Mass Consumerism with ethical design

In the design world today, with designers having more of a say on how products are not only branded but on how they are produced from the where the materials are sourced to the company that will create the final product. This has had a great impact on the ethics of the design industry today.

Designers were generally seen as tools of capitalism. Creating brands, packaging, and marketing for consumer goods, graphic designers became an integral part of the free market system by contributing to the creation of wealth in society. Free market supporters believe that this creates peaceful relations and moral behavior. Opponents feel that our unbridled spending and greedy consumerism has led society to the state of recession where we find ourselves today. The free market system is seen to be contradictory to issues of sustainability and encouraging social and community awareness. All over the world consumption rates are soaring. At the same time millions of people consume barely enough to survive. Poverty is often blamed for environmental degradation. Poverty does tend to affect local environments; however, overconsumption is threatening the entire planet. Watch the Story of Stuff for an illustrated presentation about mass consumerism. Sources: http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/publications/news/ebulletin/ebvsepmm.htm http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/themes/greenspan.html - See more at: http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/integrity/mass-consumerism/#sthash.sCruT4Qu.dpuf

Burger and French Fries DIY Packet

A video showing how to make fast food from powder. The packaging is used during the process of creating the food and a part of the overall finished product, making it useful and not wasted. 

The two links slow state different lists of eco friendly companies and how they are sustainable and are 'going green' some of the companies on the list are hardly surprising such as IKEA, however NIKE are also on the list too. The site lists the ways the companies are eco friendly, by using sustainable resources and even what products they make that are god to the environment and also add something back into the community and give back.


http://planetsave.com/2013/06/21/10-companies-with-eco-conscious-production-processes/ http://www.mnn.com/money/green-workplace/stories/10-eco-friendly-retailers

Keep upto date

A section in 'Why Shrink a Cucumber: The complete guide to environmental packaging' showing the change of design within packaging and how it keeps upto date with modern packaging design. Varying from Coca-Cola lightweight glass bottles, Nobottle, help remedies, Ecoclean, headphones and Boots reading glasses.

Ethical Responsibility

Working together with clients can be tough getting your ideas across and to keep them ethically responsible for all parties involved. As a designer myself ethical pieces of work are always a priority especially pieces of work such as posters and flyers that are going to be produced by the thousands.

Graphic design is built upon relationships—relationships between the designer and the client as well as the designer and other members of the design team. Creative directors, illustrators, photographers, art directors, videographers, programmers, developers, copywriters, copy editors, project managers, and graphic designers are all collaborators in determining the success of a project. Not all projects require all roles and these roles often overlap or are filled by the same person, the designer. The most successful projects happen when there is a bond of trust between the client and the designer. The most effective way to assure that the expectations of all the parties is met is to validate the relationship with a written agreement.

Green Washing

GREENWASHING - One of the biggest challenges that graphic designers face is educating their clients about sustainable practices. When companies claim to be ecofriendly based on a myopic view of sustainability and without looking at all the implications of their actions, they may end up being guilty of greenwashing—the practice of “spinning” their products and policies as environmentally friendly, such as by presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources. Sustainable practices need to be authentic. If they are not, they lose all credibility. Green washing happens more than a lot of the large companies would like to admit, although some may be true there are different areas of which they are not so 'ecofriendly'. By spinning the companies final image the are seriously at risk to false advertisement claims and losing a customer base.

Eco Friendly Packaging

http://products.londonbiopackaging.com/en-us/contentlanding/category+list+landing/compostable-and-recycled-packaging.aspx?gclid=CNb91qPWir4CFSf4wgodal8AGg The link above shows a company that focus entirely on making eco friendly packaging for all sorts of things so that companies can buy them to package their goods in. I think this website is a great idea, and the website is easy to use too. All about sustainability and recycling whilst still making quality products.