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What does it take to change the world? Small actions. In fact, author Duane Elgin spoke of small actions creating a tidal wave of change. Because ALR is a socially conscious design firm, we run across information with the power to change the world every day. We share it in hopes of bringing on the tidal wave. As always we appreciate your feedback. If you like what you see, be sure to visit the ALR blog for near-daily updates. Thanks for reading! -Noah Scalin, ALR founder in this issue Q&A on creating sustainable signage. Yes Men pull a fast one on oil industry bigwigs. [01] 5-Quick-Questions Project Profile  Ellwood Thompson’s New “Local Farmer” Campaign As Virginia's largest independent natural foods store, Ellwood Thompson's naturally thinks about a lot of things most other business don’t (but should). Things like sustainable practices. Supporting local farmers. Even how their marketing materials impact the environment. For a recent signage campaign, ET called on Another Limited Rebellion for design services and advice about environmentally sensitive materials and printing. Here, ET’s marketing director, Lesley Johnson, talks to Designletter.
Q1: What was the campaign about? A1: We wanted to let our customers know that we make a point of selling produce from local farmers, within a 100-mile radius at most. We worked with ALR and Noah to create signs featuring local farmers to hang in the produce section and other areas of the store.
Q2: What were your challenges? A2: The signs needed to be reasonably priced and environmentally sensitive. We learned that there are great environmental materials available these days. The problem is, the fuel it would take to ship them here would subtract from the environmental savings we were trying to create.
Q3: So you had to find a way to make local materials work? A3: Right. We had to work with what was available locally, which is not much.There aren’t any environmental-specific sign printers in the area either, so another challenge was to learn about the least toxic methods for our printer to use.
Q4: What did you end up doing? A4: We purchased Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified plywood, which is produced regionally with sustainably harvested wood without toxic glues or formaldehyde. We had the printer print directly onto the untreated wood using low VOC UV inks. We covered the finished signs with a water-based sealant.
Q5: Happy? A5: Without a doubt. ET always strives to do the right thing for the right reasons, and this is a great example of that. Customers are glad to hear that we produced the signs on a sustainable wood product. Plus they love the campaign. When they walk into the store, they’re immediately drawn in.
[02] design  While our government is keeping its figurative head in the (increasingly hot) sand, graphic designers are actually doing something about global warming. Vancouver design studio SmashLAB has created a new resource for environmentally minded designers called Design Can Change: http://designcanchange.org. SmashLAB envisions the site becoming a comprehensive source of information and inspiration on sustainability. It’s already a mother lode of resources, with everything from a disturbing slide show to a paper calculator to help you measure the impact of your paper choices to a pledge you can sign vowing to make a sustainable mindset your default.[03] resource  Remember when Ivory soap used to advertise that it was “99.9% pure”? Rather than comforting us, it just made us wonder what was in the other .1%. Today, Skin Deep aims that same healthy skepticism squarely at the cosmetics industry. While the FDA is busy not regulating the ingredients used in cosmetics, Skin Deep offers extremely detailed online safety assessments for over 22,500 products to help you discover toxic ingredients hiding in cosmetics – even those labeled “natural” and “organic.” You can search by product, ingredient or company to learn what’s in your favorites, whether they’re tested on animals and which companies make a similar, safer option. Check it out at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.
[04] activism  Civil disobedience is alive, well and amusing. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at the Gas and Oil Exposition 2007 in Alberta in June, where the fossil fuelmongers were hoodwinked by political activist group the Yes Men. Two Yes Men posing as oil industry execs pulled off a major presentation in which they said that while current energy policies will surely lead to death and disaster, the upside is that dead bodies could be turned into a new fuel source called Vivoleum. Eventually their audience caught on and showed them the door. But until then, they only added to the growing Yes Men legend. Check out their site – particularly the Hijinks section – at http://www.theyesmen.org/ and read more on the story at Wired’s blog, http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/06/yes_men_strike_.html.[05] blog For more items of interest be sure to visit the ALR blog. Recent entries include: Index Awards: Design To Improve Life PeaceMaker: The Game Care Packages For The Mind |
written by Jo Lord edited by Noah Scalin about designletter Designletter is a semi-regular update on the activities at Another Limited Rebellion, the world of socially conscious design, and beyond. Another Limited Rebellion is a socially conscious consulting and design firm committed to helping businesses and organizations bring positive changes to their communities in a sustainable manner. Noah is a lifelong activist whose first protest marches were spent in a stroller and then on roller skates. In addition to starting Another Limited Rebellion, Noah created the community supported agriculture group Sprout and teaches a course on socially conscious design called Design Rebels at Virginia Commonwealth University. Jo is a socially conscious writer who eats vegetarian, drives a 40-mile-a-gallon car and recycles like mad. When she isn’t fretting about global warming, nuclear proliferation, the nursing shortage, trans fats and the correct way to hang toilet paper, she volunteers for cool organizations and anxiously awaits November 2008. Sign-up or read back issues here. |