I want to be a good human when I grow up

It's going to get mighty warm around here...

2012-02-01T08:54:00.006+10:00

And it's not pretty. I show the previous version (up until 2009) in my design sustainability lectures, and it's compelling. This update just makes it more so, particularly for those of us in Australia, scheduled to be badly affected if predictions on global warming are near the mark.

Says it all, really

2011-08-19T13:54:00.003+10:00

Cartoon by Clay Bennett.

The frightening thing is that this is what is happening in the world right now: society is happier continuing as normal, rather than getting up from the couch and addressing these issues in a positive way. I'm interested in how we can escape the numb brainwashed existence and live in the real, exciting world.

Some of the problem is the doom put forward by such documentaries as "An Inconvenient Truth". Once we have accepted the science, and it seems that the global paradigm has shifted in this direction, what do we do? What can we look forward to? I'm interested in developing messages promoting an exciting future, somewhat akin to the optimism of Science Fiction in the 50s and 60s. How can we make Science FACT just as thrilling?

100% of consumers are people.

2011-08-03T14:23:00.007+10:00

A truly marvellous talk given by Simon Sinek, a highly-regarded ethnographer and member of several think tanks. It goes for 30 minutes, so make a cup of tea or whatever is your poison and settle in to either have your life and work choices reaffirmed, or changed for the better.

Power to the Poster

2010-08-10T11:08:00.006+10:00

I came across this great site that uses designers' powers for good, not evil. Based in America, anyone can submit a poster design to the site, and anyone can download and print them. Some of them are compelling, beautiful, shocking. This is designers doing what designers should do, and has been done throughout the centuries, from the printing of Martin Luther's reformist ideas, to news of the Russian Revolution being projected through Constructivism and Agit Prop.

Which brings me back to the point that my home town has such draconian graffiti laws that it would be madness to print something like this out and paste it up. This means that in Brisbane, advertising wins. Advertising lies and consumerist propaganda are our only visual cues, and we see around 4000 of them per day.

We need to lobby council for a laneway street art area like Melbourne has, or imagine our own version, so we can stick these things up, and make our own. I want to read the people's words and visual creations, not corporations' manipulative slogans.

Grow your own solar cells?

2010-01-31T18:35:00.006+10:00

photo: Vasant Dave (www.sxc.hu)
Amazingly clever researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a way to cajole tobacco plants into growing photovoltaic cells which can then be harvested and sprayed onto specially-receptive surfaces. Basically, grow-your-own solar cells!

The thrilling research uses a virus to reprogram the tobacco's cells into creating the tiny structures. Cheaper, biodegradable, and a much better use for the evil weed. Bravo!
read more here

The sustainable design widget's rise to fame

2010-01-14T11:04:00.008+10:00

As of 31 December, 2009, four thousand, one hundred and thirty five sustainable graphic design widgets have been downloaded from the Apple website and various other portals' download sections. For example, Icograda provides a link to it to their resources page, AGDA (whose scholarship sponsored it) provide it on their site, and many other design blogs and Australian design universities (such as RMIT) list it in their curriculum as a valuable tool.

It has been exhibited in "Busan Brisbane Design Exchange 2008" in Australia and South Korea, featured in "Queensland Designer issue 5/2008" (pictured), and recently exhibited in "Sustain Me", a contemporary design exhibition at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery in Sydney.

It gives me such a thrill to think that the knowledge summarised within is accessible to that many designers and allied industries all over the world. Download it here if you want to see what all the fuss is about.

I still freakin' love bamboo

2009-02-26T09:24:00.002+10:00

I've been a mac user since the 80s, and need to keep using one for work, but check out this sweet computer from Asus using good old hardy bamboo!
I'm not sure about the rest of the parts, but this bamboo shell is certainly a step in the right direction. Pointing the aesthetics of computer hardware in this direction is itself a great step. I think it's beautiful, although a little "Gilligan's Island"...

Download frenzy

2008-12-09T09:01:00.007+10:00

As of 8 December, 2008, two thousand and six copies of the sustainable graphic design widget have been downloaded.
Amazingly, in a late 2008 frenzy, one thousand and thirty copies of my Masters research have been downloaded. This research, titled "Sustainable Graphic Design in Brisbane" is an abridged version of my masters thesis; it summarises the first half of the thesis in a short chapter, then gets down to the pointy end of the research. I am honoured that people have found it interesting, and only hope that either or both of these continue to contribute to the sustainable design community in a useful way.

Thanks, happy clickers!

Climate Change melts Brazilian Chap

2008-12-08T12:46:00.005+10:00

Photo: Red Cross of Argentina

Produced by the Red Cross of Agentina to promote awareness of the perils of climate change, this great piece of guerilla publicity in Buenos Aires features a half-melted young man handing out fliers encouraging readers to take public transport, conserve water, reduce and recycle, and so on.
Original Story

Studio making a difference

2008-12-03T17:56:00.003+10:00

The chaps over at the Paragon Muse have downloaded and read my Masters research: "Sustainable Graphic Design in Brisbane", and have really taken on board some of the findings. In fact, there have been 895 downloads of my thesis since I posted it, which I am really quite amazed and heartened by.

Some of the points the Paragon Muse chaps summarised from the findings were:

"Designers’ ability to creatively problem-solve make us uniquely qualified to help with coming up with possible solutions to environmental and social sustainability issues. (i.e. dealing with the actionable ideas part.)"

"Graphic designer’s skills in perception maniuplation makes us even more qualified in garnering attention to the challenges and motivaing at least an emotional response if not actual civic activity.(i.e. dealing with the awareness part)"

They have also posted some designs that they prodced with sustainability as part of their brief.

They are proof that any change toward sustainable design is a great move, and I hope they continue to evolve and inspire others as well. You can check out their blog post here

Nice one!

Long time...

2008-11-23T12:51:00.003+10:00

Wow it has been ages since I posted anything. After turning my business away from design that was harmful to the planet, and focusing on sustainable graphic design, I have been too busy to post!

This makes me so happy, not just because it means I can still put food on my table, but because it means that business WANTS sustainability factored into their graphic design. Most people that I talk to about it haven't ever considered it before, but as soon as I explain how it's possible to design solutions that are as environmentally-friendly as possible, they are on board.

Not only on board, but spreading the word.

Amazing to think that only two years ago, the general consensus was that I was crazy to take such an ethical stand.

Sustainable graphic design widgets at over a thousand downloads

2008-07-28T17:54:00.003+10:00

Amazing.. there are now 1038 sustainable graphic design widgets hanging out on people's Macintosh dashboards and iPhones all over the world; from Kuwait to Sweden, Argentina to Germany and so many right here in Oz. If even one eighth of those downloaders use it, then it will have been worth all the effort!

Sustainable Graphic Design Widget: 582 downloads in one week!

2008-07-01T08:58:00.024+10:00

The main goal of my Masters research was to provide easy access for graphic designers to information on sustainable graphic design.

My research showed that Apple Macintosh is by far the preferred platform for the Australian graphic designers needing to access this information. In response, I designed a small, stand-alone piece of scripted software, called a “dashboard widget” as an informative tool.

Containing information on print processes, paper issues, and some definitions, ideas and links to other resources, the widget will run with or without an internet connection.

The sustainable graphic design widget is now active. It has been downloaded 500 times, and featured on design blogs & sites around the world. I have had many lovely emails and comments, keep them coming!

The widget has been granted the Softpedia 100% clean software award, and can be downloaded for free from the apple website.
Suitable for MAC 10.4 and up.

Tshirt design

2008-05-20T15:22:00.000+10:00

So I thought I'd be a bit "Adbuster-ish" and make some t-shirts at a screenprinting workshop I signed up for. No, I didn't use bamboo or organic cotton, I used some blank grey marle cotton t-shirts I had left over from a print job about 5 years ago. Recycling YAY!

Basically I learned not to try and do a difficult register on my second ever t-shirt print. THis is the best of the bunch, and I will wear them around happily. I was glad to learn how to do it properly though, and kept this screen in case I want to try again.

I think my next one will be mostly white with just some scrabbly bits of secondary colour that overprint. I want to do some with a really cutting but simple message on it. I want everyone to wear one when we overthrow our corporate overlords.

Can mushrooms save the world?

2008-05-16T12:42:00.003+10:00

Make a cuppa, get comfortable and watch Paul Stamets give a 17 minute talk on his research on fungi. Really amazing stuff. There may be hope for us yet.

A real turn-off

2008-05-15T10:45:00.005+10:00

It's the little things that count.. especially if millions of people do it.

Terrible Beauty

2008-03-05T10:08:00.007+10:00

I am often inspired by "terrible beauty": a violent thunderstorm with dramatic green and black skies; or a moment of sanity surrounded by utter chaos. Chris Jordan uses terrible fact to create a powerful visual statement. Art is power.

Valve Caps, 2006
Chris Jordan
10x25 feet in five vertical panels

Depicts 3.6 million tire valve caps, one for each new SUV sold in the US in 2004.

actual size:

Earth Hour 2008

2008-02-26T11:43:00.007+10:00

March 28, 2008, 8pm.
Switch off your lights for an hour and help save the planet. Sign up to support this great incentive and be a part of a great community-based action.

Ms Suzuki, why didn't we listen?

2008-01-27T12:07:00.000+10:00

THis is fairly long, but what she has to say is profound for a 12 year-old. This speech would have the same impact today, with the same problems seemingly even larger. We need to find some way to deal with our society's greed, to re-establish community and find touch with our empathy again. We need to alter western society's structure, so that fiscal wealth is not our sole vision of happiness (a vision ably provided by the advertising world), but that happiness can be found through community, love and fairness.
Should we aim to alter society's structure from the top, or the bottom? How do we get to where we all, deep down, want to be? Where on earth do I start?

I freakin LOVE bamboo

2008-01-11T12:20:00.000+10:00

I love Bamboo. Seriously. It even sounds cool when you say it. BamBOO! BAM!boo. Awesome.
My favourite floors are made from bamboo, it looks absolutely gorgeous, and is so damn sturdy. My ma has the most excellent chopping board made from it. Some of my fellow queenslanders are making beautiful furniture from it (http://www.wambamboo.com.au). It makes great paper, and now one of my friends tells me she has a bamboo cotton jumper! BAMBOO COTTON!

It makes me wonder why we chop down gorgeous, mature trees when we can use this totally renewable stuff. It grows like crazy. It's beautiful. Vive la Bamboo.

Sweet hydro ride

2007-12-23T11:10:00.000+10:00

If I had kids, they would so be getting this sweet Hydro-powered toy car for xmas!

It apparently runs on clean energy hydro technology, using "a next-generation reversible Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cell". I want to own that sentence, let alone a person-sized version of this sweet machine.

Do we really need to eat all this meat?

2007-12-10T10:03:00.000+10:00

Sir Paul McCartney has recently highlighted a pretty big issue: that the livestock sector is worse for the environment than the transport sector. A recent united nations report found the sector generates a full 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Here are the scary bits:

» 70% of the Amazon forest has been turned to grazing for beef

» Livestock use 30% of the planet's surface

» Livestock emit 65% of our nitrous oxide output

(nitrous oxide is 296 times worse than CO2 for global warming)

Even just going one day a week without meat would help. Not to mention the benefits to health and to the incredible cruelty of the meat industry. I still eat a little bit of meat, but I feel a bit guilty every time I do. I have pledged with a friend to go back to full vegetarianism on January 1, but I might secretly start now.

Equation for action on climate change

2007-12-07T09:48:00.000+10:00

He waffles a bit, but makes a good argument

MTV wants a smack

2007-11-23T10:47:00.000+10:00

MTV rejects Buy Nothing Day TV Spot

The station that markets itself as the voice of hip youth has censored the burping pig. Their advertising standards representative, Elisa Billis, said that "the spot goes further than we are willing to accept on our channels". Too radical for MTV?

You can let the executives at MTV know how you feel about this kind of censorship by sending them an email from the Adbuster's website. To view the spot go to Adbusters Buy Nothing Day page.

Buy Nothing Day

2007-11-17T11:35:00.000+10:00

Apparently, 70% of my carbon footprint comes from the things I buy. Lately I have been lucky enough to have discovered excellent local farmers' markets, and my parents bring back masses of delicious vegies when they visit their house on Lake Cootharaba, but I am still contributing to the single worst environmental & social habit in society: shopping.

Studies have shown that the average parent spends seven hours a week shopping, but only one hour with their kids. While I am not sure about organised religion, it still holds better morals than the new cultural base of materialism. Just take a look at all the massive shopping temples being constructed in our suburbs. Look at how much bottled water costs when you can just get it out of the tap!

To this end, I am so not buying anything on "No shopping day". And I am trying hard to cut down on my participation in this whole consumerist thing. The hardest to break will be my adidas sneaker addiction, but I must at least try. I did not buy any yesterday, and I reckon I can get through tomorrow...

Also, I love these guys almost as much as I love their soundtrack:

Rick Poynor says it best

2007-10-24T20:36:00.000+10:00

Great quote from a text I just finished:
"The consumerist status quo pumps out a vast, overwhelming, massively-resourced slurry of consciousness-shaping propaganda.
What on earth is wrong with producing and taking support from some alternative points of view?" (Poynor, 2006 p.60—61)

Poynor, R 2006: Designing Pornotopia: travels in visual culture
Princeton Architectural Press, NY

Website for other good humans

2007-10-11T09:47:00.000+10:00

Good old Cate Blanchett let me be a good human today!

Speaking out with street posters

2007-10-10T21:53:00.000+10:00

It makes me so mad when I walk into a newsagent and see all those magazines, all those dead trees, knowing they will all be thrown away or "recycled" and replaced in one month's time.
I decided to research it a bit, and the figures are shocking: over 18 million per month in Australia alone are sold, so that is not even counting the ones that are sent back and pulped.
We NEED those trees to make oxygen! Jeez.
I spent $1000 on the print run and distribution for this A2 poster. I feel like a better human already.

In response to Megan's comments, some more info on the poster:
1. No graphic design output is good for the environment

2. Sustainable graphic design is about ensuring obviously destructive techniques are applied wisely, conservatively and for an ethical purpose

The poster used techniques like:
» no bleed to edge to ensure ease of de-inking for offcuts
» 2 colours only, and avoiding dark blue/purple/red family of inks that are much harder to de-ink at recycling stage
» The green colour is an 80% screen, not solid colour to aid de-inking
» Printing only as many as needed
» Paper and ink could have been at a higher environmental level, but as a student I considered the message was more important than not being able to afford it at all. I selected an uncoated with a percentage of recycled post consumer waste.