Green Design 2012: New Choices?

Sustainable design, green design, net-zero and environmentally conscious design are some of the popular terms used when referring to architecture, green building construction, product manufacture, and commercial services and processes that are materials-dependent, like cleaning or painting. But in marketing and advertising we also need to continue to consider our carbon footprint as we plan the most effective avenue(s) for our clients’ campaigns. We’ve come a long way from the first appearance of recycled-content papers and soy-based inks, but when was the last time you looked closely at your choices for minimizing your footprint?

Basic Choices

After determining where a client’s target audience is, we turn our attention to the best way to implement a particular effort in an environmentally conscious manner when we propose a particular path. Some basic examples:

– Propose an email newsletter instead of a traditional mailed newsletter. This saves postage, paper, fuel used by the USPS, and the energy and resources used in the printing process. (Not that electronic presentation is without a carbon footprint. Server farms consume vast amounts of energy, though some are better than others.)

– Eliminate mass-mailed large catalogs in favor of online / website catalogs

– Design packaging using recycled materials

– Design size, proportion and folding of print collateral to maximize usage of press sheet size

– Print extra collateral items (like business cards, memo pads) on unused portions of press sheet to eliminate waste

– Suggest materials and techniques for low-impact manufacturing and shipping

Print Choices Abound Now

When print collateral is the preferred marketing vehicle, we work with our client’s desire to be green by specifying paper with (ideally) 100% post-consumer content, and/or vegetable-based inks, paper produced using renewable energy, and print vendors certified by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), using FSC-certified papers.

Recycled printing paper has come a long way since the early 1990’s. Gone are the spots and flecks in most recycled stock with high post-consumer content, and the color choices and textures have expanded. Clients no longer have to choose paper that looks like flattened granola to walk an environmentally friendly path, as the paper industry is constantly evolving to meet the demands of design-sensitive yet environmentally conscious agency/client teams. And in response to the challenge of the printing business declining due to increased online marketing, many printers have invested in more efficient equipment and technological advances to increase the effectiveness of print campaigns, e.g., high-quality digital printing with customized direct-mail PURLs capability.

Identifying the choices that we make as designer/client teams (by a tagline such as “Printed on 100% recycled content, 100% post-consumer waste, processed chlorine-free”, “Manufactured using wind power”, “Printed Using 100% Wind Energy” or “windmade“) helps demonstrate we are both ecologically-minded, responsible partners, which helps spreads the word, hopefully inspiring others to do the same.

Looking Within

Closer to home, we remind ourselves we need to apply green thinking to the processes by which we prepare our presentation materials. Creating elaborate layouts in-house using toxic or environmentally questionable materials such as spray adhesives and foam core boards needs to be scrutinized. Can we achieve the same result—an effective client presentation showing the full picture—electronically? It is more time-efficient and ecologically sound to create the materials once, on computer, and present electronically in a variety of formats/vehicles such as posting online, providing on disk or USB drive, or presenting in-house on video screen. This eliminates stacks of presentation boards that will be disposed of, and which, if containing foam core material, are not recyclable. At the same time, a tangible ‘leave-behind’ is essential for certain people at certain times.

Whenever possible we use services such as Vermont Interactive Technologies (VIT is a Marketing Partners client) or GoToMeeting, which allows us to meet in the virtual realm instead of having clients drive to our offices or driving to theirs for a meeting or presentation. The important step is asking ourselves whether we can do without physical materials for a particular presentation, or whether a face-to-face meeting is needed today, or whether there is an alternative (but effective) way to reach a client’s audience. For green design in 2012, there are definitely new choices — are you asking yourself the right questions?