Are you designing-in sustainability every day? Whether it’s looking after the planet, or looking after resources and time, 44 Senior Designer Jess Grove looks at how important it is to be designing-in sustainability at the start of creative projects.
We hear the word ‘sustainable’ a lot. We hear it in relation to our planet; the need to use sustainable energy sources, to lower our carbon emissions and live a generally sustainable lifestyle. Truly sustainable decisions have to be part of our initial thinking – and not an afterthought.
As a creative, I am always excited to read new inventive ideas for sustainable design and I wanted to take a moment to look at initiatives taking place across the world.
Designing-in inventive sustainability
Some of the creative ideas I love reading about are how companies are using waste to create new products, something that has to be considered when the project is first being developed. Have you heard of ‘The Ocean Cleanup’? It’s a non-profit organisation founded in 2013 that’s dedicated to cleaning up our oceans all over the world. Using advanced technologies, it has taken to our waters to dig out rubbish with the aim of removing 90% of floating ocean plastic.
Better yet, the plastic that is salvaged from the water is given a new lease of life. The old plastic is recycled into sunglasses – as the organisation says, turning ‘trash into treasure’ – with all proceeds from sales going to the continuation of the ocean clean up.
Designing-in sustainable production
Don’t you just hate it when you come home from a big shop at your local supermarket and have piles upon piles of plastic packaging? A plastic bag from some apples or bananas, the multi-pack of crisps you bought that comes in an even bigger bag, or that stretchy plastic that sits around your quartet of baked beans.
While this is still a regular occurrence right now, we’re steadily moving towards less plastic waste – and businesses are designing sustainability into the customer experience. I recently discovered that Morrisons is taking measures to reduce plastic pollution as part of the UK Plastics Pact. Since 2010 it has reduced packaging weight in its Market Street by 50%, equating to 10,000 tonnes of plastic! It was also one of the first supermarkets to sell reusable paper shopping bags.
Designing-in sustainable creativity
Being a creative agency, we’re very conscious about thinking and acting sustainably, whether that’s supporting the work our clients are doing towards becoming carbon neutral or how we act as a business.
In our creative studio at 44 we try to work sustainably every day. While we’re a fast-paced agency, we do our best to effectively manage our workflow and time across clients and our team, so not to waste any time or creative juices.
When it comes to sustainable production, we still love getting our hands on a printed magazine or some nice poster artwork to adorn an office space (printed on sustainable materials, of course). We are seeing a real shift in the type of work we’re producing, though.
We’ve seen an influx of digital projects as a result of sustainable thinking and the impact of the pandemic. We have clients with a huge employee base that have had to adapt their communications, finding new ways to reach out to audiences working from home. It has provided a real boost to both the frequency and type of digital work we’re now producing.
That means a fresh challenge comes in every day – requiring both the studio and the content teams to come up with ways of engaging audiences that hit the mark creatively and sustainably.
I like to think that every small decision we make to work and act more sustainably adds up to create a big impact. That’s why it’s at the top of our minds when starting a new project – designing-in sustainability at every step of the creative journey.
If you’re looking for creative and sustainable ways to engage your audience, get in touch with us via our Contact page.
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