Graphic Green Routines

Hello Creatives!

In today's world, companies are striving towards transparency and sustainability. Many professionals are trying to be more "green". We, as graphic designers and creators, can be "green" as well by utilizing certain habits and routines. Ultimately, these routines revolve around eliminating waste by using less material and more creativity in order to design efficiently.

In every profession seeking sustainability, the reuse, recycle and compostable routine cycle should be considered and utilized. Designers also should be aware of the materials they use, how they use packaging and how their work is distributed. Manufacturing, production and delivery usage should be considered when trying to achieve an environmentally-friendly, sustainable status.

Principles Graphic Design

To prepare for success and reduce costly mistakes, designers need to collect meaningful data on each project as well as feedback in each stage of the design process. Manufacturing, production and delivery should be considered at the beginning of the design process to make sure they follow the sustainability guidelines. This preparation allows for more accurate and effective measuring of materials, time needed to complete the project and ability to reduce waste.

For some designers, using alternative materials is enough, others require a full green initiative process to be sustainable. Some sustainable materials would be using hemp or soy based inks instead of the resin and propylene glycol based inks. Printing on non-chlorine bleached paper or post-consumer recycled fiber paper, post-consumer recyclable packaging and cardboard. Packaging product in recyclable bubble wrap or biodegradable packing peanuts.

More forward-thinking sustainable design would be migrating printed material into digital material such as downloadable pdf files and even monitoring the consumption of power and energy used by the printers and computers in the office space. In what ways can you increase sustainability in your workplace?

See You Soon Creatives!

Color of the Year

Hello Creatives!

In a world where simplicity is key, it's nice to express yourself through a pop of color. Monochromatic color schemes have consistently been a strong aesthetic but there's just something about color. Many creatives, artists and designers know the power of color. It makes you feel something; Color evokes emotion.

Pantone has released their Color of the Year, Greenery. Pantone does this every year and the trend has been moving more towards an organic/natural color theme. Foliage has been making more of an appearance in design and marketing materials lately. The colors from previous years have reflected the main theme of that respective time.

Pantone chooses the Color of the Year based around strong, relevant topics/themes they notice taking place. For instance, Marsala in 2015 was chosen due to a lot of activism, especially with LGBTQ, because the color is versatile and gender neutral; it looks good on everyone. In 2016, Rose Quartz and Serenity were chosen due to the topics of anxiety and stress that kept appearing in the media.

These colors evoked a feeling, the rise of the "adult coloring book" became huge in the market due to this focus on color and stress in 2016. This year, with Greenery, things are heading toward new beginnings with a new president and revival of words like "organic" and "natural" as the media pushes us to live healthier.

With each Color of the Year that's chosen, Pantone also provides color guides/pairings. Challenge yourself to create designs/art with these colors and see if Pantone's prediction is true.

Does it make you feel revived/refreshed?

Does it make the space look more lush and lively?

See You Soon Creatives!