and Bartlett analyses.

Cronbach’s Alpha		0.878
KMO Sampling Suitability Quantity		0.919
Bartlett’s test of sphericity	approximate chi-square (math.)	4105.575
	df	595
	Sig.	-

shows the results of the reliability and validity analyses.

4.2. The Influence of Each Design Element on User Perception of Green Ideas

We calculated the perceived values by consumers of the accuracy, convenience, and transmission intensity of green information conveyed by 5 design elements in 12 samples, and the results are shown in

Table 9. Effect of design elements on users’ perception of green ideas.

Design Elements	Accuracy	Intensity	Convenience	M	SD	Ranking
Color	4.58	4.46	4.42	4.48	1.579	1
Pattern	3.89	4.01	4.04	3.98	1.290	5
Text	4.11	4.04	4.25	4.13	1.678	4
Material	4.49	4.49	4.45	4.46	1.737	2
Structure	4.27	4.14	4.16	4.19	1.495	3

. From Table 9, we can see that, among all the elements, color (M = 4.48) has the strongest impact on users’ perception of green information, followed by material (M = 4.46), structure (M = 4.19), and text (M = 4.13). The pattern (M = 3.98) has the least influence on consumers’ perception.

We also established a model relationship between each design element and users’ perception results. Based on the analysis of the above theoretical literature, we initially proposed the following model:

UPGI = β₀ +β₁ C +β₂ P +β₃ T +β₄ M +β₅ S +ε

(1)

where UPGI is the user perception of green ideas, and C, P, T, M, and S represent the five design elements of C = color, P = pattern, T = text, M = materials, and S = structure, respectively.

Using the user questionnaire data and with the help of SPSS 21.0, the Equation (1) was verified, and the following results were obtained (

Table 10. Linear regression analysis of each design element and user perception.

Variable Index	B	T
Color	0.654 ***	4.471
Materials	0.327 **	3.559
Structure	0.154 **	2.174
Text	0.110 *	1.280
Pattern	0.053 *	0.148

Note: *** means p < 0.01, ** means p < 0.05, * means p < 0.1. Significance of this equation: p < 0.01.

).

4.3. The Effect of the Combinations of Design Elements on Users’ Perception of Green Ideas

The ranking of the effect of the combinations of design elements on users’ perception of green ideas is shown in

Table 11. Ranking of element combinations.

NO.	Combination	M	SD	Ranking
1	Material + structure	4.85	1.586	1
2	Text + material + structure	4.18	1.182	6
3	Color + text + material	3.96	1.951	8
4	Color + material	3.94	1.638	10
5	Pattern + color + material + structure	4.04	1.994	7
6	Structure + text	3.81	2.034	11
7	Text + material	4.75	1.578	2
8	Pattern + color + text	4.53	1.759	3
9	Color + structure	3.64	1.837	12
10	Pattern + material	4.33	2.142	4
11	Color + pattern	3.95	1.889	9
12	Pattern + text	4.27	1.937	5

.

In terms of prompting consumers to perceive green idea, the combination design of materials and structures (M = 4.85) has the strongest impact. The combination of color and structure (M = 3.64), on the other hand, is the least effective at making users perceive green information.

4.4. Ranking of Perceived Green Ideas

The ranking of green ideas perceived by users is shown in

Table 12. Ranking of perceived green ideas.

Ranking	Green Idea	M	SD
1.	Use of biodegradable materials	5.39	1.425
2.	Small size	5.16	1.826
3.	Less decorative	5.04	1.895
4.	Eco-friendly materials	4.93	1.947
5.	Multi-functional	4.57	2.046
6.	Reusable	4.52	1.954
7.	Low consumption of materials	4.15	1.766
8.	Low energy consumption	3.65	1.759

. The results reflect which green ideas are more easily understood and perceived by users. ‘Use of biodegradable materials’ (M = 5.39) is the easiest for users to understand and perceive, and users have the most difficulty understanding and perceiving ‘Low energy consumption’ (M = 3.65).

Table 13. User perception scores of 8 green ideas conveyed by 5 design elements.

Design Elements	Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	Y7	Y8
Color	4.37	4.56	4.31	4.34	4.35	4.96	4.43	4.52
Pattern	4.03	3.85	4.01	4.06	3.89	4.03	3.81	4.15
Text	3.74	3.98	3.62	4.38	4.41	4.27	4.36	4.31
Material	4.32	4.31	4.61	4.45	4.34	4.26	4.67	4.83
Structure	4.35	3.86	4.17	4.28	3.98	4.56	3.96	4.34

Note: Y1–Y8 represent 8 green ideas: Y1 = small size, Y2 = low consumption of materials, Y3 = low energy consumption, Y4 = use of biodegradable materials, Y5 = multi-functional, Y6 = less decorative, Y7 = reusable, and Y8 = eco-friendly materials.

shows the user perception scores of 8 green ideas conveyed by 5 design elements from 12 samples. We can see that there are differences in the relationship between different green ideas and different design elements. For example, color has the strongest relationship with Y6, pattern has the strongest relationship with Y8, text has the strongest relationship with Y5, material has the strongest relationship with Y8, and structure has the strongest relationship with Y6. Similarly, Y1, Y2, and Y6 have the closest relationship with color, Y3, Y4, Y7, and Y8 have the closest relationship with material, and Y5 has the closest relationship with text.

Table 14. User perception scores of 8 green ideas conveyed by combinations of design elements.

Ranking	Combinations	Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	Y7	Y8
1	Material + structure	4.51	5.02	4.34	4.83	5.15	5.20	4.90	4.91
2	Text + material + structure	3.94	4.56	4.14	4.26	3.78	4.46	4.00	4.36
3	Color + text + material	3.67	3.92	3.74	4.10	3.56	4.20	4.16	4.38
4	Color + material	3.71	3.55	3.81	3.94	3.89	4.23	4.19	4.23
5	Pattern + color + material + structure	4.28	3.94	3.89	4.27	3.70	4.12	3.72	4.46
6	Structure + text	3.71	3.55	3.98	3.98	3.81	4.05	3.71	3.69
7	Text + material	4.38	5.25	4.36	4.97	4.44	5.17	4.58	4.90
8	Pattern + color + text	3.91	4.73	4.71	4.74	4.29	4.76	4.49	4.66
9	Color + structure	3.59	3.65	3.86	3.76	3.60	3.41	3.54	3.74
10	Pattern + material	4.22	4.02	4.27	4.28	4.09	4.46	4.61	4.69
11	Color + pattern	3.89	3.82	3.94	4.11	3.59	4.14	4.03	4.13
12	Pattern + text	4.16	3.92	4.74	4.37	4.23	3.96	4.50	4.31

Note: Y1–Y8 represent 8 green ideas: Y1 = small size, Y2 = low consumption of materials, Y3 = low energy consumption, Y4 = use of biodegradable materials, Y5 = multi-functional, Y6 = less decorative, Y7 = reusable, and Y8 = eco-friendly materials.

shows the user perception scores of the combinations of various design elements conveying the eight green ideas. The results show that the combination of material and structure best reflects green concepts, such as ‘small size’, ‘multi-functional’, ‘less decorative’, ‘reusable’, and ‘eco-friendly materials’. The combination of pattern and text is the most effective way to express the green idea of ‘low energy consumption’. Furthermore, the combination of text and material best reflects the green concept of low consumption of materials and the ‘use of biodegradable materials’.

5. Discussion

5.1. Evaluation of the Impact of Design Elements on Green Idea Perception

Among the five design elements, color most effectively expresses green information and influences users’ green perceptions, while the pattern causes the least intense green perceptions. Among the three dimensions of accuracy, accessibility, and intensity of each element influencing users’ perception of green information, color has higher average scores in the dimensions of accessibility and intensity. The reasons may be that, firstly, compared to text, pattern, structure, etc., color has a more direct and rapid impact on people, with stronger recognition, allowing users to feel the information carried by the packaging at first glance. Secondly, the term ‘green design’ itself comes from color. Especially the green color in packaging can easily remind people of green ideas. According to Bix L et al. [55], color plays an important role in conveying sustainability and environmental protection values in green packaging. Reasonable color design can effectively attract consumers’ attention and leave a deep impression on them. Our user interview results also support this conclusion. Twelve respondents mentioned that their first impression of packaging was color, and among all colors, packaging with a green color was more likely to make them perceive environmental information compared to packaging with other colors. In color psychology, green is widely regarded as a calming, safe, and healthy color that is highly compatible with the natural, fresh, and organic properties of food [56]. Moreover, Liu W et al. [57] proposed that packaging color had a significant impact on users’ willingness to recycle. When the product packaging was green, users would unconsciously seek the green information written on the packaging, thus enhancing their perception of green information and increasing their willingness to recycle the product or packaging. Therefore, in the design of green food packaging, the use of green can better stimulate users’ perception of green ideas.

5.2. Evaluation of the Impact of Element Combinations on Green Idea Perception

Among the 12 samples, the combination of the material and structure brings the strongest perception of green information to consumers. This was also verified in the user interviews, where six respondents mentioned that when natural (bamboo, wood), recyclable, and biodegradable materials were used in food packaging, and when the packaging structure effectively utilized the characteristics of these materials, they would have a stronger perception of the environmental friendliness and sustainability of the packaging. Badshah M A et al. [58] believed that, for food packaging design, the development of innovative packaging materials is helpful to improve the sustainability of food and beverage industry, and that how to better integrate materials and structures to make them more widely applicable is an important issue in green packaging design. Therefore, when food packaging has both design features of green materials and a green structure, it is easier for users to perceive green ideas.

5.3. Evaluation of Green Ideas

Among the eight 0green ideas, consumers believe that the ‘use of biodegradable materials’ is the most easily perceived idea in food green packaging. In the user interviews, 16 respondents believed that biodegradable materials can more realistically make them trust the environmental friendliness of the packaging, as such materials allow users to see and touch them. In contrast, users do not fully trust the authenticity of other green ideas in the packaging (such as the ‘low consumption of materials’, ‘low energy consumption’, etc.) due to a lack of personal experience or comparison with non-environmentally friendly packaging. This result may be related to the user’s own environmental knowledge.

6. Limitations

Of course, there are several limitations in our study. Firstly, the evaluated samples were only provided to participants in the form of images, which may affect the study’s results, since users are unable to truly perceive all of the packaging’s information. Secondly, consumers’ own education and experience may also affect their perception of green ideas in food packaging design, which was not considered in this study. Thirdly, green ideas have a wide range of content, and we only discussed eight types in this study, which may ignore other green ideas.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

7.1. Conclusions

As consumers’ recognition of green packaging concepts continues to grow, modern food green packaging design faces deeper demands in terms of consumer perception, aesthetics, cultural background, and values. However, there is currently a lack of systematic theoretical approaches to understanding consumers’ varying perceptions of different green packaging ideas. This study uses food packaging as a case study to explore the relationship between packaging design and users’ perception of green ideas. Through a literature review and case studies, five key design elements were identified: pattern, color, text, material, and structure. Additionally, eight green ideas were extracted: small size, low consumption of materials, low energy consumption, use of biodegradable materials, multi-functionality, less decorative, reusable, and eco-friendly materials. Using the CAM, 12 combinations of these 5 design elements were selected to design new food packaging. These new design schemes served as samples for a 7-point Likert scale evaluation, which were offered to 204 users to rate the perception of green ideas conveyed by them. At the same time, user interviews were also conducted to validate the results of the quantitative research. Finally, the intensity levels of different design elements and their combinations expressing green ideas were identified. The main conclusions are as follows:

• Food packaging can effectively express green ideas through its visual elements, material, and functional attributes, including color, pattern, text, material, structure, etc.
• Color is the most influential element on consumers’ perception of green ideas, followed by material, text, structure, and pattern. In addition, the combination design of materials and structures is most likely to make the green concept in the food packaging be perceived by consumers.
• Among the eight green concepts, the use of biodegradable materials in food packaging is most easily perceived by users and promotes the occurrence of users’ green behaviors.

7.2. Recommendations

Based on the above conclusions, the following recommendations are made for future green packaging design for food.

Color is the most important design element that a consumer can feel the impact of directly in food packaging. Therefore, when designing food green packaging, designers should choose natural and soft tones, such as green, brown, light blue colors, etc., in order to convey the theme of sustainable and green organic food. At the same time, designers need to pay attention to the intrinsic colors of the raw materials and the colors from nature, which can also express the green ideas to the maximum extent. The use of natural colors can stimulate consumers’ green awareness and lead them to resonate with the concept of green consumption. Designers should avoid excessively fancy colors and patterns and should adopt simple and clear pictures to emphasize the green qualities of the products, thereby guiding consumers to perceive green ideas and produce green behaviors, finally achieving the aim of green design. A combination scheme of color and text and color and pattern can be used to convey the green message of less decoration and energy saving to consumers.

To reduce the negative impact on the environment, designers can choose to use degradable materials, such as biodegradable plastics, paper, and renewable resources. Users’ perceptions of the green idea of recycling can be strengthened by prioritizing the usage of recyclable materials. Additionally, bamboo fibers and corn starch, which are both more accessible and greener, can also be used as ecological and natural materials. In the eyes of consumers, the combination of materials and other design elements, such as the combination of structures and materials, as well as the combination of colors and materials, can convey green ideas more strongly.

Green food packaging should be based on a streamlined structure that meets the function requirement of packaging while reducing materials and energy waste. Minimizing the weight and carbon emissions of packaging by adopting a lightweight design may be an effective way of achieving this. A multi-functional packaging structure can also be designed so that the packaging can be reused to prolong its lifespan. When packaging is used to convey the green message of small-sized, multi-functional, and reusable products to consumers, designers can focus on the structure or combine the structure with materials, logos, and other design elements.

Compared to other types of packaging, food packaging is the most common in people’s daily lives. As a fast-moving consumer good, such packaging is often more refined than that of other products, as it is aimed at stimulating consumers’ purchasing desires. Therefore, exploring green design in food packaging is particularly important and holds greater significance for sustainable development. Since consumers’ basic psychological and behavioral motivations for green perception are similar across different types of products, design elements, such as color, material, and structure, can also influence consumers’ green perception in the packaging designs of other industries. The continuous improvement of consumers’ awareness of green food packaging has driven the further development of green food packaging. The packaging industry will be rejuvenated by the development of green food packaging. At the same time, the extensive use of green food packaging will also drive the sustainable development of other packaging areas, helping to build a full range of green concepts for humans, which will finally enhance the green and ecological harmonious development between humans and nature.