Ecoist

http://www.ecoist.com/

So this example really does fit the bill. A brand that has taken junk that no longer had a purpose and created a completly new original and desired product. This company is striving off of 'sustainability' and in a good way... Or are they? They predominately sell bags made from sweet wrappers and newspapers.

This clever idea is the work of brothers Yair and Jonathan Marcoschamer and their mother Helen. When in 2004 they took a trip to Mexico and were inspired by the work of Mexican artisans who were creating handbags crafted from post-consumer waste. They have since saved over 150 million candy wrappers and other waste products from going to land-fill sites (Figure taken from website). Not only that, but they are making a living out of it. A bag retails at roughly $30, and the company has been shortlisted for the WGSN Global Fashion Awards in the Most Sustainable Brand or Retailer category.

All Messed Up: Unpridictable Graphics

Awesome book on 'happy mistakes' by Anna Gerber.

Will write up shortly.

Retrospect

Found this.

http://www.retrospectgalleries.com/exhibitions/retroism/

Interesting work. I particularly like the work of cecil Touchon.



"Many works use bits of lettering from billboards and street posters to create what he calls 'non-objective visual poetry' where all literary references normally contained in these materials has been removed leaving the viewer to respond to the works on a purely visual level."

Taken from his bio on retrospect.

This is a strange and intriguing concept, that in my opinion could be applied to a variety of means. For example taken from its usual place could a form of 'design' be stripped of its meaning, or perhaps gain new meaning? Could pieces of famous design be recognized when only shown in part? Could signs gain new meanings dependent on where they are situated? Do signs have different meanings to different cultures? Just a thought for now.

Garbage Warrior

Watched the film 'Garbage Warrior' about an American Architect Michael Reynolds. Inspiring story of his dedication to experiment with sustainable housing. Some of the abstract ideas of re-using objects that have already served their purpose really interested me as a designer. As designers, are we being narrow minded in the way we design objects and designs, with the idea that they can only be used for one thing? Once their 'done' that's it, either bin it or break it down to recycle and use again? Reynolds is apposing this idea. Drawing inspiration from his father who would never throw anything away, he uses materials that the general public would only ever see as junk and creates a new purpose for them, by using them in his buildings.

Reynolds uses old tires packed with dirt to hold heat in walls. This process is called ''. What makes it so effective, is obviously not its looks (because lets face it, tires are ugly) but how its sustainability and functionality go so well hand in hand. He is doing what designers do best - use inspiration and logic to solve a problem. Im not saying that I want a house made out of tires, but that's just because of the conventional way of living in which I have been brought up in. He refines his ideas and creates houses that are functional, fully self-sustainable, look good and don't use any 'new' materials. Now that's good design.

This idea of items having more than one life, has been explored a lot in terms of items. However what about graphic design? We have to be careful when 'recycling' other peoples designs. Whats to say that we are not simply using their designs for another purpose? We would have to design something that was original, even though the focus is re-using others work.

Or how about not using the designs of someone else? How about using the left overs of design? Design has a carbon-footprint, just like everything else. Just like using the waste of the drinks industry (bottles, tins etc) could we use the left overs of lets say the print industry. This theme of using the unwanted and of 'happy-mistakes' has been touched on before, Anna Gerber talks about it in 'All Messed Up: Unpredictable Graphics'. See my original post on this.

Perhaps this would be a possible answer to a set of cards for example, that would not use any resources. The challenge would be to make something that was graphically appealing out of the waste of the print industry. This idea is also reminding me retro graphics and vintage and nostalgic styles designers have being using recently. More on this here.

10/10/10 Campaign

So following the last post, this post will be about the 10/10/10 campaign.

http://www.1010global.org/101010

First things first, the design is great. Its got a really 'socially-appealing' look to the site/campaign, and this obviously is a vital part in the graphics playing its part to get people involved. I think that the website functions very well to get others interacting -through the use of the mini game and resources section of the website- and in turn getting involved within the campaign. One thing that interests me is the way the designers have purposely avoided the use of the normal 'green' colour pallet. Which is heavily used in 'sustainable graphic design'. I think the pink they have used gives a fresh take on these issues, and makes the event more socially engage-able, especially for youngsters. I would say they have targeted the younger audience with parts to the campaign like the stickers in the resources section. This almost reminds me of graffiti and tagging, I think this could be very effective.

This to me, is is a great example of how graphic design can be used to graphically enhance a campaign towards sustainability. By making the cause more socially appealing, it is maximizing its potential. Everything works better when advertised well, and I think is an example of how graphic design can be part of the solution to environmental awareness.

Of course, as a designer we are only responsible for the tip of the ice-burg, it is the organisations that co-ordinate these events and put together the background work that make the difference. It is for these reasons I feel graphic design still has its place in advertising 'green-issues', even though it is part of the problem.

This also touches on themes of self-empowerment, helping non-designers to design posters to help the cause. This idea as an abstract is quite interesting, what if the solution to sustainable graphic design is more down the route of designers developing designs/design tools to help others design. We have already seen a huge amount of this type of work developing in web-design. Where organisations are developing more and more means for which general members of the public, are able to design and build websites themselves.

E-Posters

Found an interesting article on 'Green-posters'.

http://jorth.blogspot.com/2009/08/clever-green-design-posters.html

The posters are a great example of how although graphic design is part of the problem, it can also act to try and raise awareness to the issues and promote change.

I particularly like the 'sign-to-save' poster, and the 'tradition-kills'. I think these are powerful statements and effective posters.

Taken from the site http://makewealthhistory.org/

This website has loads of information on different articles, campaigns and books related to sustainability.

In fact check this out... http://www.1010global.org/101010, its tomorrow! I think that this site is a great find worthy of its own post.

Companies with Environmental polocies.

Looking at a few design companies that have environmental policies,

http://www.thegoodfolk.co.uk/index.html

I like the design of the website, they detail all their environmental policies for in the work-place and for the work they produce. I wonder where these guidelines have been used in their work though. There are a few projects on the site, but none of these go into detailing any environmental considerations.

http://www.green-creative.net/

Same again here really. I think that although what these companies are doing is a first step, I don't think they are contributing to producing designs that are E-friendly, and this is the problem. They are all simply trying to please their customers. Don't get me wrong that's their job as graphic designers, but at the same time I think they are failing their job as Environmentalists. (which is largely what their E-policies say they are).

I think I should give the companies a chance to tell me more about their projects.

But the big question - are you an environmentalist first, designer second? Or vise-versa?