Sustainable Graphic Design Tips

Reduce resource use through the design process by asking...

• Is this the best tool possible?
• Can we make it do more than one thing and fulfill more than one purpose—a pocket folder and a brochure, a brochure and a poster, a brochure and an envelope?
• Is it of recycled content and recyclable?
• Are we influencing the chain of production and requesting biodegradable glue, binding and other elements in the printing/production chain?
• Are we looking at the big picture and are we balancing long shelf life with biodegradable, meaning, we might make an item with glue that is not biodegradable, but will it hold up longer on the shelf, thus, reducing the number of reruns in the future?
• Can our design have more than one life? For example, can a long-lasting binder go on to be used for other projects in the future instead of contributing to the landfill?

Other Sustainable Design Tips

• Think about the whole package in its entirety when reducing waste: A self-mailer brochure with an insert to be detached means one piece of paper instead of many.
• Gone are the days of superfluous white space: Design that is beautiful from the inside out means making good use of the space you have. Pages of blank sheets at the beginning and end of annual reports, booklets, etc., unless they have a purpose, are a waste.
• Also gone are "like water" brochures: Sending out mass mailings as numerous as Victoria's Secret catalogs is not a good strategiy. Target and connect with your audiences in a meaningful and qualitative way, not quantitative.
• Stay on top of current trends in printing and production: They are constantly changing.
• Look at vendors and their impact on the big picture: wind power, VOC emissions, recycling and reduction of make-ready. Work with them to learn together what you can do to make less impact on the environment.
• Work with vendors to reduce waste: Use trim space for additional products, or adjust sizing of projects to reduce trim.
• Reduce your shipping impact on the enviroment: Use locally produced paper and printers close to the end delivery location.
• Don't forget about the prepress impact: Working with a printer that uses a synched and calibrated monitor for prepress review reduces the need for overnight and shipping of color proofs. While this option isn't available for everyone, it is in the works and for large corporations with long-term printer relationships, a great option that reduces project work time as well.
• Be innovative when it comes to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Reuse can be ingenius. For example, menus or notebooks can be made from old books when bindings have been removed, most inner pages have been removed and replaced with recycled-content sketch pad paper, and new bindings are made with wire binding. Taking items with former lives and reinventing them can be unique and charming, and environmentally responsible.