Workshops for Better Worlds: Exploring the Value-Action Gap in Sustainable Graphic Design Practice

Kable, Theadora Blythe Clark

Workshops for Better Worlds: Exploring the Value-Action Gap in Sustainable Graphic Design Practice

Kable, Theadora Blythe Clark

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2025

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Kable, Theadora Blythe Clark
dc.date.accessioned	2026-06-23T04:01:01Z
dc.date.available	2026-06-23T04:01:01Z
dc.date.issued	2025
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/195446
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Design and Society.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	As the impacts of climate change on the planet worsen, there are increasing calls for graphic designers to engage more responsibly with the ecological costs of their professional practice. However, international research reveals a value-action gap in graphic design practice: while sustainability is recognised as worthwhile, it is not yet seen as standard practice. This practice-based research investigates whether this value-action gap exists in an Australian graphic design context, why this gap may be occurring, and what might be done about it. A review of literature, industry practice, and design education explored how Australian graphic designers are currently engaging with and defining sustainable design practices. The review established that a value-action gap exists and that there is a need to engage designers with ecological literacy, practice critiques, and hopeful futures. Therefore, participatory workshops were introduced as a method for developing strategies and tools to build pathways to action and a sense of agency among Australian designers. A scoping workshop with three Sydney-based design studios, identified by exploring Australian industry awards and community discussion regarding sustainable design work, found that knowledge and access to sustainable practices are unequally distributed among practitioners, with particular disadvantages identified for emerging designers. Following this, a suite of three participatory workshops were iteratively designed for and tested with emerging designers. Insights from this participatory design process resulted in two contributions to knowledge in the field of graphic design: (1) The Five Factors for Better Worlds: insights to guide sustainability education for graphic designers and educators. (2) The Better Worlds Workshops: a resource to help working designers develop a sense of agency and pathways to action within their communities of practice. The Five Factors for Better Worlds and the Better Worlds Workshops support designers to bridge the sustainable design value-action gap. These contributions are actionable, immediately applicable, and specifically help practitioners and researchers see, know, and do the work needed to bring us to better worlds.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/195446/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2025 Theadora Blythe Clark Kable
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Workshops for Better Worlds: Exploring the Value-Action Gap in Sustainable Graphic Design Practice	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

As the impacts of climate change on the planet worsen, there are increasing calls for graphic designers to engage more responsibly with the ecological costs of their professional practice. However, international research reveals a value-action gap in graphic design practice: while sustainability is recognised as worthwhile, it is not yet seen as standard practice. This practice-based research investigates whether this value-action gap exists in an Australian graphic design context, why this gap may be occurring, and what might be done about it. A review of literature, industry practice, and design education explored how Australian graphic designers are currently engaging with and defining sustainable design practices. The review established that a value-action gap exists and that there is a need to engage designers with ecological literacy, practice critiques, and hopeful futures. Therefore, participatory workshops were introduced as a method for developing strategies and tools to build pathways to action and a sense of agency among Australian designers. A scoping workshop with three Sydney-based design studios, identified by exploring Australian industry awards and community discussion regarding sustainable design work, found that knowledge and access to sustainable practices are unequally distributed among practitioners, with particular disadvantages identified for emerging designers. Following this, a suite of three participatory workshops were iteratively designed for and tested with emerging designers. Insights from this participatory design process resulted in two contributions to knowledge in the field of graphic design: (1) The Five Factors for Better Worlds: insights to guide sustainability education for graphic designers and educators. (2) The Better Worlds Workshops: a resource to help working designers develop a sense of agency and pathways to action within their communities of practice. The Five Factors for Better Worlds and the Better Worlds Workshops support designers to bridge the sustainable design value-action gap. These contributions are actionable, immediately applicable, and specifically help practitioners and researchers see, know, and do the work needed to bring us to better worlds.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/195446