As designers, we have a duty to practice responsibility and critical thinking in our craft.

→ What we make, be it experiences, products, packages, software, or posters, has an impact on people and our environment. We are in a place of extraordinary power to create a better world — and to create things that cause great damage.

We create packaging that is expected to end up in a landfill! We create with materials that are harmful to us and our environment. We rob our environments of resources. Very often, we create a product and expect our struggling and flawed recycling system to take care of it after it has served its purpose. We need to rethink what and how we make. We need to do our part to support safer and lower impact technologies and materials, from sourcing to end-of-life. We need to practice design responsibly.

This will be a design and printing guide that I will curate to help those of us navigating design in the age of the anthropocene. Sustainability is a weird term, and can take different forms depending on where you live and with societal shifts. AKA, this work is always evolving; if you know something that you think should be added or amended, please reach out to me.

Process

(in addition to your design process)

1. Determine goals for the project or piece being created. Assess the problems that need to be solved.

2. Explore concepts and solutions and how each help or hinder the stakeholders and address the design problem.

3. Evaluate lifecycle of what’s being produced and investigate alternatives (forms, materials, etc.). Build up your awareness of what’s out there!

4. Brainstorm and evaluate outcomes — cost, carbon impact, local economic growth, pollution/wastes, offsets needed, etc.

Resources

Re-nourish

This nonprofit created a project calculator tool, holds oodles of information about systems thinking and design thinking, has published a book, and created a toolkit called “Systems Thinking for the Graphic Designer 101.” Also, includes a very well-thought out series of questions to ask during the design process.

climatedesigners.org

Resources, networking, chatrooms, and like-minded individuals in all sorts of realms of design.

Mohawk Paper

Mohawk offers many downloadable guides about paper, design, and sustainability, and in-depth sustainability info about their papers. I learned a lot from their Sense and Sustainability publication; it has tons of info on third-party certifications.

A Better Source

“A directory of environmentally conscious resources for planet-loving designers & businesses. Print—Packaging—Branding.”

Waste Not

Search an open-source database of sustainable suppliers of many different products, including stickers, packaging, fabrics, and industry-specific goods.

Print Design Tips

Inks

• When possible, minimize ink coverage

• Strategically use metallic and fluorescent inks, as these are difficult to recycle

• Give priority consideration to low volatile organic compounds (VOC) inks

  • Soy & vegetable inks

  • Water based inks

  • UV inks (these are quick drying and often don’t require additional protective coatings, which decrease recyclability)

  • Cool, emerging stuff like algae ink!

Paper

• Prioritize paper that is recycled and/or sustainably sourced.

  • Paper makeup, chain of custody certification

    • Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

    • Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)

  • “Recycled content”

    • Post-consumer waste fiber

    • Post-industrial waste fiber

• Process chlorine free (PCF) and elemental chlorine free (ECF) pulps

  • Elemental chlorine is chlorine gas, and when combined with lignins (cellular glue in wood), it produces highly carcinogenic dioxin. This ends up in wastewater, which is released into nearby rivers and lakes. Dioxins, like mercury, bioaccumulate up the food chain. Paper that is processed chlorine free (PCF) uses ozone, oxygen and/or peroxide to bleach the paper. [Source: ocshredding.com]

  • Recycled paper requires less bleaching than virgin paper, as many of the fibers were previously bleached.

• Coated vs. Uncoated

  • Coated papers yield less recyclable fiber

  • Uncoated papers absorb more ink

  • This illustrates perfectly how sometimes there is not a definitive answer to “which is more sustainable?” That question is just too vague. 

Print Vendors

Considerations:

• Do they use renewable energy to power their facility?

• Do they otherwise invest in renewable energy?

  • Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) (Green-e certified)

• The energy-efficiency of their facilities

  • LED lighting

  • Energy-Star appliances

  • (Smart) thermostats

  • Recycling on premises for trim waste

• The working conditions for employees

• Do they print with FSC and recycled papers?

• Do they offer any special programs?

  • Ex. Print Releaf

• Where are they located? 

  • Support local when possible

    • Local printers will save carbon emissions from transportation

    • Helps your local shops stay in business!