On April 13, 2013 I gave a presentation with a colleague John Jennings (SUNY Buffalo) at the AIGA Blunt Conference in Norfolk, VA entitled "DeZombies and the Coming Design Apocalypse." Here is the abstract: When director George Romero introduced the modern conception of the zombie in 1968, he created an enduring metaphor depicting the societal impact of rampant conspicuous consumption. His allegory for the co… Read More>
Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) Partnership, a non-profit organization providing sustainability certification in the graphic communications industry, announces a partnership with Re-nourish, an online community advocating awareness and action for sustainability in the communication design community. The goal for the two, like-minded organizations is to grow the sustainability movement, making it easy for design and printing professions to choose print facilities that have committed to operating fully sustainable operations. As part of the partnership, Re-nourish will soon replace its Greener Printer Directory on its website, and feature SGP Certified print facilities. These Certified facilities demonstrate sustainability for their en… Read More>
I have been working on this poster for the upcoming College Art Association conference in NYC being held next week. My goal was to show the interrelationships between various parts in sustainable systems thinking in communication design. Below is an excerpt of the poster text: Communication designers develop printed ephemera and artifacts, impact people, and shape environments. All of these forms result in an unsustainable cycle of production and consumption. This cycle has far-reaching effects that are connected and cumulative. Similarly, economics, sociology, culture, and ecology (commonly called the Quadruple Bottom Line) are all part of a connected system that relies on a delicate balance to thrive. One cannot addre… Read More>
The exhibition: "Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for a Digital World 2001–2012" will feature 122 posters. The exhibition will open first at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Massachusetts. The dates of the exhibition are January 15 – March 2, 2013. The opening reception will take place on Tuesday, January 29, from 6:00–8:00 p.m. If you live near Boston, or are planning to be in the Northeast of the U.S., I encourage you to attend. My series of three "Renewable Electrification Act" posters are featured in this wonderful exhibit. … Read More>
One of the key problems with our current approach to designing is that is has clearly resulted in unsustainable outcomes for our society. As we move towards a more responsible model of creation, we must leave behind the processes that put us in this mess. We've been thinking here about a simpler approach to design that embeds the idea of sustainability in the process from the beginning. We've developed a System Systems Strategy that can help. Re-nourish suggests using this new four-step design process to incorporate sustainable systems thinking in your studio. Define project goals. What should the end result achieve? … Read More>
This past Thursday (September 27, 2012) Yvette and I spoke at the INsight Design Conference at the Hammond Regional Art Center in Hammond, IN. The conference featured speakers from the Chicagoland area and folks from all over Northwest Indiana attended to hear some inspirational advice from design leaders in the Midwest. It was a well planned event with great food (including root beer floats and s'mores!) and opportunities for networking. We met some passionate designers and definitely recommend attending in 2013 if you're in the area. In the mean time check out the photos from the event on their … Read More>
Eric Benson's Fresh Press has added three new paper lines to its agriculture-fiber paper lab. … Read More>
During the fall of 2011, I had coffee with a Professor from Architecture where we hatched out a plan to use our respective spring 2012 courses to create a functioning farm-to-market produce cart and related farmer's market awareness campaigns for the Sustainable Student Farm on the University of Illinois campus. We had received a small grant to implement a portion of the project and had the feelers out to snatch in more money. It seemed exciting, however the biggest fear I had was that I was entrusting a fairly visible community project to a group of thirty sophomore designers who had no design experience working with a client. Compounding my concern was that it w… Read More>
About a year and a half ago my colleague at the University of Illinois, Steve Kostell and I found ourselves drinking beer and admiring the design of the labels. It wasn't necessarily a scene from "The Great White North", but instead a revelation. It isn't necessarily unique for an artist and a designer to become giddy over a nice beer label and discuss it's aesthetic connection to WWII posters, however our conversation about local growing seasons (similar to a micro-brewery) helped jumpstart a furious grant writing session which led to the successful funding of Fresh Press (Agri-fiber papermaking laboratory). Recen… Read More>
Nine years ago I decided to attend the AIGA Power of Design Conference in Vancouver, BC to hopefully inspire my seemingly more and more laborious corporate design work. I wanted to talk with other designers and see some really interesting print material that would push me to be more creative in the annual projects I had lost interest in. I felt my job was a blessing, after being unemployed for a year after the dot com crash, but didn't feel challenged any longer. Everything seemed too easy. I wanted a new challenge. On the plane ride to Vancouver I got my wish. The plane was packed with designers all chattering in excitement about what they do and how they hoped the conference wou… Read More>
Why do We Need Standards? Author and activist Paul Hawken argues that our natural resources are “the foundation of our economy.” Without our water, timber, air and land our economy would cease to function. Communication designers must realize the importance of designing with people and the environment top of mind. They can do so by minimizing their waste of our natural resources like water and trees and reduce CO2 emissions through choosing recycled materials, and by working with vendors also committed to the same cause. As this movement grows it is important to make sure that the communication design profession collectively selects the most logical sustainable pa… Read More>
As I've written before about teaching sustainability in manageable chunks, I took the opportunity this fall 2011 semester to continue to perfect this pedagogy. I allow the students to only focus on one component of the larger sustainability issue (in this case amount of material) and avoid extra complexities initially. This, I find, allows the students to more quickly grasp key principles of designing more responsibly. As the semester unfolds, extra variables are added to the projects (ink, LCA, vendors, etc.) that increase the student vocabulary and methodologies associated with sustainable design. In this rendition of my greener packaging project I a… Read More>
Information visualization explores how to represent data and communicate information in effective and interesting ways. This semester at Purdue University, I am taking a course in Information Visualization Design where I am focusing my attention on packaging waste information. According to Annie Leonard, 99 percent of all the materials that flow through the production process becomes trash within six months! Packaging waste accounts for the largest portion of our garbage; packaging designed directly for the trash. Part I: Poster For part one of this two-part project I designed a poster visualizing packaging waste generated in the America from 1960 to 2009, how it breaks down by market and by mat… Read More>
On October 20, 2011 I had the privilege to speak at the AIGA Chicago's Living Principles event with John Harris (principal at a5). The event sold out and featured a discussion of how the Living Principles are being utilized in the professional practice (via John) and in undergraduate graphic design education (via me). If you missed my talk here is a quick snapshot of sustainability in the BFA classroom: There is no Graphic Design BFA in the United States that focuses on sustainability Most sustainable-themed projects are under the discreti… Read More>
This past Saturday, October 1, I presented a talk at the Denver Cumulus Conference about the findings from my 2011 Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy (EDGE) course. This course focused on ethics, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship. All of the lectures (PDFs), talks (Quicktime), projects (PDFs), and syllabus are on the EDGE site for you to distribute under a Creative Commons license. Try these assignments in your class and share with me what you find out.… Read More>
Last spring semester my 16 design students worked together in one week to create the "Love Champaign" series. It wasn't the typical project they usually engaged in, and that made it all the more exciting and fulfilling when they helped begin the process of uniting a fractured local community. To our surprise and honor we have been honored with an opportunity to win the 2011 cause/affect People's Choice Awards. Please throw us a vote! … Read More>
F. Scott Fitzgerald said "What we must decide is perhaps how we are valuable, rather than how valuable we are." Can value can be measured? Can worth be self-assessed? Are we valuable by our contributions to the greater good? If so, how can I play a role, particularly in my field? Am I even asking the right questions? Towards the completion of my MA degree, and after wrestling with those questions for my thesis, the opportunity came around to teach a basic graphic design course and I loved it! Over the last few years I have been teaching different design courses at the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University here in Boston. Teaching design courses complimented my full-time… Read More>
As a winner of the 2009 AIGA (Re)Design Awards, it's an honor to be asked to help judge the 2011 AIGA (Re)Design version. The competition is open to all designers (student and professional) ranging from the graphic designer to the landscape architect. It's a diverse competition that is segmented into two areas of submission: Environmental Sustainability Social Responsibility Any work created between August 2009 until now is fair game for entry. As it is a more broad competition, any design work from branding to environmental design is sought. See more in their promotional … Read More>
Well, in all honesty, the seeds haven't sprouted (just the project). However after weeks of heavy Midwestern rain, the soil was finally dry enough to plant the native grasses that will eventually serve as one of many fiber test subjects to make Agri-Fiber paper. On the University of Illinois' Sustainable Student Farm, a venture my student's help brand in 2010, farm manger Zack Grant and myself broadcast around 1,000 square feet of native Central Illinois grasses including Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, and Purple Coneflower yesterday. … Read More>
A few weeks ago (April 2-3, 2011) the AIGA Chicago Chapter held their first ever event which tasked designers to work side-by-side with with a client (Growing Home) to collaboratively solve their strategic needs. This sold-out two-day event embraced the idea of Co-Design. Co-Design (or Collaborative Design) argues that the best and most sustainable design solution will come from a participatory model that includes and values the people affected by the outcome of the project. This means that the not-for-profit Growing Home was integrally embedded in the discussions and a voice valued in the solution. … Read More>
I had the distinct pleasure this past Thursday (April 14, 2011) to speak at the AIGA Wisconsin's "Sustainable Design Thinking" event. Modern's Species' Gage Mitchell (also one of our Greener Studios) was the facilitator for me getting up to Madison from Champaign, IL. Gage and his wife Jennifer, and Brittany Barry were amazing hosts and I look forward to collaborating with them again on future events with AIGA Wisconsin. "Sustainable Design Thinking" kicked off with a 30-minute talk by yours truly but also importantly feat… Read More>
Yesterday I was awarded a $22,500 grant from the University of Illinois Student Sustainability Committee to investigate a more sustainable means of making paper from agri-fiber and agri-fiber waste. I feel it would be extremely remiss for me not to say that I’m beyond excited.. Below is the first two pages of a fifteen page project narrative: Detailed Project Description: Project goals. This proposal aims to create a sustainable design studio that provides knowledge and services, establishing sustainable print, digital, and systemic design solutions for the University of … Read More>
As the world changes, so does design. In my EDGE (Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy) course taught this semester to a diverse range of students, we are attempting to answer this question: How do we create a more flexible & sustainable studio as we face a more uncertain future? The students (in teams of four) are addressing this issue by asking similar questions that the AIGA asked in their Designer of 2015 project. The EDGE students will be working with classroom guests from: Firebelly Design, Project M, … Read More>
Eric Benson presented the following talk on February 10, 2011 at the College Art Association Conference in New York City, as part of CAA's 99th annual conference. The imagery and politics used to sell food from the supermarket to the farmer’s market vary but share an important similarity: they were designed. Whether it's a hastily scribbled chalkboard announcing the prices of fresh local arugula and sweet corn, or a plastic package of bacon decorated with an illustration of a nostalgic red barn and silo rising from a field of wheat, the visual language of our food is consistently affecting our lifestyle, politics, and healthy eating… Read More>
In a recent article here on Re-nourish, I wrote about the importance of connecting the students' values to those principles set forth in the concept of sustainability to best intertwine it within the student designers' process. This past fall 2010 semester at the University of Illinois School of Art + Design, I took advantage of the Design Ignites Change challenge to help prepare my junior methodology students for the final project of the term (focusing on sustainability) by challenging them to create an iPhone app around a social cause close to their heart. The i… Read More>
Re-nourish has just updated our Paper Finder tool, giving you the most up-to-date access to over 300 of the most environmentally responsible papers currently available on the North American market. As graphic designers we swoon over paper like Homer Simpson over donuts, Angelina Jolie over babies, or Tiger Woods over...you get the idea. Every print designer relies on paper – and together, we use a lot of it. The paper industry currently logs an estimated 5 million acres of forests each year in the U.S. alone (source: EPN). Although many of us would like to make better choices when specifying paper, it can be tough to know where to start.… Read More>
Those of you green-minded in Los Angeles, CA tomorrow evening, please attend the Green Patriot Posters … Read More>
Glide10: Ron Eglash's (RPI) work with fractals show how indigenous cultures actually use sophisticated thinking in their visual work and architecture and how fractals are everywhere in our natural world. He asks: How can indigenous people transfer this cultural wealth to a Western mainstream knowledge system (education)? How can the designer help… Read More>
On October 27, 2010 from 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM, this blog entry will serve as means to facilitate a discussion around the topic: Connecting Values: Teaching Sustainability to Graphic Designers. Feel free to log-in and comment on the abstract below and add to this exciting discourse during the Glide10 Conference. Abstract: Design educators whom are passionate and motivated to teach sustainable principles and methodologies to their students, must first recognize and accept that “sustainability” is a political term. In fact the interest in sustainable design… Read More>
The following is a guest post from Re-nourish intern Amy Parker. An undergraduate student at New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University, Amy spent the summer researching sustainable design, helping to update our Paper Finder tool, and designing a pair of desktop wallpapers for our readers. A huge Re-nourish “thanks!” to Amy for all her hard work! Being a graphic design student is a very challenging yet extremely rewarding experience. Many of us have done it: working at school for hours upon hours, critiquing, and being critiqued, re-working concepts, researching, sketching, starting over. It gives us tough skin and sharp eyes. It helps us develop pretty efficient ways of working,… Read More>
I've always felt that coffee sleeves were a bandage for a poorly designed cup. Years ago Starbucks cut back on their wood-fiber content of their cups to cut their weight and save money on shipping costs. It worked! Sadly the result was that the cups were less insulated and made the scorching of our hands worse when ordering a cup of joe. Enter the coffee sleeve. Saves your hand but uses MORE wood-fiber. Hence my belief about how they are the product of just poor design. Ever since I had this realization I've used reusable mugs for my morning coffee and found ways to polemic pieces (mainly furniture) that reuses these paperboard bandages. A few years ago I had the idea of creating a coffee table completely out … Read More>
Eric's latest BP culture jamming piece "Violi" will be on display tomorrow at the Krannert Art Museum (Champaign, IL - University of Illinois) until September 26, 2010. The opening for this show starts at 5 PM CST and ends at 7 PM. -- I oppose British Petroleum's plans to dramatically increase the pollution it releases into Lake Michigan from its refinery in Whiting, Indiana – plans which call for 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more solid waste to be dumped into Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes account for 95 percent of the surface freshwater in the U.S. and provide drinking water for more than… Read More>
Designers, Drinks & Social Change this month is going to be Series II from the topic: "Are Designers Becoming Obsolete?" Designers, Drinks & Social Change this month is going to be Series II from the topic: "Are Designers Becoming Obsolete?" WHEN: August 19th, 2010 WHERE: http://www.tokbox.com/tiltstudioinc/ddsc … Read More>
My poster "Drill Spill Kill" will be on display at the Great Oil Leak Show August 6-7 at Bricks and Bombs in Baton Rouge, LA and August 14- September 14 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, LA. The poster will be printed on 100% PCW New Leaf Everest 70# text. This poster and others in the show of similar political rhetoric will be on sale for $20. The proceeds will help support Gulf Aid of Acadiana … Read More>
You have been invited to listen in to our first D… Read More>
In the fall of 2009, Eric Benson's senior studio class at the University of Illinois embarked on a service learning project to brand and give life to the Sustainable Student Farm that is 100% funded by student fees. The farm is designed to eventually be self-sustaining providing fruits and vegetables to one of the largest university cafeterias in the United States: Ikenberry Commons. After months of hard work, even after the class had ended, the students launched the farm's website: … Read More>
On Saturday May 15, 2010 the AIGA response_ability Conference (hosted by Bowling Green University) will start in Toledo, OH. Our very own Eric Benson was the acting Sustainability Chair, tasked to make sure print and material decisions reflected the guiding principles of sustainability (and of course here at Re-nourish!) He will also be moderating a roundtable discussion on graphic designers and systems design. Speakers at the conference include: Joshua Onysko, Rick Valicenti, Nathan Shedroff, Robyn Waxman, Barbara Sudick and Rick Poynor. --- If you feel so inclined … Read More>
Brian Dougherty, Principal at Celery Design Collective and author of Green Graphic Design will be presenting in Eric's Design Methodology class Monday April 19, 2010 at 1 PM at the University of Illinois. He will be discussing his book and the future of graphic design. The talk is funded by the Office of Sustainability at the University of Illinois and the … Read More>
To all who took a few minutes out of their Saturday morning (in the US) and evening (in the UK/China/etc.) to watch my quick explanation of our site – thank you! It was quite an honor to be asked to participate in such a highly regarded lecture series – TEDx. To be honest, despite giving dozens of talks in and outside of the classroom, I was truly nervous before getting on stage. However, as I truly believe in the mission of Re-nourish, once the slides/timer started, I let my excitement for the topic at hand take over. After the talk ended I received a lot of positive feedback and a number of messages from our Facebook group… Read More>
You've only got a couple days left to submit your poster to the Green Patriot Poster project, a communications effort run by the very cool Canary Project: During World War II the United States was able to mobilize industry and motivate its citizens in breathtaking speed. Factories were overhauled and consumption habits transformed. Strong, graphically compelling posters played a crucial role in the success of this campaign. These posters presented the actions of individual citizens as … Read More>
As part of the "Electronics and Sustainability: Design for Energy and Environment" symposium being held today on the University of Illinois campus, Re-nourish's own Eric Benson will be moderating a panel from 2:45-4:45 CST. The panel will focus on how academia and industry can collaborate through research to solve the many environmental issues connected to the technology industry (e.g. e-waste). The panel will feature: Willie Cade (PC Rebuilders and Recyclers) Jim Lynch (TechSoup Global) Chris Newman (Environmental Protection Agency) Mark Newton (Dell Computer) William Olson (Motorola) De… Read More>
Eric Benson and fellow researcher/educator Peter Fine (New Mexico State University) will be presenting their article entitled: "Sustainable Design Education Rethought: The Case for Eco-Modernism" at the Fourth International Conference on Design Principles and Practices. The conference will be held at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 13 – 15 of February, 2010. The talk by Benson & Fine will occur on Saturday, February 13 from 4:15 – 4:45 PM in Room 5. To attend the talk you must register for th… Read More>
Opening on February 12, 2010 (6-9 PM) at Gallery 125 in Trenton, NJ, "Art D'Eco" will feature the artistic works of 24 emerging artists that create using recycled or recyclable materials. Re-Nourish's Eric Benson will be showing a newer piece entitled "Caffeinated Lamp" made of recycled Starbucks coffee sleeves, used Ikea allen wrenches, fabric made of recycled glass, and an overturned and empty Frappuccino bottle. If you live in the area, take some time to stop by and enjoy the show. &nb… Read More>
Our own Eric Benson serves as a faculty member advisor (at the University of Illinois) for the International E-Waste Competition. The competition has officially opened for registration and will award a total of $16,000 US in two categories for a total of six monetary awards. Each category contains three separate awards: Platinum, Gold and Silver. More information is available on the official competition site and in this press coverage.… Read More>
Eric's article "The Intersection of Identity Within Pattern & Structure: A FLYSPACE Continuing Collaboration" is now online in the latest issue of Multi: The Journal of Diversity & Plurality in Design Vol.2, No.2. This article features two pieces of Eric's work "Shadow Dress" and "Recycled Table" that were created during a collaborative project entitled "FLYSPACE" with Lois Weinthal from Parsons New School in NYC and University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Lois, an architect/educator, and Eric, a graphic designer/educator/activist, were interested in a collaboration that didn… Read More>
Three posters from Eric's "Renewable Electrification Administration" series and a one-off printed entitled "The Future Will Be Decentralized" will be on display at the "Hello!": Graphic Design Group Invitational at the John A. Day Gallery at the University of South Dakota. The show opens January 11, 2010 and runs two weeks until January 29. If you are in the area, the reception will take place on January 22. "Hello!" is the first exhibit of Graphic Design work at the John A. Day Gallery and will feature posters fro… Read More>
Two pieces "Recycled Table" (made from recycled steel, reused glass, and industrial felt) and "Shadow Dress" (organic cotton) will be showcased at the Connexion Gallery's "Less is More: 2010" opening December 4th, 2009 in Dunwoody, GA. If you're in the area, the show opens at 5:30 PM EST and will remain on display until January 31, 2010. (See more images from these two pieces here.) Show description for "Less is More: 2010" – maybe more important today than ever before as it challenges our tradition and cultural self-perception. Influence of climate changes o… Read More>
We got the good word this weekend that Re-nourish placed third in AIGA's (re)designAwards competition, which recognizes "those designers whose work best represents an environmentally and socially sustainable approach in every element of their professional lives." We're obviously extremely excited to be recognized for our efforts - especially among such an impressive roster of winners - yet the three of us (myself, Eric Benson and Yvette Perullo) have found ourselves wondering aloud about the real implications of such an award.I've always been on the fence about awards competitions - I've never entered any of Roughstock'… Read More>
There are currently no universal, reliable Sustainable Graphic Design Standards(c) available to designers, their clients, or consumers -- no way to know, quickly, whether or not a project, or a studio, is legitimately sustainable. As a result, studios struggle to educate clients about their environmental efforts, clients don't know where to begin the decision-making process, and everyone ends up either confused, mislead, or just disgusted with the whole business. Re-nourish aims to change all that with our Sustainable Graphic Design Standards(c). We've developed a tiered set of standards that allows anyone to immediately place a given printed piece (or the studio that produced it) into a sustainable context. By providi… Read More>
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