Our integrated approach to sustainable communication design

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Close up of lupin leaves Photo: Lisa Hemingway

Values connect people, people activate ideas

We bring our shared values for environmental sustainability to life by aligning our workflow and processes with them. I’ve outlined what we like to call our integrated sustainable design approach below. This is simply how we approach our work, whether people ask us to or not.

  • Prioritize values: Before we start working together, we ensure our values align with yours, and we embark on communication design projects we can all stand behind — no greenwashing.
  • Mission + functionality = beauty: We consider not only your project’s visual needs, but also what your project needs to do. Does it support your goals or mission, or those of your clients? How was the project completed previously and how can we create it more effectively and efficiently?
  • Detail-oriented: We dedicate time to quality assurance and conducting detailed file reviews with clients. Attention to editing (ideally, by two or three people) avoids re-prints and saves you time and money.
  • Inspired by nature: We’re surrounded by many design “solutions” in nature, such as colours and forms. Simply getting a breath of fresh air can inspire us to take our ideas to the next level.
  • Encourage reuse: We consider if your project can have more than one intended use and if it can be repurposed or recycled.
  • Consider life cycles: We select the quality and materials for your projects based on how long it needs to be used for and how its life cycle will end.
  • Greener printing: We work with FSC certified printers and recommend the use of papers with recycled content and/or FSC certification. We ask our printers to help us make a project less wasteful, and they often have great suggestions!
  • Lighten up: We consider the ecological footprint of your project and seek solutions to reduce the impact. We also consider if using digital media — such as e-invitations, websites, e-newsletters, and interactive PDFs — could be just as effective as printed pieces.
  • Shop locally: We choose local vendors that use renewable energy, offer recycling programs, and favour non-toxic materials and environmentally friendly processes. By going local, we save energy and money on transportation, and we support the local economy.
  • Share ideas: We encourage others to design with sustainability in mind, compare notes, educate our colleagues, and seek to find collective solutions.

Curious about how we’ve integrated our values into our workflow? Get in touch. We love talking about this stuff!

Want to stand out from the crowd and connect with values-aligned supporters?

Learn how applying sustainable communication design principles can help with our free Sustainable Branding & Design Toolkit.

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