Design Studio 2021

We Design Lies

It’s not your fault, it’s the industries.

WORDS+DESIGN RICK WILLIAMS

Have you ever given much thought to the recycling symbol at the bottom of your water bottle? Graphic designers put that label on packaging. We have to due to federal law. People think of this symbol as the label of whether or not something is truly recyclable. When it only means what chemicals were used to create that plastic. Number 7 plastic is everything but the kitchen sink. It gets rejected by recyclers because they don’t know what’s in it.

Just as we inform our clients that a design decision would be detrimental to their brand, there is a responsibility to be aware of the impacts the packaging we make and print has on the environment, and to teach our clients accordingly. This means informing them that their product might not be recyclable. With local products, you can just talk with your recycler to be able to guide your clients to choose a truly recyclable product. This is harder nationally. With varied international laws around recycling, it’s impossible to design something recyclable for an international audience. Decisions as small as what the coating is on coated stock can change whether it is recyclable. Even the shape, size, and color of the material affects its ability to be recycled. Being forced to put the recycling label on packaging only adds to the confusion. But we can’t stop, otherwise we’ll be breaking the law.

Here are some product/ packaging design decisions and best practices you can discuss with your client:

• Print the label on the packaging itself, instead of on stickers. (They have to be removed in order to be recycled.) • Do they need the item or package to be a composite of foil paper and plastic? Single substance materials are easier to recycle. • Use clear plastic wherever possible, colored plastic is harder to recycle. • Use #1 and #2 plastics, they are preferred to any other. • Are they required to put the recycling symbol on takeout containers in their area? Food containers are garbage and will be thrown away no matter what. • Make the recycling symbol number no smaller than 10pt. • Make the products larger than 3”x3”x5”. Small products and packages aren’t big enough for some recycling plant sorting machines. • Avoid unique shapes for the product/package. Instead, opt for basic shapes like squares, circles, and rectangles. (So they can fit in the sorting machines.) • Make the compost label big with bold colors. Items will be thrown away if the recycler can’t see a compost label at a glance. • If your client wants coated stock push for clay coated paper first. With the exception of food items going in the refrigerator, you must use unrecyclable plastic-coated paper. Any other paper will warp and bubble, becoming ugly from the moisture.

So when in doubt, throw it out.

Just because it has a recycling symbol doesn’t mean it’s recyclable. Brought to you

CHELSEA CALLAS + DEB HANSON EDITORS-IN-CHIEF HAILEY FISHER + HEATHER VAN DOORN ART DIRECTORS ULAD SLABIN + VICTORIA STEPHENS + JAY WAYLETT COPY EDITORS MORGAN MEYERS + RICK WILLAMS PRODUCTION

PHOTOGRAPHY

ALEC TUCKER + SETH PEMBERTON

DESIGN

CHELSEA CALLAS + KATINA CORCORAN + HAILEY FISHER + DEB HANSON + MORGAN MEYERS + SETH PEMBERTON + ULAD SLABIN + RACHAEL SMITH + VICTORIA STEPHENS + SCOTT STURGIS + ALEC TUCKER + HEATHER VAN DOORN + JAY WAYLETT + RICK WILLAMS + LACEY WINTER

WRITER

JONNY BENCH + CHELSEA CALLAS + KATINA CORCORAN + DEB HANSON + MORGAN MEYERS + SETH PEMBERTON + ULAD SLABIN + RACHAEL SMITH + VICTORIA STEPHENS + SCOTT STURGIS + HEATHER VAN DOORN + JAY WAYLETT + RICK WILLAMS + LACEY WINTER ColophonThe Bleed is printed on #80 Lynx uncoated cover and #70 Lynx uncoated pages. The body copy fonts are Calluna and Proxima Nova. Calluna is a serif typeface designed by Dutch designer Jos Buivenga and released in 2009 through the exljbris Font Foundry. Proxima Nova is a geometricgrotesque sans-serif design, created by American typeface designer Mark Simonson in 2005 Printed in Eugene, Oregon, May 2021 by QSL Print Communications

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