Green Options

AIGA Center for Sustainable Design web site

Sustainability has become a buzz word in the design industry. Graphic design industry magazines such as HOW and Communication Arts are publishing articles (and even entire issues) devoted to green design regularly. Designers are starting to pay attention and change the way they work.

Sustainable and eco-conscious design has been a long time

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Image from Blood Diamond

Jimmy: I really love Leonardo DiCaprio. In addition to being a great performing artist, he is sincere in his effort to champion the world environmental cause. And not only is he an excellent spokesman, he also walks the walk even to the point of flying commercial rather than by private jets. He ranks with Ed Begley Jr. and others who live by example, and

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I never thought I'd say this, but I wish I lived in Los Angeles. Not because I like big cities, celebrities, or smog, but because the Los Angeles chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design, recently held an event called CO[LA]BORATE: SEEing Green that brought together two of my favorite topics: design and sustainability.

CO[LA]BORATE: SEEing Green was held on April 19th, just in time for Earth Day. Although I wasn't

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Sustainability is gaining popularity among every industry, and the graphic design community is no exception.

When I was writing my thesis on sustainable and socially-conscious graphic design just a few years ago in college, good resources on the subject were hard to come by. Now it seems that discussion sustainability in design is cropping up everywhere, and design organizations and studios are jumping on the green bandwagon. All I can say

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GO user SeanM is looking for greener art supplies, specifically adhesive/glue, adhesive tape, and paint.  He writes:

Does anyone have information on available green adhesive materials? I'm hoping to find decent quality hot glue-gun sticks that are non-toxic and not petroleum based. In the past I have been a big fan of hot glue guns, but I always had concerns in the back of my mind about the potential danger of the vapors created when

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These Come From Trees (Redesigned)I previously posted about These Come From Trees, a guerilla public service campaign aimed at raising awareness of paper use and asking people to conserve paper using a simple sticker on a paper towel dispenser.

By reminding people that paper towels come from trees, the stickers save up to 100 pounds (about one tree's worth) of paper each year. Recently I found out

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I discussed sustainable paper options in a previous post, but paper is only half of the printing equation. When looking for greener printing options, you also have to consider ink. And that is where things often get a bit messy. Traditional printing inks are petroleum-based and contain volitile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to air pollution and health problems.

Because petroleum-based inks are usually found in home inkjet printers, the first

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According to the EPA, Americans produced approximately 245.7 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste in 2005. Much of the trash we throw away ends up in landfills, but with just a little bit of creativity, artists are proving that we need not doom so much of our waste to this fate.

Art has a long history of examining society and leading to change. Many artists today have "gone green" as environmental consciousness grows.

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