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 that the sticker had been redesigned, and there's an interesting story behind the redesign that I thought was worth sharing.

When graphic designer Guy Peterson of Brand Boggler found out about These Come From Trees, he loved the concept, but like most designers with a critical eye, saw room for improvement in the design of the sticker. Guy wanted to do a "Random Act of Designess" by finding a cause he believed in that needed help with some aspect of design, and offering his expertise for free. His first Random Act of Designess was redesigning the sticker for These Come From Trees.

Since These Come From Trees made their concept open-source by using a Creative Commons License instead of a Copyright, they were very receptive to Guy's eye-catching redesign and began using it. I must say, the redesigned sticker is quite an improvement! It is much bolder and easier to discern the idea from far away, and illustrates the point of the sticker perfectly. This is a perfect example of graphic design's potential to have an impact and draw awareness to an issue, and a unique twist on pro-bono projects for designers.

Of course, being a critical designer myself, I have a few more suggestions for improving the stickers. First of all is making the stickers themselves from something other than laminated virgin paper. There are many sustainable paper options out there, or better yet, the stickers could be made with a treeless paper such as Yupo or Polyart - a bonus is that synthetic papers are usually waterproof and smudgeproof, so no lamination would be necessary. The materials used for any design project reflect the concept and add meaning to the design, and since the message of this project is to encourage conservation, conserving trees in the sticker materials would only add to their impact. I understand that the stickers need to be cost-effective in order to be widespread, but I encourage These Come From Trees to look into the possiblility of using tree-free or at least recycled paper. By creating a demand for such materials from sticker makers, it's also a way to change that industry.

Kudos to Guy Peterson's "Random Act of Designess" in his redesign of the These Come From Trees sticker. He proves that graphic designers can make a difference and help good causes simply by doing what they do best!

What would you think if you saw one of these stickers on a paper towel dispenser in a public bathroom? The folks at TheseComeFromTrees.com hope you'll think about the source of the paper towels and use as little as possible. By placing these stickers in plain view on paper towel dispensers, they're calling out an often forgotten fact about where the resources we use each day come from, and inspiring people to take a simple form of action right then and there. The stickers supposedly reduce paper towel usage by about 15%, saving 100 pounds of paper (about one tree) every year. For a simple little sticker, that's quite an impact!

These Come From Trees claims to be the first guerrilla public service announcement, a form of alternative marketing aimed at getting the public to think about their paper consumption, and take small steps to reduce it. While I'm not sure that this is the first guerilla public service announcement, it is certainly is a simple yet effective one. The message would benefit from being completely created using sustainable materials, of course, such as recycled or tree-free paper, and perhaps laminated with wax instead of petroleum-based plastic. I'm hoping as this project evolves, efforts will continue to make the stickers themselves fall more in line with their message.

Guerilla marketing is not a new phenomenon, but it is about time it was used for the benefit of the environment rather than the benefit of a corporation. Guerilla marketing is a subtle and usually low-cost way of marketing that often involves meeting the audience at their level and in their environment, most often this means on the street. Often the audience of a guerilla marketing message doesn't even know they are being marketed to, which makes this form of marketing both effective and controversial. The guerilla public service announcement seems like a great direction to take guerilla marketing tactics in.

Another example of a guerilla public service announcement was a campaign targeting air pollution in Chicago, which used a pressure washer to stencil messages into city sidewalks and show just how dirty the city was. Human shapes made from clean sidewalk bore the message "Chicago is plagued by air pollution. Don't just lie there. Contact your alderman." This is another example of a simple guerilla marketing message that incites immediate action.

When I see marketing messages on sidewalks and in public places, I can't help but think that they were inspired by street art and grafitti. Something about guerilla marketing just screams Banksy, although most marketing messages aren't quite a bold and poignant as his work. Street artists like Banksy often involve social commentary in their work, so street art is a great model for spreading a socially or environmentally important message. Now, if only all the guerilla public service announcements were as nicely designed and hard-hitting as Banksy's work…

If you want to help spread awareness about paper conservation, you can order stickers from These Come From Trees and (with permission of the property owners of course), post them on paper towel and toilet paper dispensers in your area. Or, if you're more artistically inclined, bust out some sidewalk chalk and create a guerilla public service announcement of your own, even if it's on your own driveway! I am now oddly compelled to start writing "stop global warming - go vegetarian" all over my local campus… sounds like a great weekend project.

Because petroleum-based inks are usually found in home inkjet printers, the first step in greening our printing is to just do less of it. But, for graphic designers like myself, printing is a fact of life and a major part of business. Thankfully, the printing industry is developing many greener options for the ecology-minded designer.

Most people have heard of soy ink, which is ink that uses a soy oil base instead of a petroleum one. Soy takes very little water or energy to grow and since soy ink has very low levels of VOCs, it is far less polluting than traditional petroleum-based ink. Development of soy ink began in the late 1970s by the Newspaper Association of America, who sought a different way to make ink because of rising oil prices. Today, soy ink is used in many offset printing presses and newspapers. Paper printed with soy ink is easier to recycle because it comes off of the paper more easily, and the ink colors are brighter as well. Unfortunately, soy ink cannot be used in small personal printers, which is one of its major drawbacks.

It is especially important to consider sustainable printing options for a large print run, and since designers are in a position to choose paper and printing options for their clients, every effort should be made to find an eco-friendly printing solution. Many commercial printers use soy ink, and some go even further, such as Ecoprint, a printing company that prints with vegetable oil and metal-free inks on recycled paper. Ecoprint was the first carbon-neutral U.S. printing company and is truly a leader in the printing industry. They offset all of their carbon emissions and are 100% wind powered, setting an example I hope the rest of the printing industry soon follows.

Other developments in green printing include waterless printing - an offset printing process that eliminates the water or dampening system used in conventional printing. As a result, not only is water conserved, but there are many environmental benefits to this process. According to the Waterless Printing Association:

Many printers have been drawn to waterless printing because it eliminates dampening-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the printing process. Some VOCs have been linked to the deterioration of the earth's protective ozone layer and, consequently, to global warming. Now, with the release of water-washable inks, the waterless pressroom can be virtually VOC-free.

This revolutionary ink technology, eliminates the need for solvent-based press and blanket wash solutions, which typically account for a large portion of a printer's VOC output…. The environmental benefits of water-washable inks are far reaching. In some cases the elimination of pressroom VOCs may even result in expansion opportunities that were previously limited due to emission restrictions.

I recently discovered a company called ZINK that offers zero-ink printing. At first that almost sounds like an oxymoron, but it's true! ZINK uses special composite paper with dye crystals embedded in it, and a special printer that uses heat to activate the crystals for a long-lasting and durable printed image. This printing process is simple and involves less waste because there is no ink involved. The paper is also non-toxic and recyclable, making it a unique option for green printing.

There are many commercial printing options available, and now I am anxiously awaiting a more sustainable solution for at-home inkjet printing. Until then, we can only avoid printing as much as necessary and hope that the paperless office soon becomes a reality.

Links: EPA Evaluation of Soy Inks, Ecoprint, ZINK, Sustainable Paper Options