Designers’ Needs in Leveraging the Evolving Role of Packaging for Promoting Healthy Eating

Promoting healthy eating improves both planetary and human health, aligning with sustainable development goals. Eating healthy, locally sourced foods that are rich in nutrients and low in energy density produces benefits for public health in the long term and enhances resource sustainability. Despite the importance of increasing intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, consumers still frequently choose pre-packaged foods, making packaging design crucial in influencing food choice and intake as well as promoting healthy diets. Designers of food packaging are in a crucial position to contribute to health and well-being by influencing consumer knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards healthy eating. However, designers may yet be unaware of their potential to influence and the challenges they may face in this domain. This study investigates designers’ perspectives, understandings, needs and challenges regarding packaging design for promoting healthy eating. A total of 20 designers (n = 10 professionals, 10 students) from various design backgrounds participated in this study, engaging in a packaging design task (centred on either reducing intake of high-energy density foods or increasing intake of fruits and vegetables), followed by one-to-one interviews. A thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that the designers primarily focused on enhancing the healthiness of food items through packaging design but often overlooked the potential to regulate consumer intake of energy-dense foods. In addition, the designers expressed concerns regarding consumer preferences and market acceptance for such designs. They faced significant challenges in accessing relevant resources and emphasised the need for health-related information, data on packaging impacts and consumer preferences, practical design examples and theoretical support. These findings highlight the demand for additional support to enable designers to develop tailored packaging designs, contributing to a supportive environment for promoting healthy eating.