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G R A P H I C A L . ECOLOGIC AL. O R G A N I S E D . M A N I F E S T O
MATTHEW EDGSON . 33266636.
INTRODUCTION
We- as designers- have constantly adapted our approach to incorporate new technologies, processes and trends, but the majority of graphic design has grown into methods of production which sacrifice ecological practice for speed, convenience and aesthetic preference. With this in mind, I will outline suggestions of how to develop a more material, social and individual approach to graphics, particularly typography which reduces the impact on the Earth and it’s resources.
SUSTAINABLE GRAPHICS?
One definition of sustainable development is meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations WCED, 1987, pg 16). For a graphic designer, this concept is better described by Joanna Macy in 1991 as “treading lightly”; the idea that the designer should consider the impact on the environment that each design choice (typeface, colour, material and it’s source e.t.c.) has before executing their plan. The question exists now of how the graphic designer should approach sustainability through type? Where can he/she intervene? The answer lies in many points beyond just printing on both sides of the paper.
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AVOID DEFAULT FONTS
USE SMALL X-HEIGHTS 4
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla sagittis sem gravida convallis consequat. Pellentesque faucibus sodales cursus. Etiam pharetra quam vel nunc tincidunt pellentesque. Proin id risus suscipit, ullamcorper lorem sit amet, gravida nulla. Vestibulum quis facilisis lacus. Nulla eu sagittis orci. Aliquam libero neque, ultrices quis enim vel, ultricies aliquet leo. Vivamus eu odio ac est bibendum interdum in sed nulla. Pellentesque ligula mauris, scelerisque quis rhoncus ac, porta non mauris. Curabitur congue turpis eu bibendum rutrum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla sagittis sem gravida convallis consequat. Pellentesque faucibus sodales cursus. Etiam pharetra quam vel nunc tincidunt pellentesque. Proin id risus suscipit, ullamcorper lorem sit amet, gravida nulla.Vestibulum quis facilisis lacus. Nulla eu sagittis orci. Aliquam libero neque, ultrices quis enim vel, ultricies aliquet leo.Vivamus eu odio ac est bibendum interdum in sed nulla. Pellentesque ligula mauris, scelerisque quis rhoncus ac, porta non mauris. Curabitur congue turpis eu bibendum rutrum.
Figure 1- Helvetica (left) vs Gill Sans (right)- 10 point
I have noticed that the default fonts such as Arial, Helvetica and Times New Roman have, compared to other fonts such as Gill Sans and Garamond, significantly larger x-heights and character forms. Despite their smaller forms, the latter typefaces are just as legible. Figure 1 shows the difference in real estate consumption on a page between Helvetica and Gill Sans. Whilst there is only a small difference between the two samples, this will scale up as the volume of text increases. Consider the difference if the two samples were two thousand words each- and the difference in the usage of paper and of ink. 5
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DEVELOP YOUR INDIVIDUAL LAN
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CREATE YOUR OWN LETTERFORMS
NGUAGE Consider a possible future scenario, for instance the year 2030. Which sounds more exciting, a future where designers all communicate through a limited range of standard typefaces or one where each designer has formed their own language through a series of personally developed and individual typefaces? The answer is obvious. This will allow for a deeper connection between the typeface and the designer, and will result more consideration and understanding of how to use these typefaces. Figures 2a and 2b show a comparison between Helvetica and a typeface I have designed. Notice how 2b better communicates my personal interests and is a better representation of who I am than if I were to use a font like Helvetica.
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Figure 2a- Helvetica sample
Figure 2b- Sample of a typeface I designed 7
WHEN DESIGNING/ REVIVING A TYPEFACE, DO MORE OFF OF THE COMPUTER
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P.M. Hashin states that the common life cycle of a typeface is as simple as 3 points- “Conception”, “Execution” and “Release” (P.M Hashin, 2011, pg 18). After mapping out the life cycle of a common breakfast item, I believe that the life cycle (of a modern typeface anyway) is better represented by Figure 3, an initially linear path which then enters a cycle of constant reuse and revival. The red words highlight stages in the lifecycle which involve the convenience of computer/ internet usage, which consumes a lot of energy, especially if the computer is used for a long time. So I propose that designers devote more of the development and production of typefaces to hand made processes such as sketches, collages and modelling.
Production Release/ retail
Design
Download Initial Conception Use
Goes out of fashion Revival/ update
Redesign
Use
Production Download
Release/ retail
Figure 3- My interpretation of the lifecycle of a typeface 9
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EMBRACE A MORE PHYSICAL FORM OF TYPEFACE
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“Letters are not pictures or representations.”(Gill, 1931, pg 24). I would go as far to say that type is a living thing, or at least it was when we used methods such as woodblock printing and hot metal typesetting; it was conceived, created and over time it would age and degrade with use, unlike much of type today; a series of images on a screen. Type has become set in the frozen state of the digital age- which I must point out is again more convenient- and has become the contradiction of Eric Gill’s idea of typography. I believe that typography should revert to being a much more material practice, and consist of much more use of physical letterforms. These do not have to be as elaborate as woodblock presses or metal characters, because they consume a lot of resources which could be put to better use. Consider forming letters from paper and using them as stamps, or creating stencil forms.
Archaeologist Michael Shanks argues that, for an object, the “movement through production, exchange, consumption, deposition, decay and discovery” are all “contingent to it’s nature, it’s objectivity” (Michael Shanks, 1998, section 10- what is an artefact?). So, if the decay and discovery of an object are just as important in the life cycle, then surely more physical forms of type can carry a greater narrative and meaning through their use and degradation than the same letters on a screen. Furthermore, the unique ageing of each designer’s typeface will begin the development of their individual languages. So when they begin to wear and degrade, keep using them, because the designs you produce with them will become much more unique to you as a designer. Also, the longer they are used, the more efficient the object becomes in terms of the material used to produce it versus use.
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DEVELOP A N E T W O R K
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DON’T DISPOSEPASS IT ON!
This is an speculative extension of the previous point. “[We need] to change both productive procedures and rituals of use” and this requires “ a more radical self-critique.” (Sennett, 2008, pg 13). So as well as shifting the productive procedures, we also need to address the use of typography. There needs to be a shift in the cultural approach to using and also disposing of graphic tools. In the current society, we are encouraged to donate our old clothes to people that could make use of them. I propose we should do a similar thing with our typefaces and other graphic instruments. When a designer sees no further use for a (physical) typeface, instead of disposing of all of the materials- woodblocks, paper forms, stencils or whatever form this may be, figure 4 depicts the life cycle of a typeface in a possible future network of experienced designers and novices where these typefaces (and other graphic materials) which are not wanted anymore can be donated to others in the local area who will be able to continue using them, or modify them to become a font more suited to their needs. 12
Production Design
Initial Conception
Transport
Initial User
Use
Decay/ Degradation
Donated
Decay/ Degradation
New User
Redesign
Use
Modifications Figure 4- The lifecycle of a typeface in a proposed future society
Notice how this practically eradicates the use of computers and the internet, hence reducing the energy use drastically. This will also develop a social interaction between local designers and type enthusiasts, encouraging a communal development through graphics, and eventually a local language could be formed. 13
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FIND NEW ORIGINAL WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE Y O U R W O R K 14
Stop putting digital typefaces and your portfolios online. Lets face it, there are millions of fonts and portfolios on the internet, on sites such as dafont.com, fontshop. com, behance.net and carbonmade. com with more being added daily. A lack of communication between these databases means that fonts may be stored on each of these sites under different names, which is wasting space.
Figure 5a- fontshop.com
As the internet expands, additional servers need to be added to increase the storage capacity, and these servers are made from several materials drawn from the lithosphere such as metals in the circuitry and oil for the plastic casings. These are negatively impacting on the environment much more than a sheet of paper and ink does.
Figure 5b- dafont.com
Also, recalling the concept of “treading lightly�, consider, in many years time, when industry cannot make any more servers, and we have to live with a limited internet- constantly uploading work consumes valuable space online that future societies may need. Figure 5 (right)- A sample of online font databases/retailers.
Figure 5c- 1001freefonts.com 15
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LESSEN THE LOAD ON YOUR DESIGNS
When you next produce a piece of work, consider these questions: • Where have your resources been sourced from? Locally? Overseas? • How far have they been transported? • How much material has been used? Are they recyclable or made from recycled material? • How much energy has been used to produce the work? • How will it reach the user/ audience? • How long will it be in use for? • Has it been designed to last? 16
Figure 6- A section of the Sustainability scorecard drawn up by Brian Dougherty and Celery Design Collaborative. (Brian Dougherty, 2008, pg 186)
In his talk Meaningful Stuff, Jonathan Chapman discusses how the weight of the iPhone is the greatest illusion to date. “It doesn’t actually weigh 200 grams, it weighs 500 kilograms.” (Chapman, 2014, 2:30 (time in video)). There are “invisible” factors that are added to the weight throughout the production, in the case of the phone it is mostly carbon dioxide from transport and production, as well as other factors including material extraction and electrical energy. In graphics, this is also an issue.
Figure 6 shows a segment of a sustainability scorecard. It considers the use of graphic resources through three stages- source, energy impacts and destiny- and evaluates several materials based on the invisible factors which influence the design. This illustrates how we- as graphic designers- must be critically reflective not only of the aesthetics of our designs but the physicality of the work, the material impact and how producing our work will affect the planet and eventually alter it. 17
CONCLUSION 18
As design evolves and changes to incorporate new technologies, the designer must remember to integrate them in a way that maintains a dignified process- and not sacrifice much richer design techniques for the sake of convenience. There must also be a shift in the attitudes towards our interactions with other designers, to move away from an seeing design as an isolated profession and learn to develop work through a more participative approach. A more critical assessment of the materials that we use, where we source them from and the “invisible� elements behind the design. A consideration of how graphic design will be tomorrow is critical in shaping graphic design today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY • Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future- full document can be found at http:// www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf (Accessed 17th February 2014). • P.M. Hashin, (2011), The Birth of a Typeface, presentation delivered at typography day 2011- document can be found here- http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&so urce=web&cd=11&ved=0CFIQFjAK&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnid. edu%2Ftypography11%2Fdownload.php%3Ff%3DHashim-P-M_ Birth-of-A-Typeface.pdf&ei=m0kCU7yVNMOqhQfQwoG4AQ& usg=AFQjCNGtb7k7vgCTj7C1G0pD5FPKxZnQ5g&bvm=bv.61 535280,d.d2k (Accessed 17th February 2014). • Eric Gill, (2013), An Essay on Typography, London, Penguin Classics. • Michael Shanks, (1998), The life of an artefact- full document here http://documents.stanford.edu/MichaelShanks/229 (Accessed 18th February 2014). • Richard Sennett, (2008), The Craftsman, London, Penguin Books. • Screen shots of font databases sourced from: • www.dafont.com • www.1001freefonts.com • www.fontshop.com • Meaningful Stuff- inaugural lecture from Professor Jonathan Chapman- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBECx-L55Fg (Viewed 17th February 2014). • Brian Dougherty with Celery Design Collaborative, (2008), Green Graphic Design, New York, Allworth Press.