outwardly

Sustainable graphic design is the application of sustainability principles to graphic design. It considers the environmental impacts of graphic design products (such as packaging, printed materials, publications, etc.) throughout a life cycle that includes: raw material; transformation; manufacturing; transportation; use; and disposal.

I talked a little about it in my previous posts entitled, “Treeless Paper” and “How to be a Green Designer”.

Graphic designers engaged in sustainable practice use techniques, processes, and materials that will help reduce the detrimental environmental, social, and economic impact of their designs, also known as the Triple Bottom Line.

When subjecting a design to a sustainability audit, a designer might consider:

• reducing the amount of materials required for production
• using paper and materials made with recycled, post-consumer waste
• printing with low-VOC inks
• what production methods require the least amount of transport
• which vendors use renewable energy
• if the product can fulfill more than one purpose
• if the end-product is biodegradable or recyclable
• if the end-product can be replaced by a digital, rather than printed, format
• just-in-time production to reduce number of units produced and warehoused
• which vendors sell products certified by third party NGOs

As a designer we all should take strong action to promote sustainable designs, often clients don’t know about it and it is our job to inform and educate them on this issue. Its one thing to preach sustainability and find a supplier who supports sustainable production, however, it all begins at home. Which means the designer should put him or herself in the very strictest evaluation if what he/she is doing is the most environmentally conscious thing such as excess printing, is the paper he/she is using is FSC certified?, designing in a standard size (to eliminate cutting).

Below are great links relating to sustainable designs:

• AIGA Center For Sustainable Design
• sustainable graphic design mac widget reference tool. Sponsored by Australian Graphic Design Association
• CreativeForACause.org
• Design By Nature
• Design Can Change
• Ecolect: A sustainable materials community
• Lovely as a Tree
• Re-nourish
• RethinkDesign.org
• The Designers Accord
• 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth

The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) has changed its certification from MGDC (Members of the Graphic Designers of Canada) to CGD (Certified Graphic Designer). They also eliminated the Licentiates and Graduates category and added Provisional, for members who are students, graduated and professional designers awaiting certification. And Associates will now have an Affiliate designation for members who are not designers, but however, work in a related field such as photographers, marketers, etc…

I liked the new certification because I thought the old one was a bit confusing, many non-designers who often asked what MGDC stand for and didn’t even know there was such a designation in Canada. I think this new designation feels more similar to other professional designations in Canada such as the CMA and CGA and being a “certified graphic designer” has a more legit meaning that just a “member of the Graphic Designers of Canada”, one is being just a member, while the other means you are certified.

These new designation also echos the same way the the Register Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD) has its membership types as well. And while we are in the subject, why is it that in Canada we have the Graphic Designers of Canada and the Register Graphic Designers of Ontario? Why does Ontario feels it needs a designation on its own? I always thought about this and wonder why can’t we just have one professional affiliation for the entire country? Sucks for some who has to be a member of both organization and thus has to paid twice the fees.

With the economic slum that we are in many Graphic Designers are feeling the pinch. Freelancers are finding hard to get new contracts from new and old clients and others who work for corporate and design studios are finding that budget for print and promo has been cut deep which leads to job security issues to them.

This is common though when the economy is not doing well that in many companies the first to get slash is the marketing department. This can lead to laid offs for some Designers. The fact that in this time period there are not too many design position out there due to the cut back and companies are not confident with this recession yet to hire someone new. The ones who are hiring are taking advantage of this and are paying at an extremely low wage. I saw ads on Craigslist asking for a designer and web developer and paying a measly $10/hr. To me that was ridiculous, I mean I understand in the economic times that we shouldn’t be looking for $40/hr. or something, but that was way below average, not even a student in a design school should accept such a thing. I mean if someone was designing something for a charitable organization for pro bono, that I can totally understand.

So what do Graphic Designers do to survive??
Well, we need to use our creativity to help us promote ourselves. Talk to friends and families, they may want some design stuff done or their company does. Promote yourself and add your web site to respectable sites like the Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC), Register Graphics Designer (RGD), AIGA, etc… Go to various design events (assuming that they are free or not too expensive, because believe me some events/conferences can cost over $1000.00 to attend). Have ads posted on sites like Craiglist and tell everyone that you are free to meet for a free consultation. You might also need to do the dreaded cold call and email campaign (its something we all hate to do).