Three Trees Don't Make A Forest

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The London Design Festival 2008 has announced a major sustainability emphasis with the launch of greengaged at the Design Council – a hub of events, debates, workshops, exhibitions, seminars and masterclasses which will bring together all all sectors of the design industry to focus on sustainability issues, exchange ideas and carve out new roles for design.

Three Trees will be running two workshops during the week.

Tuesday 16th Sept 2-3.30pm
Workshop: Greening your studio
Tips and guidance about how to make your design studio greener.

A practical master class with experts from small and large agencies to help you minimise your impact on the environment.

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Friday 19th Sept 2-5pm
Workshop: Print processes and sustainable paper.
Find out how different print processes affect recyclability and how you can reduce your impact through the design process. Bust the myths about recycled paper, understand the certification schemes and get your hands on gorgeous (and sustainable) paper samples.
A practical master class with experts from the field to help you through the complexity of terms and processes to create sustainable print.To book (free) places, please visit

http://www.greengaged.com/

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.

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

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.