being both: an investigation into being sustainably driven and career focussed

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BEING BOTH

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Preface

Introduction

Part I: Designers’ Role in the Consumerism Cycle & Society’s Wasteful Attitude

Overview of Consumerism & Throw-away Society

The 99p Store

Design Isn’t Helping: Greenwash, Confusing Systems & Boring Visuals

Part II: Designing Successfully & Caring About the Effects

Agencies with Sustainably Driven Practices & Achievable Methods

What can the Design Industry Actively Do About it all? D&AD Discussion Event

Summary

Appendix

Interviews with Lawrence Zeegan, Nat Hunter and Oliver Bettany

Bibliography

Contents

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An Investigation Into Being Sustainably Driven and Career Focussed

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In the last four years of studying design, my interest in sustainability and the environment in relation to design and everyday life has steadily increased. This is influenced partly by the subject’s raised public profile but it is also one of those topics that rewards further research and that I believe you can’t ignore.

However there are practical limits to my capabilities for ‘changing the world’. I recycle and buy recycled and/

or recyclable replacements where possible, but cost and factual

information can impact. I walk or use public transport everyday and I like the idea of growing my own produce to cook with, having no private garden though, I’m limited.

These are fairly undemanding and convenient contributions, the boundaries have spread far wider than just ‘green living’, but what strikes me as an important issue is how it would be much easier not to do anything, than to do even a little something. And because of this, most people don’t bother.

They don’t really see climate change, carbon emissions or social awareness as having an effect on life because, aside from community recycling schemes (which I find questionable in their influence and talk about later), nothing in the immediate bubble has

changed; food is still unnecessarily packaged, Range Rovers are advertised as aspiration, fashion trends dictate replacing perfectly acceptable clothes with new ones every time the season changes, to name but a few waste-inducing customs.

In his book Design Futuring, Tony Fry candidly predicts “The greater our numbers and our technological capacity to misappropriate planet Earth’s resource become, the faster we de-future ourselves.” The consequence of aforementioned lavishing will ultimately be the demise of Earth’s natural reserves. A heavy note to begin one’s career upon, and the solution isn’t yet determined.

The way we live means that there are constant barriers to recycling, reusing, growing and changing. Practicalities in terms of money (an inescapable hurdle for most), space, time, family commitment, indulgence, the list goes on. The problem I feel is that sustainable living and awareness is a minority field to be in, at home and at work. But there are organisations trying to reverse this, to make it the norm.

As an individual, I have a passion for tackling the barriers that go against living a sustainable lifestyle. As a professional I have a passion to be a successful designer. I want to know how to marry the two objectives practically and realistically.

Why I Care

Preface

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It is important for me as I begin delving further into the world of Sustainable Design, to have a knowledgeable grasp on the whole idea of ‘sustainability’ and how it came about. This way I approach the report with a factual foundation, knowing who and what the contributors were in the first place, and particularly an understanding of the design industry’s role. In his book, Design for the Real World, Victor Papanek says “There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a few of them.” This debatable but valid opinion encourages me to know more about the designer’s role in the rise of commercial waste.

Introduction

Part I of the investigation will cover the history of consumerism, and the build up to society’s current attitude including Annie Leonnard’s ‘The Story of Stuff’. In response to the research gathered on wasteful consumption, I will explore the growth of the 99p Store, and how its message is affecting people’s idea of value, and as a knock-on effect, waste.

Following on from the importance of the public’s attitude, the report will discuss examples of where design isn’t helping: the over-use of related language in branding and marketing, (e.g.‘eco-friendly’, and ‘green’), the expected visuals that sit aside this low-impact language, and lastly the effect of poorly designed services, in particular confusing recycling systems.

Part II of the report is lead by the question over the practicality of applying all of the points deliberated in Part I to a working design practice. Taking into consideration wage, rent and general lifestyle expenses when making choices.

In an attempt to answer this, we’ll be looking into several design agencies’

environmental policies and how by the act of implementing a legal policy on themselves makes considering the bigger picture an intrinsic part of their process.

The report will conclude with interviews, and reviews of events that relate to designing with sustainability, carbon efficiency and social change, and how practically I can maintain my values as a graduate looking for a step on the career ladder.

Vic

tor

Papa

neck

“There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a few of them.”

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This year I was lucky enough to experience my first Glastonbury music festival. After a week of frivolities and tent dwelling, we packed up our temporary home to get back to reality. With ‘Glasto blues’ in tow we made our way out, and it was then I became aware of an eerie sense of abandonment. The bizarre landscape surrounding us was a sea of barren camp sites, still set up as if awaiting arrival of a new group of people. Entire arrangements of tents, gazebos and chairs had been consigned to oblivion by the owners to whom they had served comfort and shelter from the rain for the past five days. The estimated left behind waste, based on previous years, is 6,500 sleeping bags, 5,500 tents, 3,500 airbeds, 2,200 chairs, 950 rolled mats and 400 gazebos. All these items were previously sitting proudly, shiny and unused on a shelf, then selected and paid for by a consumer. So, despite careful deliberation and product research, how did the mentality arise where people don’t care about throwing away their money? Perhaps it’s encouraging that people are less fixated on the apparent financial crises and care more about having a great time with family and friends? But the impact this throw-away culture has on the environment is a massive issue.

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“People are being persuaded to spend money we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to create impressions that won’t last, on people we don’t care about.”T

im Ja

ckso

nPart I: Designers’ Role in the Consumerism Cycle & Society’s Wasteful Attitude


the latter encouraging fashions and trends in product design making us want the newest version available. Advertising and media are responsible for announcing latest upgrades, and we are more bombarded with materialistic pressure now than ever before: “We see more advertisements in one year than somebody 50 years ago would’ve seen in a lifetime.” states Leonnard.

Our assessment of value is constantly being manipulated to encourage an insatiable desire to buy and enrich the economy. “There is now no correlation between what we human beings need to sustain our wellbeing and our unchecked use of the finite resources of the planet for growing an economy centered on the production of wealth (‘enjoyed’ in excess by only a tiny minority of humanity).”(Fry, 2009) As a result of unrestricted economical growth, we are running down resources to irreparable limits, and actually changing the climate for very short-term appetites. The recycling and renewing of the materials used to fuel the whole cycle isn’t working fast enough, so eventually it’ll all be gone. Tim Jackson, a Professor of Sustainable Development, puts our current society’s attitude succinctly when he says: “People are being persuaded to spend money we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to create impressions that won’t last, on people we don’t care about.”

By getting a grasp on how the wasteful consumer came to be, perhaps designers can be more aware of the bigger picture, rather than fuelling the existing situation. Tony Fry, writer of Design Futuring suggests: “The directional change toward the Sustainment will not occur of itself; it can only occur by design.” It’s down to designers to tackle the comfortable ignorance.

In Annie Leonnard’s short film ‘The Story of Stuff’, she distills complex, systematic jargon into a clear, concise life-cycle tale of where our products come from and where they go once we throw them away. Leonnard talks about the problem of using a linear Materials Economy system with the planet’s finite resources: Extraction > production > distribution > consumption > disposal. The main goal for governments and corporations is to make profit; cheaper, quicker methods of making things are implemented. Burning resources, resulting in toxic pollution and cheap, unethical, human labour. Not to mention the carbon footprint of miles travelled to transport the products. The reason product consumption is so important to our lives is a result of the need for economic growth after the financial crisis western countries suffered following World War II. Government’s economic advisors decided making more and selling more was the way out of trouble: “We need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate”, said Retail Analyst Victor LeBeau, post World War II.

As a result, ‘Planned Obsolescence’ and ‘Perceived Obsolescence’ strategies were implemented through industrial design. The former meaning items are designed with flaws and weaknesses, ensuring short life span and quicker need for replacement,

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Perhaps a perfect example of manipulating consumer’s idea of product value is the 99p store- a fairly new competitor to the infamous Pound shop. The company work

by bulk buying from bankrupt or end of line stock from big brands. There are positive and negative sides to this kind of retailer in relation to a ‘throw-away’ society. A positive factor is a new platform for those hit hard by recession, to buy household essentials cheaply. From another point of view, the act of selling products in out of date packaging, actually undermines big brands’ Perceived Obsolescence strategy for growth- it proves to audiences that the product is still the same, whether the wrapper is blue or green, why not buy the older, cheaper version? And ultimately if those end of line products were destined for landfill in an unused condition, despite the resources, energy and labour put into the production, better their purpose fulfilled for someone rather than all of that energy wasted. But all of these things are still playing to a tired, ineffective system. The concern is that by creating yet another space to promote unnecessary products, we encourage the manufacture of weak, Planned Obsolescence items, most likely made using cheap, chemical based, toxic materials.

On a broader scale, by having access to an endless stockpile of products at such a reasonable price, people are less inclined to think about more efficient techniques of achieving what brands claim to make easier by putting them in bottles, cleaning products for example. Of greatest significance though,

representing brands’ goods anywhere at any price fuels consumption and boosts their reputation. However, to parallel Tony Fry’s statement in his book, Design Futuring, it

would be naive to expect total eradication of corporation activity:

“Not to unrealistically suggest that all commercial considerations are abandoned but rather that they are strategically and economically repositioned under the imperative of working toward gaining sustain-ability...It is going to take time and a cadre of design leaders, strong advocates and progressive educators to deliver tangible

results.” (Fry, 2009)

If big brands aren’t making notable efforts to contribute to changes in manufacturing, materials and waste, but still remain profitable, what will make them change? Perhaps the answer is firstly an overhaul in communication, to help consumers understand the impact of purchases. Inevitably this will lead to a re-design of production systems; the stronger consumer demand is, the quicker brands will respond.


The 99p Store

The 99p Store “We need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”V

icto

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The 99p Store

A slogan brandished on a 99p Store shop front. The idea of suggested ‘happiness for less’ seems somewhat ironic when considering the long-term effect wasteful consumerism could have on lives.

Variety of products available for 99p. It’s hard to believe the quality outweighs the energy behind getting them to the shelf.

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Design Isn’t Helping: Greenwash, Confusing Systems & Boring Visuals

Design Isn’t Helping: An accurate encapsulation of the people vs. corporation dilemma is reflected by Will Hudson, in his talk at 2011’s ‘Typo’ conference. Will, author of arts blog It’s Nice That,talks about the world and it’s current ‘Trust Deficit’. We (the average consumer) have observed evidence not to have faith in our politicians, journalists or bankers, and generally there is a worrying air of skepticism between ‘us’ and ‘them’.

A trick companies have latched on to, further fuelling the Trust Deficit, is ‘Greenwash’, which gives the impression they are taking the environment into consideration. What Greenwash does is misleads the public by stressing the environmental credentials of a person, company or product when these are unfounded or irrelevant. Often implemented through advertising, packaging and PR, a few signs of Greenwash can be: overused language that doesn’t have a clear meaning i,e, ‘Eco-Friendly’, unjustified visuals such as flowers blooming from a car exhaust pipe or totally unfeasible ‘green’ branding of dangerous products, i,e.‘eco-friendly’

cigarettes. Companies attach themselves to these green credentials because consumers’ interest in natural, thoughtful products is rising. The Co-operative Bank discovered that organic food sales in this country have doubled since

2000 and are now growing at an average of 25% per year.1 By 2010 the organic market was worth at least £2 billion.2 The problem with the Greenwash effect is the undermining of the honest company claims, so people become reluctant to exercise the power of their green purchasing as they no longer know what to believe. (Futerra)

Another example of unclear communications are the Recycling systems in place specifically in the UK South-East. In a recent design briefing from Lewisham Council’s Recycling Department, to a group of local university students, of which I was one. Students were asked to come up with a solution that encourages the residents of Lewisham to use the recycling system in place more effectively (or at all in some cases). Students were given a rundown of past tactics, current communications, and comments from focus group sessions, and the design solutions commenced. However, a vital weakness was that Lewisham residents were not permitted to recycle mixed plastics, despite neighboring borough Greenwich being allowed to do so.

Greenwash, Confusing Systems & Boring Visuals

This conflicting rule made it impossible to promote or communicate to residents. A Lewisham council member informed students that the reason for this was down to the commercial contract the boroughs had with the waste disposal company. From one borough to the next, recycling rules and systems are different; such disparity leaves the point of recycling being good for the planet seem of little importance. How can residents be expected to seriously engage?

The same situation of mixed message lies outside of London too. One household can be fined for refusing to store food waste for recycling collection, whilst another 0.4 miles away (approximately 5 minutes’ walk), isn’t supplied with the containers to store food waste at all. So again, the public’s belief in the real necessity of the imposed systems is undermined.

When authorities are making impotent decisions, designing to promote is difficult; if the design of the service is flawed, the communication design is likely to be too. Perhaps this is how generic visual associations have come to represent sustainable products or services, commonly using ‘all matronly browns and little green arrows’, ‘draining the sexiness from design’ as Justin McGuirk, Guardian columnist, puts it. Without integrity at the foundation,

communication design will struggle to make impacts, so falling back on widely used gimmicks at least lets the audience know where the product positions itself. But this has lead to overused, ineffective visuals. “It’s time to re-engineer their thinking’ says McGuirk, addressing designers. ‘We want things with sex appeal, not ones that look as though they are made of Weetabix”.

So what can the design industry bring to the promotion and awareness of sustainable consumer choices? Investigating agencies and individuals that are championing a deeper emphasis on impactful design for the greater good of society will give an insight into how all designers can address their own practice from the outset.

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“When it comes to sustainable design, there are no excuses. Sooner or later our industry will have to rise to the challenge. As creativity is our business,

we should be comfortable with the notion of making our design work that bit harder; creatively and for the environment.”

This statement by non-profit organisation, Three Trees Don’t Make a Forest, sums up the

outlook that is on the rise throughout the design industry. Three Trees aims to provide tools for designers and businesses to re-think their working cultures and start implementing sustainable methods throughout the business. What is important

is that, whilst outwardly advocating environmentally and socially sound design is a powerful tool for promotion, these activists need to be

thorough in their own internal practices.

One of the Three Trees founders, Sophie Thomas, also cofounded her own design agency, Thomas.Matthews, who aims to create meaningful communications that are not only beautiful, but sustainable, reducing negative, environmental impact.

Whilst Thomas.Matthews provide design for clients, helping to turn CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and sustainable strategy



Agencies with Sustainably Driven Practices

into creative outputs, they’ve created their own work that stands up to responsible, resourceful values. On re-branding the agency in early 2010, Thomas.Matthews set out to source the materials as efficiently as possible. Rather than buying new batches of post-consumer recycled stock, they decided to maximise on what the printer had left over from previous orders- and chose suitable weights and finishes from that array of options. They continued on this path when choosing inks. Whilst there are alternative inks to the mainstream, soy inks for example, which are lower in VOCs (Volatile Organic Chemicals), there are still questions around the effect of the crop production on deforestation (thomas.matthews.com). Instead, the team based their colour palette on what was available from left-over spot colours, where orders had previously only required a tiny amount of the Litre that has to be mixed for one colour. With paper and inks established, Thomas.Matthews continued with the rebrand with those sustainably driven constraints in place.

By exercising what we say are our principles in our own behavior, the message is solid and consistent, proving it’s achievability to others.

Similarly, communication design agency, Futerra works hard on bringing their sustainably driven values to the forefront of their practice. Sitting alongside their client portfolio is a substantial collection of thought leadership programs, including a Masterclass to Building Your Green Brand, aimed at senior communication/brand managers and those responsible for environmental/sustainability initiatives. Downloadable documents such as Rules of the game (communication tactics for climate change) and The Greenwash Guide, are tools for Futerra to share their knowledge for creating effective CSR outcomes. By being

truly explicit with their advice, streamlining a body of international psychological, sociological and marketing studies into 10 rules, a reader can feel confident in Futerra’s motives.

Futerra have the advantage of being able to dedicate time to producing digital guides for designers and companies; an important aspect of working with sustainable efficiency as an objective is being able to share with others. “The manner in which design is mobilized in language to signify intentional action and comprehension by the population at large of what design practices can or could do is another great divide.” Design Futuring, pg 45. In other words, communicating coherently to fellow designers and in turn the general public is crucial to spreading the word.

Art and Design Magazine, Grafik’s How to Be Green article series, saw Nat Hunter, co-founder of Three Trees Don’t Make A Forest, and of design agency Airside, discuss different strategies of practicing ‘green’ values in the workplace.

“As designers, it can be all too easy to continue with our old methods and practices... and without the big stick of government legislation, there is less incentive to do the required research.” (Grafik, 2010)

To combat temptation of relinquishing responsibility of environmental impact, Airside opted to legally bind themselves to an environmental policy that meant conceding to a client’s unruly request, a damaging spot UV varnish for example, would be against company policy, making it impossible to engage with.

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More immediate methods of addressing our culpability can transfer to decisions outside of the office too; important for students spending time producing work at home. An easy, yet worthy matter to confront is paper:

“The pulp and paper industry is the third largest emitter of global warming pollution in industrialised nations.” (Grafik, 2010)

The manufacturing process behind the paper we use demands staggering energy consumption. From logging, to pulping, to bleaching, to drying and finally cutting to size. Transporting the materials and chemicals used throughout the stages of this process, not to mention further transport for packaging and selling, requires a massive power chain: “90 per cent of the carbon footprint of a piece of print is already incurred during the paper manufacture’. (Grafik, 2010)

Whilst not all designers have the ability to change these wasteful paper production methods, we must influence the cycle where possible. Nat Hunter suggests ensuring, when buying paper, it is 100% recycled. Varying industry standards allow producers to label paper as ‘recycled’ even if only a small percentage truly is. Also, going against designer’s inherent fondness for a sparkling white, satin-smooth paper stock in favour of an off-white, unbleached alternative, especially for everyday use, will support less chemical guzzling paper processes.

Achievable decisions, like paper choice, printer choice and even implementing a ‘swear box’ policy to those forgetting to turn off their monitors over night, are all in a similar segment of the sustainable activity spectrum; despite being minor, we have to start somewhere. The next step is to talk about it and encourage others to follow suit.



“90 % of the carbon footprint of a piece of print is already incurred during the paper manufacture.”(G

rafik

, 20

09)

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What can the Design Industry Actively Do About it all?

To find out more about current activities going on in the design world that focus on improving energy

efficiency and raising social awareness, I attended D&AD’s Sharpner event,

titled ‘Do The Right Thing’. Through professional work, each member of the panel has their own approach to what they value as ‘Doing the right thing’ for the greater good of society and the planet.

D&AD Discussion Event

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The importance of backing up energy efficient claims with numbers

The first speaker Helen Heathfield, works for the company Julie’s Bicycle, and gives herself the rather significant sounding role of ‘Carbon Cruncher’. Julie’s Bicycle offer practical advice, tools, resources and “Industry Green” environmental certification to the arts and creative industry corporations. This year, Helen worked with the team behind creating the infamous D&AD Annual, to discover and improve the carbon footprint behind the making of it. There’s a huge importance to presenting the facts and figures when a project has used environmentally sound processes, because people feel assured the claims of low carbon impact can be trusted. If people can’t get into the concept of “saving the planet” because it sounds idealistic, they can relate to numbers as we’re used to seeing percentages and graphs from an early age. When Julie’s Bicycle can inject sustainability ethics into a business as an intrinsic value, it’s a great success. But a huge part of identifying where processes can be refined comes from the digital world. Something of a concern is electronic companies’ commitment to cooperate when trying to get to the bottom of digital carbon emissions (the main energy guzzling culprit being Apple, according to Helen). “It’s really tricky to work out” Helen says, “because these kind of companies are ’secretive’ ”. This lack of honesty from big brands can be linked to the public’s suspicion and fear of Greenwash: people don’t want to be mislead by brand’s unsubstantiated claims of support for environmentally friendly policies. The ramifications of this fear, Helen worries, are people being so unsure they perhaps haven’t done everything possible to improve their carbon footprint, so they don’t feel confident talking about their maybe modest but worthy endeavors,

resulting in ‘Green hush’. The work Julie’s Bicycle do gives businesses the integrity to shout about their part in working towards a cleaner environment, resulting in the whole idea becoming something to be proud of and eventually becoming the norm.

The subject of another panelist, Sophie Thomas, is “designing with recovery in mind”.

“Everything that is us, and around us” comes from the periodic table. So all of the products we want and buy are essentially made from natural elements found in the earth. Surely then we should be treasuring those elements in order to nurture and let thrive the planet we depend on? Unfortunately though, this is not the case. Since the rise of consumerism and public demand for fashionable, latest technology products, there has been an ongoing flaw in design when it comes to considering the life cycle of anything that’s made for consumer demand. But how can a designer approach this daunting task of working with the environment at the forefront of decisions, when the clients who are paying the wage are more interested in profit? Sophie talks about ‘the hype’ around words like ‘sustainability’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘carbon footprint’ etc, leaving designers feeling like “rabbits in the headlights” when approaching the issue for their own practice. It’s difficult for us not to tune out because the task can seem unmanageable. Much like the battle of Greenwash causing Green hush.

The massive flaw of design, Sophie says, is waste, in particular nowadays, ‘E-waste’. Products aren’t being made with consideration for what happens after we’ve used and discarded them. There are recovery factories forced to smash television sets to pieces in order to reclaim the valuable elements used to make them- how straightforward the recovery of those


D&AD Event

materials would be had the television been designed to open up easily. The answer, Sophie believes is “designing with recovery in mind.” From the very beginning of a product’s life, designers should be considering the core elements used- copper, silver and gold for example are all found in mobile phones.

So when the phone is unable to serve their intended purpose, whether that be because it’s broken or has a more desirable upgrade, it can be easily taken apart for the re-use of crucial components. For too long we’ve been designing using a linear cycle, from client to designer to consumer, disregarding its impact once disused. We need to be working with a complete “loop” cycle in mind, including what resources are best in terms of the longevity needed and how easy is reuse-ability. After all, 80%of environmental costs are pre-determined during the product conception and design stage. So although this may seem daunting or in some ways inconvenient to a designer, Sophie insists “it’s exciting, it’s a challenge.”

“It’s exciting, it’s a challenge.”So

phie

Tho

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Creative thinkers have the power to make a change

Stephen Watson founded The Hub, a creative agency dedicated to social research and change with a multidiscipline approach. The agency hadn’t always been solely focused on social change issues, that was a decision Watson decided to make in order to address what he felt was his responsibility and capability as a designer. A multidiscipline designer, a creative thinker, has the ability to help the world change by really observing, listening and understanding what it is people need changed. Under the umbrella of sustainability, The Hub tackles health, inclusion, wellbeing, co-creation: it is a holistic approach. Whilst communication design is a strand to that, service design, product design, community engagement, many other disciplines are inherently required in order to have the authority to change anything. Watson believes that in order for designers to be successful in tackling the issue of sustainable and social change it’s important to be conscious of our own internal business processes and materials but what’s exciting is engaging, informing, educating and inspiring people by applying a creative, thorough technique. Beyond creating an advertising campaign- community group. A barrier that frustrates Watson as a member of the creative community is other people’s unnecessary cynicism. An example he brings to light is a piece by Frank Chimero: “Design won’t save the world, go volunteer in a soup kitchen you pretentious fuck.”An obvious flippant attitude with humour as the disguise. Watson’s response to this kind of fatalistic, negative attitude is- “Maybe design won’t save the world, but the power of creative thought can really make a difference when it’s filtered and applied in the right way.”

“Maybe design won’t save the world, but the power of creative thought can really make a difference when it’s filtered and applied in the right way.”St

ephe

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Summary

As an individual, I have a passion for tackling the barriers that go against living a sustainable lifestyle. As a professional I have a passion to be a successful designer. I want to know how to marry the two objectives practically and realistically, echoing the original purpose of the report.

When it comes to designing, choosing materials and processes, this will often mean choosing a lesser of two evils:

“Many real-life decisions come down to comparing two things that are less than ideal...there are ways to do the best with what we have, to make better choices.” (McDonough & Braungart, 2002)

It is key to be sensible, informed and creative within the means available. It might not be possible to discover the exact origin of all chemicals used in a particular paper stock for example. What is important is to research far beyond usual efforts in order to feel confident that decisions are credible. Adopting alternative methods of working that in time become standard routine, will enable us to share achievements with others, including colleagues and clients.

Ultimately, establishing sustainable principles, no matter how small is better than doing nothing at all. With perseverance it is possible to conquer barriers and design beautiful things that have a positive effect on society, the environment and your career.

Summary

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AppendixInterviews with Lawrence Zeegan, Nat Hunter and Oliver Bettany

Talking to advocates of the importance of sustainably driven design thinking and practices, shows the scope of commitment and awareness that’s circulating within the design community.

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Lawrence Zeegan Dean of Design, LCC

Lawrence Zeegan begins a presentation with a thought provoking illustration labelling the artist ‘Lier’ and his canvas ‘Lies’. His topic: ‘Where to draw the line’.

He refers to an exhibition put together by design students, in which they collected thrown away coffee cups and cans and simply displayed their collection. The tactic was using sheer volume to create impact and make people think. Students, (one of whom was previously mentioned Sophie Thomas), went on to create ‘No Shop’ in association with Friends of the Earth. The idea of the event is dedicated to undermining the modern obsession with shopping, and questions whether unfettered consumerism can deliver a better quality of life. The ‘No Shop’ installation was set up in an unused retail space and comprised of a tempting window display with special offers to lure customers in, but the inside are images of empty shelves, an empty cash register, and the consumer receives a bag and receipt after entering informing them about No Shop Day and thanks them for not shopping.

Students in charge were originally commissioned by Friends of the Earth to create a poster- but they questioned the brief, and the results created brilliant exposure for the concept which is now an ongoing campaign. By questioning the client and reasons behind the brief, we open up the possibility of adding something extra and better, Zeegan says.

Through illustration work for Greenpeace, Zeegen himself became associated with ‘green’ design, which was a concept becoming evermore popular in the early days of his career. This lead to corporate giant McDonalds wanting to jump on the band wagon. McDonalds invited Zeegen to produce a leaflet promoting their environmental

interest, in the visual style of Greenpeace. Zeegen had to weigh up morals: supporting an environmentally unethical brand but receiving the financial benefit. In reality McDonalds’ attempt to addressing carbon impact was turning off light switches over night- a small gesture for one of the richest companies in the world. But with personal life at a crucial point- with a newborn second son, torn ankle ligaments and a tight bank balance, Lawrence needed the money. So he produced the leaflet. His justification is, bearing in mind the scale of McDonalds’ audience, if the leaflet he designed could bring awareness to people smaller organisations such as Greenpeace were unable to reach, then perhaps something is better than nothing.

Lawrence Zeegan’s advice on how a graduate looking for work and money to survive, can maintain ethical values if unable to secure a job in a company specifically dedicated to sustainable development is to look for the “Small Inroads. How can you as a designer make changes to a company that hasn’t addressed environmental issues yet?” Carbon efficient inks and papers for example.

In short: “You have to be able to sleep at night. Too many designers get stuck in a commercial world and aren’t saying what they want to stay.”

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Nat HunterCo-founder of Non-profit organisation Three Trees Don’t Make a Forest & Airside, Design Agency

At 2011’s Typo London conference, Nat Hunter introduces the D&AD Design Annual for the first time. She talks through the design decisions made in order to create a beautiful book with energy efficient standards.

The group in charge of this year’s annual discussed the option of disregarding the traditional printed annual for a digital version. But what they realised was, despite common misconceptions that digital is ‘greener’ than print, when you consider the upkeep of keeping a digital space alive for a significant amount of time, the energy use put into that becomes never ending; technology moves on so rapidly, there would have to be a reformat every year.

“Print is not dead,” she insists, “if you produce something in the right way, it’s valid. Sustainable design is often seen as a drag, but when you build critical design decisions into a project, that makes it valid.” And through paper choice, concise layout and ink selection, the 2011 annual’s carbon footprint dropped a massive 82%.

In a one-on-one interview after her Typo talk, I asked Nat’s advice on starting a career in design whilst maintaining ethical values.

As Nat spends more time championing the ‘green’ design cause, she’s learning more about the bigger picture. The concept of Collaborative Consumption is taking a leading role, and tackling the challenge of Behavioral Change. Initiatives are appearing like Street Car Air BnB- basically sharing what you own with strangers when you’re not, and getting paid. Which means energy gone into building and maintaining a flat for example, won’t be wasted if the owner isn’t there, and the same principle applies to car sharing. This kind of collaborative living means less unnecessary wasting of materials.

An alternative slant on maximising benefits whilst saving resources is incorporating a social element. The Good Gym offer a service which connects people in a community whilst improving fitness and wellbeing. A participant who’s interested in jogging, will be partnered up with a local resident to visit on their run, just for a chat with a lonely elder or delivering some milk. The service also combines jogging with community projects like clearing rubble and gardening.

Like Lawrence Zeegens’ idea of ‘small inroads’, Nat talks about ‘small impacts’. It’s really important you maintain a balance of contributing to solving these issues alongside enjoying yourself. “If you aren’t making the most of the world you’re trying to save- you shoot yourself in the foot.”

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Oliver Bettany Web Developer and part-time environmental activist

Oliver Bettany’s position in the design industry is Web Developer, who has taken the decision to work part time in order to fulfil commitments to environmental passions. Oliver confesses to being hugely engaged and conscious about the idea of playing an active role in society to shape things in a more positive way. After 12 years experience in Web Development, Oliver is fortunate enough to work part-time, in order to fulfill his allegiance. He appreciates though that it’s due to earlier compromises on his values in order achieve professional goals, that his current situation is possible. “Not a lot of young designers have that luxury. Generally your first job, unless you’re very lucky, is always a compromise.”

However, Oliver is in contact with young activists who have chosen to abandon any notion of a conventional career. Instead of prioritising customary ideas of security, like rent and food, they’re happy to live one day to the next, basically homeless, surviving on the goodwill of charities and friends. In fact, Oliver welcomes activists to stay in his home before moving on to demonstrations

“As designers, as human beings, we have a finite amount of time and energy to devote to work we find important, some time has got to spent sleeping, eating, resting and relaxing. The time you have left to look at projects that are more sustainably conscious can be really hard to find.”

Oliver feels that young designers are often manipulated by big agencies for being willing to succeed, at the expense of employees’ personal values. He talks about designers and developers who have lost their way by working for large corporations in order to get a step on the career ladder. Any previous determination for important issues is eroded away in favour of commercial projects.

For designers who are being proactive though, Oliver feels there’s an overriding feeling of talking and not doing. Designers like to solve problems by assessing and conceptualising, and that works for products and other things. But when you are talking about solutions for bigger ‘issues’, knowledge and existing successful solutions are still in infancy of evolution, and true results are decades away.

Right now action is more important, so designers can gain real experience with some of the issues society is facing; “sitting around a meeting table, theorising around tackling the issue, doesn’t get us very far. Get stuck in.”

In theory a good thing to do would be to have a career break after university and spend time in a smaller place, like Brighton for example, where the travelling to and from work is less than a city like London. This allows more time and energy to get involved in interesting campaigns that are going on. Brighton is a ‘Green City’, so every single night there’s a meeting or project going on.

Once you are part of a network it becomes easy to make time for. Whatever ambition you did have, for more conventional models of earning money- successful career, a highly paid job for example- the likely hood is that you will lose interest and realise all that stuff isn’t important: “I realised that my desire to be successful as a developer was imposed upon me by expectations of the society that we’re living in.” Society rewards us by our financial position unfortunately. Oliver’s political activism takes place in a grass-routes organisation fighting government cuts. Whilst cuts are necessary for budget and economy, they’re being made extremely inappropriately-through a “right wing agenda’, says Oliver. To combat this effectively, the group instigate creative, peaceful protests-occupying banks and turning them into libraries or theatres. Because it isn’t angry or confrontational, it’s positive, Government and the Police don’t know how to deal with it. Proving the power of creativity.

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Literature

Papanek, V (1985) Design for the Real World. 2nd edLondon: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Fry, T (2009) Design Futuring Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice Oxford: Berg

McDonough. W, Braungart.M (2002)Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things New York: North Point Press

1 The Co-operative Bank (2007)The Co-operative Bank: Ethical Consumerism Report Manchester: GFK Marketing Services

Hunter. N (2009-10)How to Be Green Grafik: The Magazine for Graphic Design. ed 178-185

Internet : Film/video

Tides Foundation, Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, Free Range Studios. The Story Of Stuff with Annie LeonnardAvailable <http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/> Last accessed September 2011.

Ted Global (2010)Tim Jackson’s economic reality check Available < http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_jackson_s_economic_reality_check.html> Last accessed November 2011

Ted Talks (2004)Joseph Pine on what consumers want Available <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/joseph_pine_on_what_consumers_want.html> Last accessed November 2011

TedxKC (2009)John Gerzema: The post-crisis consumer Available <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/john_gerzema_the_post_crisis_consumer.html> Last accessed November 2011

Bibliography

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Better Retailing team (2011) How do pound stores stay so cheap? Available < http://www.betterretailing.com/2011/01/managing-your-store/money/pound-stores/> Last Accessed December 2011

Internet : Digital Reports

2 BBC News (2005)British organic food sales soarAvailable <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4551304.stm> Last Accessed January 2012.

Futerra Sustainability Communications Agency The Greenwash GuideAvailable< http://www.futerra.co.uk/downloads/Greenwash_Guide.pdf

Internet : Websites

Thomas. S, Clark. C, Hunter.N Three Trees Don’t Make a Forest Available <http://threetreesdontmakeaforest.org/> Last accessed November 2011.

McGuirk. J (2011) Sustainable Design is Wearing Thin Available < http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/feb/03/justin-mcguirk-sustainable-design> Last Accessed October 2011

Thomas.S (2010) Actions speak louder than logosAvailable < http://thomasmatthews.com/index.php/news/category/thomas.matthews-branding/> Last Accessed October 2011

Lovely as a Tree Thomas Matthews Case StudyAvailable <http://lovelyasatree.com/casestudies.html> Last Accessed November 2011

Events

Typo London: Places (August 2011) D&AD ‘Sharpner’ Do the Right Thing. London (November 2011)

Interviews Lawrence Zeegan (2011) LCC, London 17th October

Nat Hunter (2011) Typo’11, London 20th October

Oliver Bettany (2011) The Werks, Hove 12th October

Written and Produced by Jasmine Paradine-James

being both: an investigation into being sustainably driven and career focussed

Documents