You have switched your light bulbs, pledged to fly less and started a recycling bin in your studio. But you still have a niggling feeling that, so far, your actions may yet be world changing then try re-focusing attention to your design output - the how and why you create.
For a designer the solutions go deeper than just trying to convince our clients and suppliers to go green. Climate change demands integrity and there should be no time or space given to green wash. To really affect change the commitment must lie with us first and, like giving up all habitual habits, there will be challenging times ahead but the pay off is global on the feel good scale.
In our studio at thomas.matthews we follow a set of principles that help us to make informed sustainable decisions. We call these the ten ways design can fight climate change.
http://www.thomasmatthews.com/tm_sustainability_booklet_lo.pdf
None of it is rocket science worth keeping in mind when beginning a project. Here are six additional steps to help you in the right direction.
1. Do the research.
The more you know the more you can argue against bad practice and misinformation.
Sustainable technology is developing rapidly and you will need to keep up with your industry’s innovations. As a rule start by finding the people who have access to the specific knowledge you need. Spend some proper time to discover your trustworthy sources of knowledge and keep in regular contact through RSS feeds, blogs or email.
Also beware of wolves in green woolly jumpers. Research enables you to be able to spot a greenwash. Some materials claim to be green but when you start to dig deeper you may find they have little to offer in sustainable credentials.
2. Don’t get disheartened
Even though the situation is urgent it’s still a massive uphill struggle. We have been practicing sustainable design for 10 years at thomas.matthews and thankfully it is beginning to get easier. When the client demands: “Is it an affordable solution? Do I like it/ will the consumer like it? Will it promote my product/ sell my service?” we can tick all these boxes and add some of your own “Does this design have positive environmental credentials?” “Am I promoting positive behaviour change?” “Have I actively reduced the carbon emissions of my client?”
3. Build your knowledge bank, get empowered
Start to ask questions and don’t accept any lazy answers. Talk to your suppliers and see what is out there as sustainable alternatives. If they say none then find someone else who is willing to instigate change. We think this is just good design practice. Our materials and paper library is well thumbed and it allows us to pressurize our suppliers to experiment and find out what’ s new.
4. Shift your design away from bad practice
Old habits are tough to change but getting rid of them makes for a better designer. Make an example of your work as good design and good sustainable thinking. This planetary emergency requires big ideas. Lose that intense competitive streak within and start sharing your thoughts. My favourite projects are those where we have collaborated with clever like-minded people. In these instances the sum is definitely greater than its separate parts.
5. Don’t stop now
Just because you have printed one job on a recycled paper or have specified formaldehyde free mdf doesn’t mean you can feel exonerated.
You have to keep researching, talking, persuading and thinking. Climate change is not going to go away quickly and you are going to need all the knowledge you can collect in order to change too.
Increasingly a lot of our clients are now asking for evidence of improved sustainable performance. Take note- you can expect to hear this more and more as stricter legislation comes into play and business integrity starts to appear on the agenda.
As a designer you need to prepare for these questions and arm yourself with knowledge so that you don’t just know the answer but have already put it into practice and this will put you upstream of the pack.
Major Players are hosting an evening dedicated to promoting the most innovative and environmentally-friendly graphic and packaging design, and two of the Three Trees will be there on stage.
We’ll be asking what green issues affect you as a designer and what can you do to make a difference?
Email carly.broome@majorplayers.co.uk or phil.braham@majorplayers.co.uk for more details.
A printer was quoted in a recent Printweek article as saying that “having FSC makes us acceptable to customers, but they don’t necessarily specify it.”
Confusingly, if you’re using an FSC certified printer but not using FSC stock then you’re doing nothing to help the environment.
FSC certification is about the fibre tracking process only and is NOT about the environmental standards maintained within the factory. If you’re after a printer that maintains high environmental standards, look for ISO14001 and, better still, EMAS. For more info take a look at www.lovelyasatree.com/choose_print.htm
We have been busy in our spare minutes planning, writing and searching for funding. Three Trees have submitted a proposal entitled 99 months, to Nesta’s Big Green Challenge. We have proposed to use our business expertise and connections to conduct a powerful on and offline outreach programme to engage the paper, pulp and print design community in cutting edge solutions to tackle climate change and we are really happy to have just found out that we made it through to the next round. There are 100 groups left in the competition so still a long way to go but we stay optimistic!
We’re doing a talk on Thursday 17th April 2008 as part of the Under The Influence event - 20 speakers in pubs in South London. It’s free for all as long as you register.
www.irisnation.com/undertheinfluence/
On the same day, Nat Hunter is doing a Pecha Kucha as part of the D&AD President’s Lecture series, but unless you’ve already got a ticket, it’s sold out.
Hope to see you down there!
On reading an article recently my eyes froze on the phrase ‘‘little things can make a big difference”. Normally when I read this overused sentence - that is usually trying to persuade people to do their bit for the planet - I groan because, as a communication designer who works in sustainable design, I understand the consequences of this phrase: a short term reassurance that allows people to carry on buying and flying as ever before because they have pledged to recycle more and have ‘green branded’ their shopping list and still the carbon emissions continue to soar.
But this sentence had more gravitas. It sat at the beginning of a report that made headlines on the BBC news last week (1). It was referring to the small temperature and climate changes that will create huge, probably irreversible and undeniably disastrous impacts on our planet that are now predicted to occur in the next decade.
But what has this terrifying fact got to do with the everyday business of design? As the communicators of messages and the persuaders of purchasers I would argue that it has immense relevance. At thomas.matthews we have been working with sustainability as an underlying principle in graphic design for over ten years since our formation in 1998. Over this time we have been researching, promoting and designing with innovative materials, products and processes. We actively build awareness of sustainability and put pressure on our suppliers and clients, our sphere of influence, trying to effect change in our damaging industry. We push at reducing our carbon footprint and our clients as much as we can. And we constantly question and discuss these issues as a team to help build our evidence and knowledge bank, trying to spread the word that alternative solutions are out there and if not why aren’t they.
Sustainable thinking is now part of our DNA, integrated in our conceptual designing, forcing us to use our heads to think more laterally and we cannot understand why more design companies do not do the same. People are still making excuses as to why they can’t run a successful design business with green credentials. thomas.matthews has been running in profit for ten years developing principles that sets our sights much, much higher than just using recycled paper (we do that as a given) but are still very achievable. A lot of what we do is not rocket science but just good business practice and we would be happier if there were more like us around. With this in mind in 2006 we formulated our principles in the booklet ‘ten ways design can fight climate change’. By practicing with sustainability at the top level of our thinking we know it informs our design for the better.
I believe designers have a key role to take on as ‘agents for change’ in the education and creation of new mindshifts in society. The nature and scale of global warming reveals that our existing social and commercial structures need evaluating and will be in need of re-designing. As a business we now have the experience and practical knowledge to think in this scale and an understanding of the science behind it. As communicators we are continuing to develop and use the skills to help empower the population to act on all scales and, most importantly to keep on acting.
So when heads of ad agencies proudly talk about their sustainable effort as the short walk to their Aston Martin you have to pity them. To me this is not a clever retort - more an admission of guilt. It says they are ignoring the large green elephant that sits in their studio or walks into the room with the client. My advice is to sell the Aston Martin and take some responsibility for what you do. Put some creative thought into the future of our planet and the future of your business and we will all live happier lives.
this article was published in Design Week on 28.02.08
(1) Tipping elements in the Earth’s climate system. Lenton et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States. February 7th 2008
(2) Warm Words II report IPPR for the Energy SavingsTrust
Phew, about time! At last I should be able to stop whinging about carrier bags soon. Gordon Brown has promised that supermarkets will be expected to impose a levy of at least 5p a bag. OK, so 5p isn’t much, but it will at least make people stop and think before they take a bag from now on.
Did you know that around 13 billion plastic bags are given free to UK shoppers every year?
The bags can take from 400 – 1,000 years to break down, and like all forms of plastic they do not biodegrade. Instead they photodegrade, breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits that contaminate soil, waterways and oceans, entering the food chain when ingested by animals.
(Thanks to the Guardian for these statistics)
The D&AD Three Trees workshops have been cancelled for now but new workshops will be coming soon. Please sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you as soon as we have more details.
The average design studio doesn’t use many batteries, or so I thought until yesterday. One of our wireless Apple keyboards stopped working because its 4 AA batteries have run out. Apple say they are supposed to last for 9 months, we’ve got about 10 wireless keyboards in the studio, so that’s 60 AA batteries a year that we need. Wow.
As everyone knows, batteries are full of polluting heavy metals and we should all be using rechargeables, but recharging batteries is a right pain - you’ve got to find where the last person put the recharger for a start. But these USB Cell batteries are a joy to use - stick them in a USB slot and the LED will go out when they’re recharged. And you can re-use them hundreds of times, saving loads of money in the long run.
Maybe next time Apple redesign the keyboard they can build in a rechargable battery pack that plugs into the USB port to recharge?
My recycling bin can’t fit anymore in it. Crumbs-the excess of Christmas! Even for those who do try to be a bit conscious of the waste accumulated over one day. Happy New Year to you all. Sophie