GDUSA Green Newsletter

March 2012

DESIGN ETHOS IS ‘DO-FERENCE’
Issues of sustainability, consumerism, and equity take center stage at the upcoming Design Ethos conference sponsored by SCAD. “Design Ethos: Vision Reconsidered” builds off the success of the inaugural SCAD conference in 2010, and is in partnership with AIGA. The conference, set for April 19-22, is divided into two main tracts, Conference and ‘Do-ference.’ Conference goers will participate in panel discussions while the “do-ference” lets designers take their skills to the street. “Design Ethos 2012 is an invitation to those who say designers should be talking less and doing more,” says Scott Boylston, Professor of Graphic Design at SCAD. Sustainability is high on the topic list. Among the speakers: David Berman, fellow and ethics chair of Society of Graphic Designers of Canada and sustainability chair of Icograda; Ezio Manzini, founder of the DESIS (Design for Social Innovation towards Sustainability) network of university-based labs; Brian Dougherty, creative director at Celery and author of “Green Graphic Design”; and Liz Ogbu, an expert on sustainable design in challenged urban environments.
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES GROW WINGS
While the idea of electric delivery trucks may seem new, Smith has been selling and manufacturing electric vehicles for over 80 years in the UK, where their first trucks were “milk floats” deployed by dairies. In 2011, with corporate fleets that include Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola and Staples, a rebrand was initiated to unify the brand globally and carry it into the next phase of their business. The resulting brandmark – by San Francisco design firm Strohl – features a winged tiger, communicating the core values of the company: innovation, impact and unity. The orange color was carried over from the previous brand– maintaining continuity and differentiation for Smith amongst the “green-washed”world of sustainable branding.

LORAX ENDORSEMENT RANKLES
Would the Lorax love, much less endorse, an SUV?” Environmentalists say never, accusing Mazda of greenwashing with its tv spot featuring the tree-loving Dr. Seuss character, featured in the recently released Universal Pictures film, alongside a Mazda CX-5 that gets 35 mpg on the highway. “Your attempt to associate your environmentally destructive product with The Lorax is deceptive and misleading,” says the author of one Change.org petition. “Stop forcing the Lorax to sell dangerous, polluting cars.” The Mazda ad – created by ad agency Garage/Team Mazda – isn't the only aspect of Lorax commercialization that is sparking controversy. Students in a fourth-grade class gathered nearly 60,000 signatures in successfully petitioning Universal to add a gren message to the Lorax film site, which it has done.

KIOSK MEETS MENU LABEL LAWS
QA Graphics has created an interactive nutritional kiosk for the newly constructed McDonald’s franchise in Richardson TX. It’s the first McDonald’s restaurant to provide a kiosk to meet menu labeling laws. In the lobby, customers can use the 42-inch LCD interactive display to browse the full menu and see the nutrition breakdown. Customers can also use a Build Your Meal tool to assemble their meal and see what the total nutrition information will be for their selections. QA Graphics is based in Ankeny IA.
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SALADISH GRAPHICS HONORED
Environmental graphics by Gamut Media for Saladish, a healthy food restaurant with a unique niche – its utilizes aeroponic technology to grow many of their healthy greens on site – has won a Regional Award in the Roland Creative Awards international design contest. “The Roland Creative Awards contest pays tribute to our founder’s vision of using digital technology to transform imagination into reality,” said Dave Goward, president and CEO of U.S.-based Roland DGA Corp. Adds Phillip Yu, graphics director for Brea CA-based Gamut Media. “With such a large group of innovative and talented competitors, it is a great honor to have been chosen as the regional winner for North America. Winning this competition encourages us to be more creative and to continue to produce quality, imaginative projects for our clients.” Celebrating parent company Roland DG’s 30th anniversary , the awards invited users of Roland equipment submit their best work as produced on the company’s wide-format inkjet printers, vinyl cutters, engravers, 3D milling machines and other production tools.
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JOSH CHEN PLANTS NEW BRAND
Chen Design Associates has developed branding, collateral and website for People’s Harvest, a new fresh-cut food processing center located in the North Bay. The client is Buckelew Programs, a non-profit which assists the mentally ill. The project is expected to jobs for people who have experienced barriers to employment and also aims to help local farmers by providing a hub for their produce that will be provided to local schools, hospitals, and other public institutions. The scope of CDA’s design work included the overall identity and visuals, stationery system, leave behind collateral, and an online presence that takes advantage of new developments in web typography and support for mobile browsers.

SCHISLA REBRANDS TO ENRICH
On its tenth anniversary, Schisla Design has re-branded itself as Enrich. The new name is a nod to the firm’s increased focus by its clients on health and wellness based-products and services that will “enrich and enhance the lives of others and the community.” Says principal and founder Gretchen Schisla of the transition: “Our clients are passionate about the products and services they provide ‒ products that help people live better lives. This fuels our fire, enriches us, and in turn allows us to give back. For us, it makes perfect sense to continue this kind of work ‒ and we want to do even more.”
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UNIMAC: HERE COMES THE SUN
UNIMAC Graphics has installed an ambitious solar energy system at its Carlstadt NJ plant and facility, producing over 1,000,000 kWhs of clean solar energy. The system was designed and installed by Mercury Solar Systems of Mays Landing NJ and is expected to meet 30 percent of the printing and diversified communication firm’s annual electricity needs. “We are dedicated to protecting the environment, prevention of pollution and ensuring the health and safety of the community, our clients and our employees. Solar energy was a logical next step as we continue to execute on our overall master environmental plan,” comments George Amann, CEO at UNIMAC. Amann notes that the 1,000,000+ kWhs of solar energy will produce enough energy to power 75 average size residential homes each year, which is also the equivalent to recycling 16 million cans of soda, planting 58,000 trees and taking 105 cars off the road annually.
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GREEN ACTIVISM GOES SOCIAL
Green activism now has a major online presence with the merger of Greenopolis and Recyclebank – the largest social recycling system to date.Greenopolis is the social arm of Waste Management, a provider of waste and environmental services, which made a strategic investment in Recyclebank. WM's stake in Recyclebank gives it access to a community-based green rewards program for its nearly 20 million North American customers. “This investment helps to enhance our existing public sector relationships and signals our commitment to growing our customer base as we see more and more towns and cities making recycling incentive programming a priority," stated David Steiner, Waste Management head. Recyclebank encourages citizens to take green actions by offering discounts from local and national businesses and its latest evolution, Recyclebank Ecosystem, extends that effort to a mass mobilization network that reaches more than 3.6 million consumers monthly and counts 3,000 plus reward partners in the U.S. and the U.K.
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LOGO ENERGIZES NEW FUND
U.K. graphic design company Smith has delivered an identity and website for Microgenius, a new funding website for sustainable energy. Adrian Kimpton of Smith explains: “The logo uses a computer cursor arrow to create an icon that represents the various processes that investors may fund through the micro generation process.”