ARTICLES ON SOCIAL CONCIOUS DESIGN

A huge part of my own personal professional practice, is being a socially cocious designer. I have stated this in my statement of intent and my manifesto because it is something I am incredibly passionate about. I wanted to look at articles and talks relating to sustainability and social concious to see how creatives respond to this in industry. 

What is "Visual Sustainability", and how can designers challenge power through form? - Meg Miller (AIGA)

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-is-visual-sustainability-and-how-can-designers-challenge-power-through-form/

• This article is about ecology and environmentalism and where these intersect with design. The writer, Meg Miller, approached Crippa after seeing the course (“Quantum Thinking: Sustainability in and Through Visuality.”)she ran and her use of the term "visual sustainability" and what that meant.
• Benedetta Crippa is an Italian designer, who works as a lead designer at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
• Her work is focused on feminist and post-colonial design theory
• She is the first graphic designer at SEI and spends much of her "time making the institute's scientific research on social and environmental sustainability legible for a wide audience"
• Crippa explained "visual sustainability" as more of a way of thinking. Understanding that the sustainability of graphic design can be measured through its form as well as messaging and materiality
• This came through her witnessing other graphic designers struggling to maintain sustainability due to the demands of the profession.
• Her point is that visual design is important for sustainable co-existence
• Crippa also explained that visual sustainability looks at everything, not only environmentalism and ecology. She challenges archaic social structures like patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy, and also looks for alternatives to better these constructs. 
• She also encourages her students and fellow designers to define their own terms of sustainability, having your own voice. 
• She has had concerns for the future. Many graphic designers taking the climate crisis as a limitation and rejection of their skill as it is a "servant of capitalism", instead of coming up with new ways to design that has a more positive, sustainable impact
• "As designers, we must acknowledge this and find a way to work responsibly with our craft, since visuality, just like other design disciplines, impacts everyone." - this quote is truly influencing to my practice and something I want to remember for the future. 
• Goes into more depth of graphic designers being slaves to capitalism and the concerns that everything we create could have a negative impact. Crippa related to that as a designer but, hit back with "sustainability is not about stopping existing or designing or limiting creativity". She speaks about it really meaning acting responsibly, but to me, I believe it opens so many doors. Room for innovativity to provide positively for the planet
• Below is her model of how design can place itself within sustainability 

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5 Takeaways From EoD's Ecology + Design Panel Discussions - Margaret Anderson (AIGA) (2020)

• Talks about the evident climate crisis and the disasters of this year such as; wildfires, drought and rising sea levels. 
• This is a follow on from the previous article

Visual design is crucial to sustainable co-existence—use it responsibly

• The first point refers to Benedetta Crippa's model of Quantum thinking and how visual design is crucial to sustainable co-existence

Support place-based solutions versus universality (Jarrett Fuller)

• The point being that even though there is a global understanding of climate change it is extremely important to have place-based knowledge rather than apply something that works in one location to another. For example, a solution to help an US city could not be applied to a rainforest in Africa, likewise these responses would have to be more fine tuned for their specific location in order to be effective. 
• Basically avoiding the Western Saviour Complex that is embedded within the Climate movement. 

Learn to deal with your "eco-anxiety"-and limit the doom scrolling (Anoushka Khandwala)

• "Eco-anxiety" just means anxiety caused by the notion of the climate crisis and the inevitability that comes with it. 
• This could potentially have a harming affect, too much 'doom scrolling' can lead to numbness and inaction. This is fine for people who are not directly suffering because of climate change. However, for the communities of people living with the consequences of our neglect, this inaction is only causing further harm.

Yes, design can be based on more than just capitalism

• A similar topic raised by Crippa before. The fact that designers feel claustrophobic and a need to be a servant to capitalism because it brings in the money. 
• Melina Laboucan-Massimo says that by emphasising the work of activists (design for activism) through design is an essential move to aid the climate movement. She also talks about supporting the redistribution of wealth and promoting community mobilisation.
• For me, I want to support small, local businesses with my design. I want to try and promote local sourced products above large chain markets to help sustain communities and avoid mass consumerism. 

There’s no silver bullet to the climate crisis

• This is not saying that design is the key to solving climate change but, a vital tool in helping the movement
• It can spread awareness and get people talking about the climate crisis and even promote action 

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/5-takeaways-from-eods-ecology-design-panel-discussions/

Creativity meets sustainability: Personalising your packaging with the environment front of mind

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/noissue-lauren-martin-illustration-sponsored-content-150421

• Lauren Martin is a New York based illustrator who has worked for large corporations suc as Apple and New York Magazine
• Nature is a common theme within her work, she lives close to a "huge park" where she finds a lot of inspiration
• With this in mind, greener practices have always been important to her and her impact on the planet as an illustrator. 
• When collaborating with Eat.Me.Do (food-inspired fashion label), she came across Noissue, which is an eco-friendly platform that creates bespoke packaging 
• Ashley Garrels, noissue's creative community manager "The nature of creativity is to embrace change and pivot with new ideas, which makes it a perfect tool for tackling climate change and environmental concerns. We’ve seen firsthand the ways that creative thinking has been crucial for navigating a global pandemic, and becoming eco-conscious is no different!”