Seeing Green

‘Seeing Green’ is an article by Ian Moore on the Design Assembly website which clearly and concisely explains some of the issues concerning being a ‘greener designer’.

Professor Michael Braungart, author of Cradle To Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

Two excellent articles via the Design Council.

Firstly, Rhymer Rigby highlights changes in consumer habits throughout history, asking “Next time you buy a sofa, here’s an interesting question to ask yourself: would you rather have one £4,000 sofa or eight £500 sofas? Not in your living room, but over the course of your lifetime.” It is a very relevant question, linked to ideas of heirloom consumption that Aaris Sherin has discussed, and one that can be applied to graphic designers – how can we change the fact that so much of the stuff we design has such a limited lifespan. Are there different ways we could design that could extend the product’s lifespan in terms of usefulness or desirability?

And secondly, the inspirational Professor Michael Braungart, author of Cradle To Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, argues that we need to look beyond sustainability to consider good and bad design.

Braungart states: “I always think it’s a bit sad that whenever we talk about the environment we start talking about sustainable design. Suddenly we’ve reduced our concerns to a tiny niche.

Besides, sustainability is just not very ambitious. If your husband or wife was to say “our relationship is sustainable” that’s not really enough. So there is no sustainable design, just good design or not-good design.”

This pretty much sums up everything I’ve tried to say through this blog and my own MA studies – other design disciplines are already embracing this way of thinking and graphic design needs to do the same, and Braungart’s book is a good place to start.

Raw Color

Most graphic designers should be aware that vegetable based inks are preferable to the more toxic petroleum based inks, but Christoph Brach & Daniera ter Haar’s experimental colour projects take the possibilities of vegetable inks to a whole new level. As their website explains “Vegetables are dismantled and purified to their visual essence ‘RAW COLOR’. The harvested color is captured by a new process preserving their intensity on color cards. Categorized by shades and families a new map is created which shows their beautiful diversity. This projects reinterprets the vegetable and puts it into new context.” Check out the Raw Color project here.

ecofont

Ecofont is an interesting concept. It is a piece of software that during printing ‘shoots’ holes into the letters that you have typed, resulting in ink/toner savings of up to 25%.

Perhaps not an option for professional print work, but certainly useful when printing out office emails, reports etc, helping save the environment and money. If all offices used a smaller, thinner, narrower typeface for office printing this would also help reduce paper and toner usage.

Plastic Bags, 2007 60x72" Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds.

If we ever need a shocking reminder of the scale of the environmental problem then look no further than Chris Jordan’s photographic images.

His work touches on environmental issues as part of a wider comment on American consumerism. There is plenty of food for thought – both as designers in what we create and why we create it, and as citizens in how we consume.

Is print really dirtier than online? Illustration by Tom Gauld / Heart

Moving from print to online is often seen as the greenest solution to print’s environmental problem. However, in issue 70 of Eye magazine, Barney Cox asks if print really is dirtier than online?

Good Housekeeping

The end of white space as we know it? from magculture blog highlights last year’s re-design of Good Housekeeping magazine, and asks whether ‘cramming more into less space really more ecological, or is it just cheaper to manufacture?’

This is an interesting point, and the comments section of the post also makes for interesting reading. Certainly choice of paper, ink, typeface and overall layout can make a magazine more (or less) environmentally friendly through saving on resources, but was that really the main concern in this redesign?

If it is more ecological, and cheaper to manufacture, then that has to be a good thing. However, the challenge for designers is to make the magazine look great too.

Design In The Front Line

Design In The Front Line is an interesting article on the Creative Review Blog about Design Activism.

As the article states: “There is still an immense disconnect between the consensus within peer reviewed science and awareness and action on the ground. Designers are key intermediaries between science, policy, and the public. Design activists are filling a gap where more conservative organisations and governments fear to tread.”

Nowhere is this more pertinent than in sustainability/green/climate change issues.

Not easy being green

‘Not easy being green’ by Tom Crabtree on the Design Assembly blog is an excellent article about branding the ‘green sector’.

If the green movement is to be taken seriously, then it must avoid the usual visual cliches such as leaves and trees. Green design doesn’t need to look green.

Futerra's Greenwash Guide

An interesting discussion of the Greenwashing issue at the Greengaged Conference. Particularly worth checking out is Futerra’s downloadable  “Greenwash Guide”

Greenwashing is a serious issue and something that graphic designers need to be aware of if our message is going to be authentic and meaningful.