They ask two very important questions:
Can someone make a living doing what they enjoy and affect positive change in the world?
Could I create graphic design that upholds my deepest beliefs yet still be able to feed myself?
They aim to:
• Provide high quality design for clients whose work benefits the communities in which they are located.
• Work with clients who are not involved in the creation of cigarettes, alcohol, or weapons.
• Work with companies who are not involved in a labor dispute nor are targets of a boycott for its labor or environmental practices.
• Attempt to make designs that create a minimum of waste and do as little harm to the environment as possible.
• Encourage clients to use environmentally sensitive printing processes and materials whenever applicable to a design.
• Create pro-bono designs when possible for non-profit organizations with extremely limited resources.
• Donate 10% of profits to non-profit organizations.
All of this is a monumental task, and they are an organization committed to achieving it. This can be seen in their work where they use recycled paper creating branding and print based communication for their clients.
Founded by Noah Scalin, a graduate of the NYU Tisch School of The Arts and a lifelong activist. Noah used his experience with youth marketing and passion for grassroots activism to create his own ethically driven firm.
Noah’s work at ALR has gained international exposure in over two-dozen books and is frequently featured in design publications, including How Magazine’s “Good Company” cover story Jan/Feb 2006. Noah also developed a course on socially conscious design for Virginia Commonwealth University and founded a long running community supported agriculture group in Richmond, Virginia.
The Paper Crane is a UK based design studio that offers design, photography and illustration services. The help promoting companies and organizations that enrich our lives without harming the earth.
Could I create graphic design that upholds my deepest beliefs yet still be able to feed myself?
They aim to:
• Provide high quality design for clients whose work benefits the communities in which they are located.
• Work with clients who are not involved in the creation of cigarettes, alcohol, or weapons.
• Work with companies who are not involved in a labor dispute nor are targets of a boycott for its labor or environmental practices.
• Attempt to make designs that create a minimum of waste and do as little harm to the environment as possible.
• Encourage clients to use environmentally sensitive printing processes and materials whenever applicable to a design.
• Create pro-bono designs when possible for non-profit organizations with extremely limited resources.
• Donate 10% of profits to non-profit organizations.
All of this is a monumental task, and they are an organization committed to achieving it. This can be seen in their work where they use recycled paper creating branding and print based communication for their clients.
Founded by Noah Scalin, a graduate of the NYU Tisch School of The Arts and a lifelong activist. Noah used his experience with youth marketing and passion for grassroots activism to create his own ethically driven firm.
Noah’s work at ALR has gained international exposure in over two-dozen books and is frequently featured in design publications, including How Magazine’s “Good Company” cover story Jan/Feb 2006. Noah also developed a course on socially conscious design for Virginia Commonwealth University and founded a long running community supported agriculture group in Richmond, Virginia.
The Paper Crane is a UK based design studio that offers design, photography and illustration services. The help promoting companies and organizations that enrich our lives without harming the earth.
They are continually making efforts to green up all aspects of the business, with the ability to provide greener print solutions for all forms of marketing literature. Including the use of recycled materials, paper with FSC certification, vegetable based inks, water based sealants and waterless printing.
Their new premises is within a sensitively restored wharf which, in its construction uses the most sustainable and eco-friendly materials and products. Along with the instillation of greener technologies to produce highly efficient energy from renewable sources.
They believe that coming face to face with the consequences of our previous actions is helping to make us more conscience of the long term and far reaching effects that human activity can have upon the earth. Reminding us of our interconnectedness with the world around us, a world which we too easily become disconnected from within our busy and increasingly urban life's.
My favorite from their design portfolio is a series of posters they did for Somerset PCT on Sexual health.
Researching for this task reminded me of my RSA project, where we spoke to stamp printers and paper companies who said using vegetable based inks, eco friendly paper, etc. were an expensive and not yet easily available methods. And then when I read about companies who have already employed such methods in their businesses I wonder why isn't every or almost every company thinking the same way and taking such a strong step? Isn't it our environment?
The approach of these two design studios are worth looking at and getting inspired from. It is only when organizations take stands such as these studios can there ever be any real change in the world. The comforting part is that at least some are taking steps, as only awareness isn't enough anymore.
