I BELIEVE THAT DESIGN CAN CHANGE
In this week's Feature, Canadian designer Eric Karjaluoto talks candidly about his studio's path to addressing sustainability and the resulting resource, Design Can Change. The post below is from his blog, ideasonideas, and is reprinted with permission.

I'm not good with numbers, but I find them interesting
nevertheless. For example, you and I spend a lot of money. In fact, if
you are a member of the AIGA, you take part in purchasing or specifying
over USD $9 billion of printing and paper per year. At the risk of
sounding obtuse, I have to say, "That's a lot."
Let me
give you another number: 81 million tons. That's the amount of paper
waste you and I helped generate over the past year. How about this one?
More than a million. That's how many species are expected to be at risk
of extinction by 2,050 as a result of global warming. Another? USD $11
billion. That's the average cost of climate-related disasters in Europe
during the 80s and 90s.
These numbers make me lay awake
at night thinking about the future my seven month old son has to look
forward to. I suspect they are just as worrisome to someone like you.
The first steps
At
our studio, we read about sustainability and committed to become more
responsible. We started to use only 100% PCW papers and tried to look
critically at the choices made at our studio. At the same time we felt
a little dismayed; it didn't seem like we were doing enough.
smashLAB
is tiny, so changes in our studio don't add up to much. Plus, we mostly
work online and in brand design, which results in very little printing.
These facts left us thinking there was little we could do to combat
climate change. Perhaps we were better off to let the politicians and
environmentalists sort this one out.
Changing my mindset
In
my early twenties I became a vegetarian. Initially, I could only think
of what I was giving up. I missed hamburgers, steaks, and bacon. (Mmmm
sweet, sweet bacon.) It took months to move past this outlook. (Mmmm
bacon.) With time however, I became aware of the options available to
me.
Having grown up in a small town, I had not been
exposed to Indian, Thai or Singaporean food - cuisines which often
feature meat-free dishes. Needless to say, I had no awareness of
Buddhist food, which I now find quite delightful. As a result of
vegetarianism I became more open and aware of alternatives. Today I
consider a continental meat-based North American diet somewhat dull.
I
have learned that it's difficult to think outside of the familiar, and
the notion of sustainability was one which I could only apply to my own
limited experience. While I was wrapped up in thinking about what our
studio had to stop doing (i.e. printing on virgin fiber), I was missing
out on the opportunity.
An insight
We
ask clients to candidly consider their weaknesses and strengths when we
work with them. In considering our firm's ability to affect climate
change, we asked ourselves the same questions.
Our
weaknesses were clear: Our organisation is small and has negligible
influence. We had limited financial resources and our knowledge of the
topic was limited. Our strengths, on the other hand, included being
able to craft and distribute messages. Additionally, we could gain
access to the required information. We also counted our motivation to
"do good" as an asset.
This process led to a pivotal
insight: We are members of a widely-distributed network with access to
numerous decision makers. If we could create a sensible campaign and
distribute it to our colleagues and friends, we could potentially
leverage our collective strength.
Looking outside the
confines of our studio and thinking of ourselves as part of a whole
exposed our true strength, and that marked the beginning of Design Can
Change.
Qualifications
Over the next ten
months, we researched, engaged in debate, compiled content, built
information graphics, stared at endless lines of code, and started to
loathe the word "sustainability". On many days we just wanted to go
back to our lives before the project.
We struggled with
our lack of knowledge. With no formal education in sustainability, we
worried that it was inappropriate for us to broach the topic. As a
result, we were thorough in our research and sought partners to help us
with the effort.
Additionally, we accepted that as
unqualified as we were, it was better to act than stand idly by. We
felt it foolish to wait for some savior to solve the problem. We felt
that as average citizens, it was our duty to contribute something.
What it is
Design
Can Change encourages graphic designers to pool their influence and
impact climate change. In some respects it is a starting point for
designers who wish to embrace sustainable practices. It is a resource
that contains project samples, reading lists and tools. Additionally,
it is a directory that allows conscientious buyers of creative services
to connect with like-minded designers. It is a framework that helps
enable a sustainable mindset in a designers work. It is a pledge to do
our best as professionals who have a responsibility to future
generations.
It's up to all of us
Take the next while to visit www.designcanchange.org.
The presentation is straight forward and easy to skim. Think about what
we're proposing, and please take the pledge. If you share our hopes, I
ask you to also lend a hand. We need to reach every one of our
colleagues with this message. You can help by doing the following:
- If you have a blog, post about Design Can Change and your efforts to become sustainable
- Download one of the logos and place it on your website with a link to: www.designcanchange.org
- Grab a copy of this PDF and send it to the designers you know, asking them to take the pledge.
There
are few other professions in which ethics and social responsibility are
as sincerely measured as in the field of graphic design. I believe that
is why design can change: because of people like you. Please join us.
About Eric Karjaluoto
Eric Karjaluoto is a creative based in Vancouver. He studied at the
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, where he received a Diploma in
Fine Arts in 1995.
His practice has taken many varied
turns, as a result of his curiousity and obsession with his craft. He
is particularly interested in creating work that builds an emotional
dialogue with viewers, and inclusively engages a wide audience in
visual communication.
He is currently working as the
Creative Director at smashLAB, where he has been a partner for six
years. He is focused on establishing a firm that builds powerful,
concept-driven interactive design. He is a professional member of the
Society of Graphic Designers of Canada.