Sustainability [01]

   From the business perspective, the idea of sustainability tends to be weighed in a cost-benefit analysis. It may seem the idea leaves a taste of immorality and may feel somewhat insulting. We will get back to that in a moment.
   From a design perspective, sustainability represents just one more challenge among the several that constitute working with what you have. Fortunately, much of this conversation should unfold in the process of your learning your particular artistic direction. There is certainly plenty that has been and it is being published to this end, and to more fully moved in the direction of mastery you really owe it to yourself to appreciate the fullness of this new aspect. This section will close out with a cursory view of some of the more significant sustainability considerations, major by major.
   Back to business. There has been a fortunate increase in sensitivity toward social responsibility. It nonetheless remains true there are still plenty of multinational corporations that will move operations where they can continue to pollute. It is also true that sometimes a cost of operations is seen as outweighing an extra expenditure that would find the product safer (for the environment and or the consumer). Bear in mind, corporations (especially those publicly traded) have an obligation to increase shareholder wealth. Even capitalism has its flaws.
   So we understand the downside. The best way to address it seems to be to focus on the upside. It has already been acknowledged here that there is increasing consumer awareness toward being green. All by itself this has yielded huge dividends to companies that have paid heed. Going green no longer has to always translate into paying a premium either. Being socially responsible also yields huge marketing dividends.
   Then, of course, they're the companies that are laying the foundation for other companies to go green. Konica Minolta has been working on a new line of fabric dyes of extraordinary brilliance that are also environmentally (and human) friendly. This is no small thing. In the bad old days there were many dyes that were outright toxic. In struggling economies where dyeing cloth was done manually (and, of course, some of this still lingers) people simply worked as long and as hard as they could, and eventually died from contact with such chemicals. Without lingering too long on the fashion industry, just think of all the chemicals that go into leather (that, eventually, leech transdermally into the wearer).
   Where companies can go green they do. It's moving beyond this low hanging fruit that the global community is now wrestling through. Ultimately, some more gains we make, the lower the cost, the easier it is to do and the better off we are. We are moving in the right direction.

Advertising: Illustration Graphics & Production
   Our little example a moment ago with the clothing dyes certainly had analogy in this area. Actual cobalt is a real toxin, yet used to be powdered and mixed with the medium, exposing artists by breathing it in or exposure to the skin. Beyond significant examples such as this, there have always been issues with ventilation surrounding all the solvents.
   Tremendous gains have been made on this front over the last half-century. However, we have now moved from an entirely organic paradigm (as faulted as aspects of it may have been) to now using a significant amount of synthetics.
   That was a brief consideration from the design perspective. From the business perspective this is the aspect of the industry that does a tremendous amount of printing, and where packaging designed lives.
   As regards printing, we have plenty of recycled paper product, and there are also “green” inks. There are even eco-friendly fonts! The issue here, of course, is how much of this can be translated into something the client will want (and be consistent with what they need).
   When it comes to packaging design, the iconic mistake would be bottled water. Possibly dangerous from all the chemicals in the plastic leaching into the water. Beyond that, the packaging costs significantly more than its contents, and maybe around in landfills for generations so that someone would have refreshment across a brief period of time. And perhaps the saddest aspect is that most developed nations have perfectly good drinking water coming out of its faucets at hundreds of the cost.
   Packaging has a purpose, and is not going away. Nonetheless, this is something that, by its very nature, will be discarded. There is an increasing effort afoot to make this experience is biodegradable as possible.
   As you may have already noticed, the sustainability consideration tends to be about balancing a myriad of considerations. Keeping it in the forefront of your consciousness will certainly go a long way in your contribution being as environmentally friendly as it can be.