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MHS Library | Visual Communication Design

Polyspolia

Polyspolia by Will H Yates-Johnson is a representation of a waste-free manufacturing model that breaks down old products and works them into new, more complex forms. The name Polyspolia comes from the Greek poly ('many', as in polymer) and the Latin spolia (‘spoils’). Spolia was the ancient Roman custom of reusing earlier building material to create new monuments, where no attempt was made to hide the older parts, which would be boldly displayed in the surface of the new structure. 

By developing production methods with designed-in recycling systems, we can feed consumer desire for the new, while creating zero waste.

 

Do The Green Thing

Do The Green Thing (Creativity vs Climate Change) is a public service for the planet that uses creativity to tackle climate change. 

The organisation has worked with a global community of creatives to make films, posters, Walkcasts and Everyday Things that have inspired 40 million people to live more sustainably. 

Lights made from waste found on a Hawaiian beach by the RSA’s Sophie Thomas.

Listen to Do The Green Thing podcasts.

Subscribe to Do The Green Thing Youtube channel.

Design Indaba

More a movement than an event, Design Indaba is firmly entrenched in the global creative landscape as a positive force for change. Fuelled by the belief that creativity can overcome the world's biggest challenges, and driven by a fierce commitment to design entrepreneurialism, the continually evolving Cape Town conference runs a growing portfolio of initiatives alongside the event to help nurture and empower young South African creativity - like its Emerging Creatives programme, which offers year-round support to South Africa's best new talent, culminating in a high  profile exhibition during the three-day festival. (Computer Arts magazine, Issue #252, p. 18) 

Worth browsing is their database of African and international creatives and companies making waves in the design world.

What are you doing to make packaging design sustainable?

Kind (Norway) - We always try to design packaging that's a product of its own. When the packaging itself is something others will value as a piece of the product, that's when you really have made the design sustainable. 

Think Packaging - Be sustainable by putting the sexy back into packaging. To stay truly sustainable, you must make packaging worthy of making. 

Mo Kalache Design - I find a balance between the designs I want to communicate and what can be done sustainably for each project. For Magasand - a healthy fast-food concept restaurant in Madrid - we chose recycled paper as the primary material, then by adding hand-drawn illustrations and patterns, we gave the whole identity a personal and intimate feel.

Bren Imboden and Luis Viale (Art Director and Creative Director, http://www.makebardo.com/Makebardo) - We try to use local companies to print our designs because we want to minimise the impact on transportation and reduce our carbon footprint. It's about being determined to make these decisions to educate the client. The market is pushing us to reduce costs, but we push back because we believe in what we create and want to feel confident we have contributed to keeping our Earth beautiful.

Tim Burley from Believe In - We used to have to push quite hard to get sustainability taken seriously. But thankfully today it has moved beyond being a nice-to-have option for forward-thinking clients, and become a critical consideration for the vast majority of our projects.

What design can do for refugees

Check out the website What design can do.

99U

Ideas are the main focus at 99U (New York, USA), organised by the team behind Behance. It's packed programme of talks is action-oriented - designed to get you inspired, awake and engaged. 

Worth browsing, there are many interesting articles, eg. Brainstorm questions, not solutions.  (Source: Computer Arts magazine Issue #252 p. 20)

Blok Design

Blok Design - We take no as a possibility. We don’t measure our work by the parametres of the project but by the parameter of thought.

Le Creative Paris

Le Creative Paris

"There are two things which are absolutely essential to us: innovation and experimentation," says Tiffany Chen, a member of the Paris-based creative collective whose projects range from avant-garde magazines and installations to client work for the likes of Nike and Hermes. "When an agency or a brand comes to us, they know we're going to take care of everything - the strategy, the art direction, and the production - whether it's a photographic work, a video, a big installation or consulting. 


"When someone comes to us for a solution, we will often offer them new perspactives since we always have different ideas for one problem. It might be because we don't specialise in a particular medium or style, but rather we specialise in ideas."