Green Identity: Visual Representations of Ecological Food Products through Their Packages: A case study on the Products by ICA and Coop

Abstract: Green movement has started in the 1970s and gained popularity in the 1980s. Its expansion continued to grow even more in the 1990s. Today, in 2010, environmental issues are parts of political agenda, and everyday life. It has become a must to consider environmental aspects in design processes. Green design has gained enormous importance as well as green consumption and green marketing over the years. This thesis suggests that as a result of these developments a green identity has emerged as well. This study, by analysing ecological food products’ visual representations through their packages, tests this claim. This work is a case study which focuses on both the ecological and the non-ecological products produced by ICA and Coop. Visual analysis, and qualitative research method have been applied to conduct this research. The theories such as visual social semiology, visual semiotics of Barthes, cultural approach theory, and script theory, guided the discussions and supported the interpretations.