Filed under: Project Concepts
If you’re sending out printed materials that are recycable, recycled, or can be reused in some way, tell the reader. Give them advice on how to recycle, remove their names from mailing lists if they’re simply not interested, or let them know that the piece they’re holding in their hands has been printed with an eye towards lessening its impact on the earth. For other tips along these lines, the Minnesota Environmental Initiative has more worthwhile things to say.
Before you sit down to work on a new print project ask the question, “could this be done as a paper-free web site or pdf instead?” This isn’t to say you need to give up print marketing materials, but you might be able to get away with a smaller, less elaborate print piece supported by an in-depth web site.
SVC switched from a 12-page catalog to a one-page flyer backed up by a catalog web site
This may sound obvious, but your layout can mightily influence how many pages (and how much paper) a job requires. If you can get by with less white space, wider margins, and smaller point sizes, you can squeeze more content into fewer pages. We don’t recommend sacrificing readability, but nor do we recommend sacrificing trees in the name of aesthetics.
Filed under: Printing
White paper is the easiest to recycle, flourescents and goldenrod stocks are the worst. Also, try to avoid using papers that are laminated with plastic reinforcers, covers, and binding materials.
Victoria’s Secret mails out more than 1,000,000 catalogs every single day. So you can imagine that one of the biggest wastes of paper is when firms mail to lapsed customers, people who have moved, or other non-prospects. Worse still, is using obsolete and “uncleaned” lists so multiple copies show up at one address. List providers can help remove those extra addresses, and graphic designers can make the question about efficient mail lists is being asked.
Filed under: Paper
Not every project can move from print to the web. But that doesn’t mean you have use tree-fiber-based paper to get the job done. Yupo is a Japanese company that invented synthetic paper a surprising number of years ago (like 30), and now produces a large range of weights and sizes for commercial printing of all kinds. It’s bright white, printing appears especially crisp, and the “paper” is 100% recyclable. Oh yes, it’s completely waterproof–perhaps the perfect material for printing a tourist’s guide to Seattle in the summer.
Filed under: Classes & Resources
Last year, more than 1,000 business people from 40 countries gathered in New York for the Business for Social Responsibility annual conference to share ideas on–among other things–applying a corporate social responsibility stance into building brand equity. Right down your alley. This October, the 2007 version of the BSR conference will be conveniently located just down the coast in San Francisco.
Filed under: Studio Practices
You can imagine what sort of toxins and heavy metals are sitting inside those no-longer-used computers, monitors, and printers cluttering up your storage closet. Total Reclaim is one of many services that will recycle your office electronics, giving you these assurances: the residue of your stuff won’t be shipped overseas, reusable equipment is donated to non-profits, hazardous materials are properly handled, and nothing recyclable winds up in a landfill.
Filed under: Studio Practices
You and your clients need a web site, right? But think about all the energy that goes into powering the servers that host your sites. No problem. Portland’s ecoSky offers sustainable personal and business web hosting for the same prices as the electron guzzlers.
Filed under: Studio Practices
In case you’re in doubt about whether marketing sustainable products and services is gaining some momentum, Green Marketing Newsletter is a free bi-monthly enewsletter available from the publishers of Sustainable Industries that’s devoted solely to PR, design, advertising, and marketing professionals. Perhaps you should read it–or write a guest column for it.
Filed under: Studio Practices
If you run a small business in the City of Seattle, your electric utility will help underwrite the cost of switching to more energy efficient lighting fixtures. They’ll kick in between $25 and $65 per fixture (more if your studio is in West Seattle), and you’ll lower your electric bill at the same time. Since office lighting typically accounts for 60% of your electric bill, that’s–dare we say it?–a pretty bright idea.
Filed under: Studio Practices
Your design firm and house have toilets in them, yes? How about carpets, windoes, floors, and stuff? Well, all those things need to be cleaned from time to time, and there’s a planet-healthy alternative to all the chemical-laden cleaners you’d normally pick up at the grocery store. Consider, instead, Coastwide Labs Sustainable Earth Cleaners. They don’t contain phosphates, petroleum distillates, heavy metals, carcinogens, or other evil ingredients.
Filed under: Studio Practices
To keep up-t0-date on regional news involving sustainability, subscribe to Tidepool News Service, a free daily email summarizing environmental issues in the northwest. This service is a project of the Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based non-profit research organization and think tank in support of sustainability.
You want to be a certified expert in the field of sustainable business? Why not add an MBA or an academic certificate to your credentials courtesy of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute? At the world’s first “green” business school, you can enroll in a nine-month certificate program in sustainable business. Classes are taught at the IslandWood Conference Center on Bainbridge Island, meeting one night a week.
If you do design work for retailers, why not suggest that their shopping bags go green? 100% biodegradable shopping bags are available, imprintable with soy-based inks, that are made from non-genetically modified starch. The look just like plastic bags, but you can throw them on the compost pile and make them part of next spring’s vegetable garden.
