Marielle Belick

June 10, 2009

ENG 145

Dr. Marx

Bringing Environmental Issues to the Classroom—Sustainable Graphic Design

At a 1987 United Nations conference, the World Commission on Environment and Development famously defined sustainability as “meeting [the needs of the] present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (http://sustainablebrands.wordpress.com). While the WCED’s definition is correct, it lacks the inspiration needed to motivate humanity to become fully sustainable. Forum for the Future, a charity dedicated to sustainable development, has published a more encouraging statement, defining sustainability as: “A dynamic process which enables all people to realize their potential and to improve their quality of life in ways that simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support systems” (http://sustainablebrands.wordpress.com). With the climate crisis in a tumultuous state of media debate, sustainability has become a common term in modern vocabulary. It is a word we hear nearly every day and it encompasses all topics from agriculture to architecture, marketing to design.

Specifically focusing on sustainability in graphic design, it is important to understand the foundations of the field. Built upon the process of creating, design leaves the artist with many design choices. For example, choosing the materials and mediums used and the choices in color. These preferences affect the overall meaning of a composition. If the message is not conveyed optimally, the designer goes through revision—the process of discarding the dysfunctional and searching for new materials, which often occurs several times before a composition is successfully communicative. The issue of sustainability often arises at the amount of waste a single designer can produce throughout the creative process. Sustainability’s effectiveness is wide-ranging in the use of paper, ink, and digital media.

Graphic design supplies the world with much of its resource consumption and waste. At its current state, graphic design is a large contributor in paper waste, using a many mock-ups, color tests, and artist proofs made from paper sources. According to the report, DesignFootprint, published in 2008 by the Hawaiian-based design firm Info Grafik, the majority of graphic design work uses printing and writing grade paper. 94% of printing and writing grade paper comes from virgin trees, where the pulp is very strong and used to make high-end coated papers. However, only 6% of this resource-intensive paper has recyclable material (www.designfootprint.org). And with such an emphasis on sustainability today, designers should be made aware of their environmental impact.

Paper conservation and efficiency is key to graphic design’s sustainable practices, but the ink used in printing is often overlooked and its impact is huge—it provides the marketing message, with a destructive environmental record (www.packagingdigest.com). Often, designers will use post-consumer recycled paper with petroleum-based inks, which counteracts sustainable practices. Common petroleum, or oil, based inks are destructive not only in the extraction process, but in transportation and the resulting pollution in the disposal stage. Petroleum-based inks emit high levels of VOC’s, or volatile organic compounds, which pose serious health and environmental impacts. In fact, the printing industry is responsible for 10% VOC emissions, water pollution, and solid waste. VOC’s are in the printer’s cleaning solvents and wetting agents used in printing. These liquids contain lubricating oils, chemical acids, alkalis, plate coatings, and heavy metals that have long-term effects on bioaccumulation (www.rethinkdesign.org). But ink is pricy and even pricier to make sustainable. Here in Cal Poly’s Art and Design Department, I do not hear enough about sustainable ink usage. Professor Charmaine Martinez, says that, “Especially in a fiscal crisis like now, it is difficult to practice what you preach (Martinez, 2009).” Because ink is expensive, the ink industry often goes unnoticed when considering sustainable practices. “It makes it difficult to advocate for sustainable practices if there is no incentive to the consumer” (Martinez, 2009). Unfortunately, the industry is playing the waiting game with affordable sustainable inks. Until we achieve the perfect match, designers should choose inks that reduce VOC emission, use renewable resources, and that are readily reusable or biodegradable.

However, in an age of technological prowess, paper and ink design is not the only method for effective communication—digital and web-based designs are increasingly popular. With certain audiences, digital media can be more successful. And, digital media jobs are often seen as an environmentally conscious. But designing a paperless world is more challenging than meets the eye. Web-based design is specifically energy costly. To publish a website, a designer needs a web host, which stores the website pages and makes them available to computers connected to the Internet (www.techterms.com). However, a web host can be linked to thousands of computers, which can lead to high amount of Internet traffic. With high traffic, servers will generate substantial amounts of heat, making websites and databases huge energy consumers. Sustainable web design considers green web hosting, servers that run on sustainable energy use. And if design studios are not powered by renewable energy, designers can use carbon-offsetting programs (Re-nourish.com).

Throughout my first year at Cal Poly, my attention has been brought to global environmental concerns. And as a graphic design student, I can proudly say that my professors are advocates for sustainable practices. In the early stages of brainstorming, I am especially encouraged to consider paper usage throughout the timeline of a project. While prints often serve as a step in the revision process for testing colors and the overall layout of a design, it is most sustainable when designers maximize canvas size and adjust project measurements accordingly. This not only conserves paper, but also saves money (Re-nourish.com). I find it beneficial to practice sustainability in the elementary levels of my education as a graphic designer. In an email interview with department Professor Charmaine Martinez, she wrote that,

Graphic design will always be a necessity in society. The thinkers will come up with the ideas needed to ‘green’ our world, the engineers will execute them, the businessmen and women will market them, but the designers will be most important. Society will see an idea in the visual light that a designer portrays it (Martinez, June 2009).

Martinez believes in graphic design’s ability to effectively educate people about sustainability. She encourages instructors to assign projects that educate students on sustainability and promote environmentally conscious practices.

During the winter quarter in 2009, my final project for one of my beginning graphic design courses was to conceptualize a sustainable product for a global environmental issue, and design an informational poster and brochure for the product using the computer program Illustrator. Department professor Enrica Lovaglio approved topics and required research to be done on the selected issue. I chose to focus on dying coral reefs and found that increasing temperatures cause invasive algae to grow on the reefs and greedy fisherman poison reefs with cyanide in order to catch fish. I developed the idea of placing fields of buoys several kilometers offshore near reef beds; the buoys serve as ocean water filters that are tethered to the ocean floor and connected to shore by wires. The wires transport water impurities—invasive algae and poisons—accumulated by the buoys to onshore collection sites. The driving force of the filters is the energy of the waves. Without this assignment, I would have never been encouraged to research coral reef declines and possible solutions for their healthy return. I think that the assignment successfully incorporated graphic design lessons and environmental issues. poster image

Fusing graphic design principles with sustainable practices and providing an education on global concerns is essential. Addressing environmental issues, like paper, ink, and energy use, in teaching is essential. Here at Cal Poly, I appreciate my graphic design instructors who encourage environmentally conscious practices in class. Graphic designers play an important role in determining the impacts of their work. An environmentally conscious designer chooses recycled papers, biodegradable inks, and renewable energy for projects; and considers the raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, and disposal of each project (ReThinkDesign.org). Our society is made up of images and visual elements of all sorts. With such prominence and influence, it is imperative that designers practice sustainability to set an example because, “society will see an idea in the visual light that a designer portrays it.”

WORKS CITED

1. “What’s Your Definition of Sustainability?” Sustainable Brands. 7 June 2009. 8 April 2009. <http://sustainablebrands.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/whats-your-definition-of-sustainability/>

2. Schlieman, Oren. “Spark: Footprint Edition.” AIGA Honolulu Journal. 8 June 2008. Info Grafik. <http://www.designfootprint.org/DesignFootprint.pdf>

3. Kalkowski, John. “Environmentally-friendly Inks a Rising Issue in Sustainability.” Packaging Digest. 9 June 2009. 1 November 2007 <http://www.packagingdigest.com/article/CA6487294.html>.

4. “Printing Methods.” ReThinkDesign.Org. 9 June 2009. 2008. http://www.rethinkdesign.org/printing/methods.html

5. Martinez, Charmaine. E-mail interview. 7 June 2009.

6. “Web Host.” Tech Terms. 9 June 2009. 2005-2009. <http://www.techterms.com/definition/webhost >

7. Benson, E.; Perullo, Y.; McClain, M. “Resources: Digital Design.” Re-Nourish.Com. 9 June 2009. 2006. < http://www.re-nourish.com/resources/resources_digital.pdf >

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