Prep for presentation
- Think about how I can present my process thus far… What about my hypothetical ‘client’? I need to summarise the journey and what I am setting out to do.
Responses from graphic design studio emails (from last week)
Ethical Design Co
“My apologies for the slow response, we’ve been very busy these past few weeks. I’d be happy to help!
We are based in Australia and our clients are mostly here and in the US. So I can speak to our experience of access to sustainable resources and materials in those locations.
Because our business is branded as sustainable, most of the clients and potential clients who approach us are interested in more sustainable outcomes for their project. In my experience, clients (in general) aren’t too focused on specific green practices (which I’ll get to shortly) but are more interested in us helping them create socially responsible messaging through our design work. Therefore, part of our job is to educate them on their options around how to make their project ‘green’ or sustainable in addition to being ‘good’ for the world.
Some examples of this might include:
- Recommending they host their website with a green host + consider other sustainable outcomes for a digital project such as site speed, accessibility etc.
- Recommending a local sustainable printer for their printing
- Consideration throughout the design process to ensure that a printed project is more sustainable: this could mean designing without bleeds, designing with less ink coverage, etc.
In general, our clients are receptive to our recommendations around this when they’re put forth. I assume their receptiveness is because the types of clients we work with tend to share our vision for a better future and want to do all they can toward that goal.
In terms of quality, I certainly don’t think you need to make any compromises if we’d like to reach a more sustainable outcome. It can require some additional problem solving if, for example, you want to design something for print and have to find creative ways to utilise the page space in order to save paper – without compromising the impact and strength of the design.
In terms of pricing, sustainable printing in the retail space is the same cost as regular printing, sustainable graphic design should be the same cost as ‘traditional’ design, and other suppliers such as green hosting should technically be the same cost – although I have noticed many green host companies are more boutique and are therefore at the higher end of the pricing scale. This doesn’t seem to be too much of an issue though, as clients are generally happy to spend the extra money for the better product here.
I do believe there is very little awareness around green hosting, in particular. Green printing is also not commonplace or mainstream – and I find that once we introduce it to our clients they are very happy to go in that direction.
Some final notes I’d like to add: we get approached often for sustainable printing of specialty items such as banners, merchandise, stickers etc. We usually turn people away as we have no idea where or how to find these items. I think these kinds of products are hugely unavailable in the market which forces people to use non-sustainable printers who print on stocks and materials that are not considered great for the earth.
In addition, design studios such as ours need to make a slight mark-up or management fee on managing print projects in order to make them viable. We find there are not many incentives from green printing companies to use their services (in comparison to regular print houses). Many commercial (non-green) printers are set up on a huge scale and can do big ‘gang runs’ which include several print jobs on one large sheet of paper. This reduces their costs greatly which allows them to offer us trade pricing (wholesale pricing) and make a larger percentage when we on-sell the job to our client. Because there’s just not as much demand for green printing, it’s impossible for green printers to grow to this scale and offer the same benefits. This means that we might only make 5-10% on the job, vs 50% or more with a large trade printer. This has been a difficult challenge for us and we sometimes compromise by using the larger printer and ensuring we still make the project as ‘green’ as possible by using recycled papers and printing without bleeds, etc. We would very much love for green printing to become more mainstream so that a green trade printer could operate as above.
I hope that provides some insight into your questions around available resources. Good luck with your project!”
Studio Davis
“Hi Jess,
Thank you for getting in contact.
Your research sounds very relevant and we would be happy to chat with you.
The best thing to do is give us a ring at the studio.”
When ringing the studio, I spoke to a man who tried to give me some help with my research – although he found it difficult because he said sustainability isn’t down to one factor, it is a combination of things for a client to consider. Brands cannot make the switch to sustainable practice without first checking the operations of the company to see if they can be robust enough to handle change i.e. using more costly materials, equipment, investing in sustainable projects etc. which I appreciate can be a big thing for companies to consider.
We then went on to talk a little bit about legislation and unless it’s a legal requirement, he doesn’t think people are willing to make that compromise.
Whilst I appreciate the feedback, I did find Studio Davis’ take on sustainability interesting. I did not get the impression they were an advocate for sustainable practice and potentially find it to be ‘costly’ and a bit of a nuisance – interestingly it doesn’t mention anything on their site either. I don’t think this is studio that is best for my research. However, one good thing that was suggested was the Ellen MacArthur Foundation which I have yet to include in my research, so I will start looking into that below.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation – Circular Economy
- Elimination of problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models is a priority.
- Reuse models are applied where relevant, reducing the need for single-use packaging.
- All plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
- All plastic packaging is reused, recycled, or composted in practice.
- The use of plastic is fully decoupled from the consumption of finite resources.
- All plastic packaging is free of hazardous chemicals, and the health, safety, and rights of all people involved are respected.
What is missing?
Ellen MacArthur Foundation do not have a certification scheme from what I can see. Their website states: “To achieve the transition to a circular economy, we need to engage all parts of the system. This is why we work with businesses, international institutions, governments, cities, universities, non-governmental organisations, innovators, and many others.
We create resources, publications and tools that help set effective policies, find new ways to do business and design better products.
Our Network brings together industry leading corporations, emerging innovators, affiliate networks, government authorities, regions, cities and more. The goal is to build circular economy capacity, address common barriers to progress, understand the necessary enabling conditions, and pilot circular economy practices.
Members of our Network can:
- have open discussions with counterparts they’d never normally speak to, including competitors and emerging innovators
- share experiences and learn from others who are trying to implement the circular economy
- stretch their thinking and push their innovation further and faster
- raise their level of ambition by understanding more clearly what’s possible, what the opportunities are, and what others are doing”
Certification may be the answer
Thinking about sustainable certification might be the incentive that businesses need to transform their businesses to become more environmentally conscious. I am still at the early days of my research yet, so perhaps I need to discover what current schemes are available in the sustainability sector and what guidance/legislations there are to support graphic designers with this. This is my task for next week.
jesswhatley.design.blog 