Re: sustainable swag

Hi, Rob --

> On the other hand, the market
> is very small, and the costs
> high...

And yet it needn't be that way.

This is an old, out-dated business model, I think.

It probably still works fine for military procurement, where no one is 
expecting widespread adoption of military specifications. (When I last 
worked with mil-stds these were unbelievably expensive, for which you 
received incomprehensible instructions which sometimes looked like 
xeroxes of bad xeroxes, some even with crooked text blocks on the 
page, rather than fresh U.S. Government Printing Office pubs, which 
were never of the greatest print quality themselves.)

But for subjects such as improved website accessibility or "greening" 
our offices and industrial processes, where the end goal is -- or, at 
least at some point, was -- to have as many of us voluntarily adopt 
the standard as possible, this approach is counter-productive.

Not just those who are ornery like me will be driven off.

Most of us, I expect, will go our own way ... and maybe that's not 
such a bad thing after all. Sometimes, having to reinvent the wheel 
yourself can spur real, lasting interest, commitment & creativity.

As far as the graphic design and print trades are concerned, I think 
we should bring back the colophon, and forget about the "standard".

Here's how Annie Leonard updated the colophon for her book, _The Story 
of Stuff_ (2010):

	"How We Made This Book
	
	"Our intent in creating this book was to use as few toxic
	materials as possible, to minimize the carbon footprint, and
	to avoid waste. To that end the manuscript was almost
	entirely designed and edited electronically. Review copies
	were offered to readers as downloadable e-galleys, and a very
	limited number of publicity copies were printed on 100
	percent post-consumer waste recycled fiber.

	"The book was printed on Rolland Enviro100 Print, a 100
	percent post-consumer fiber paper that is processed
	chlorine-free. The text plates were recycled after use and
	the ink used in this book contains more than 20 percent
	renewable resources, including soy and other vegetable-based
	oils. All of our adhesives for the case glues are solvent
	free. The case boards were created with 100 percent recycled
	fiber. The jacket was printed with vegetable-based inks and
	was printed on 100 percent post-consumer waste stock. Of the
	materials used in the creation of this book, including the
	printing plates and paper waste, 90 percent were recycled.

	"Any unused inventory or returned books will be recycled."

Personally, I find her short description-narration a whole lot more 
inspiring -- prompting me to mindful action of my own -- than some 
generic notice of conformance with "environmental accreditation ISO 
14001," a government standard to which I have no access, and probably 
wouldn't be similarly motivated by if I did.

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
[email protected]



___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 [email protected]

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 [email protected]
___________________________________________________________________