Design That Breaks Habits – New Exhibition on Sustainable Behaviors at Svenskt Tenn
April 24, 2026

The exhibition is organized by Beckman College of Design, the Beijer Institute, and Svenskt Tenn. In close collaboration with researchers from the Beijer Institute, design students have explored how everyday choices—often driven by habits rather than conscious decisions—can be influenced through design.

The result is six visual interpretations of research on sustainable behaviors. The projects demonstrate how small changes in our environment can make it easier to make more sustainable decisions.

“We often know what the right thing to do is, but we don’t do it anyway. Our behaviors are largely shaped by the way our environments are designed. That’s where design can play a crucial role,” says Sophia Wood, program director for Visual Communication at Beckmans.

Small Choices, Big Impact – Shaping Sustainable Behaviors Through Design

The exhibition takes its starting point in the major global challenges—climate change and the loss of biodiversity—but turns its attention to the immediate and everyday: how we consume, move around, and use resources in our daily lives.

By changing how choices are presented and how environments are designed, behaviors can be shifted. What feels easy becomes what we do—and that is precisely where the potential for change lies.

About the collaboration between Beckmans, Svenskt Tenn and the Beijer Institute

The annual collaboration between Beckmans, the Beijer Institute, and Svenskt Tenn has been ongoing since 2017. Each year, students in the Visual Communication program work to visualize current research in dialogue with researchers, with the goal of reaching a wider audience and sparking engagement.

–By selling her life’s work, Svenskt Tenn, to the Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation in 1975, Estrid Ericson ensured not only that the company would continue to exist indefinitely, but also that all profits from its operations would contribute to public-interest research. Since 2017, this incredibly exciting collaboration between researchers at the Beijer Institute and students at Beckman College of Design has Beckman College of Design , where students annually delve into and visualize complex research, and researchers, in turn, get the opportunity to test how their research is interpreted. This year’s theme challenges us all: how can we, as individuals, through small changes in our daily lives, influence global challenges? Based on this question, the students’ works highlight the power of the individual, beyond the great responsibility borne by multinational corporations and nations. 

Exhibition concept and graphic design

Emma Tungelstedt, Hannah Mårtensson, Lovisa Åkerblom

Participating students

Alva Kinneholm, Caspar Broms, Emma Ljungqvist, Emma Tungelstedt, Enya Borg, Fahed Dehchar, Hannah Mårtensson, Jesper Smeding, Linn Willebrand, Lovisa Åkerblom, Silje Nordback, Lawrence Ponsonby, Simon Grey, Ve Örnehed, Vivi Tang, Tindra Berglund.

Participating researchers

Anne-Sophie Crépin – Beijer Institute, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Maria Schewenius – Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Noah Linder – The Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere Program, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Therese Lindahl – Beijer Institute, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Other participants

Project Management, Beijer Institute
Ann-Sophie Crepin

Course Coordinator, Beckmans
Sophia Wood

Guest Tutors
Helena Hammarskiöld
Johanna Burai
Samira Bouabana

Svenskt Tenn
Thommy Bindefeld, Senior Advisor
Tora Grape, Marketing Manager
Åsa Brenner Toris, Curator
Lisa Nordlund, Press Officer
Lina Appelgren, Project Coordinator