Sustainable Me Journal

Christian FaulknerSustainable Me Journal

Contents2 - 3 Introduction

4 - 6 Footstool project

7 Introduction to Group project

8 - 10 Brief Research

11 Brief

12 - 19 Research into subject

20 - 21 Presenting the Problem

22 - 23 Idea Generation

24 - 28 Logo Development

29 - 39 Animation and Storyboard development

Introduction To Project

AaBbCc

Week beginning 26th September

We had an introduction to what we were going to be doing for the term. We will be undertaking is entitled ‘Communication Design’ and will be expected to communicate a message using print and screen based media.

As a major part of the project we are expected to understand layouts and the programs used to create them. We were refreshed with some things to remember when designing a layout:Typographic Hierarchy – most important part of the text

Body of text – main bulk of text

x-height – distance between the baseline of the text and tops of main body of lowercase letters

line feed – minimum 1 ½ times the alphabet (39), maximum 2 ½ times the alphabet (65)

sub heading – brief description of heading

typeface – family of fontsfont – particular style of font

running header – a header that runs through every page of a magazine or book

Christ ian Faulkner P.4

AaBbCc

Introduction to Project Tuesday 27th September


Today we have been given the brief for the project we will be completing this term. We have to research into sustainability in design and understand the meaning of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. As part of this project a real client will be briefing and helping us understand how to change a products life span in a sustainable way. I think it will be interesting to work with an actual client as it will show me what a typical client will be wanting us to achieve

and work to.

Programs and applications are important to a designer and being shown how to use them and which ones to go for really helps you to understand how they work. Neil gave us some helpful websites to look at in our own time.

- www.thebookdesigner.com- www.issuu.com- www.lynda.com online tutorials for de-sign programs- tv.adobe.com for all help and tutorials on using adobe programs- muse.adobe.com free web design pro-gram- QuarkXPress for web design

Footstool ProjectRe-designing an object for specified Persona

We have been given the task of collecting any normal

objects and ‘Re-using’ them in a sustainable way for our target

group. Previously to this we were asked to think about and brain storm

any ideas that we could redesign in the graphic design studio. As a group we came up with ideas such as; wires, bottles, tape, pens, pencils, diarys, umbrellas. We have been told to really think about what our target group might

like and what might be handy to them.We understand that our persona is in their 60’s and is retired. We have figured out that they are quite family orientated, organised, and they may have some form of structure to their daily lives. Using this information we came up with a few ideas that may suit our target group such as; lamp shades, light bulbs, slippers, light fittings, coat, jumpers, footstool, cup holder. Our final conclusion for a final idea

was the footstool. We figured out that we could make the whole thing from recyclable materials found in the graphic design studio (cardboard, pencils, paper, glue and fabric). We also came up with the idea of making a website that the target group could easily access for help on how they could make their own footstool, or if not we would make it for them and send it. The next couple of pages documents our findings and how we put the footstool together.

We began by gathering as many pieces of cardboard that we could find around the stu-dio. We needed to cram together as many layers as we could so that the whole stool would be as rigid as possible. As all of the sheets of cardboard were hatched either horizontaly and vertically, we decided to cross these so that the whole structure was sound.

Once we had got all of the cardboard that we needed we had to cut all of them to the exact same size. We did this using a scalpel, scissors and a ruler, taking care not to break the cardboard. After this we marked all of the holes where the pencils were going to go (3cm from each corner).




The pencil arrangement created a really firm base for the stool. While testing the strength of it one of the centre pencils snapped, so we decided we had to come up with a new arrangement for them. We decided to not use an extended centre pencil and have all of them the same height. This meant that we had to make the hole that we put through the cardboard bigger and tight around them so that they hold together firmly.

The pencil arrangement created a really firm base for the stool. While testing the strength of it one of the centre pencils snapped, so we decided we had to come up with a new arrangement for them. We decided to not use an extended centre pencil and have all of them the same height. This meant that we had to make the hole that we put through the cardboard bigger and more tight around them so that they held together firmly.

We found some pencils of all the same length from

around the studio and glued them together in a circular shape. We had

to make sure that the middle pencil was extended further than the rest, as

this was the one that would go through all of the sheets of cardboard to hold it all in place. The pencils seemed to hold in place very well and slotted through all the sheets of cardboard.

We used a glue gun to stick all the cardboard sheets

together. Cardboard is structured in vertical lines so we made sure

that the structures were crossed over eachother so that it would be as

sturdy as possible. We used 8 sheets of cardboard in the final product. Another way we could have stuck all the layers together would be to use double sided sticky tape; more people own tape rather than a glue gun.

We filled a plastic shopping bag with shredded pieces of

newspaper. We had to make sure that we put a lot of paper in so that

when legs were placed ontop of it, it would hold its shape. We then wrapped a

piece of fabric we found in the studioover the top and stapled it to the bottom of the cardboard. After testing the support of it we found that all of the air was pushed out the bag so we decided that a black bin bag would be a better idea as it holds all the air inside.

A glue gun was used to stick all the layers of cardboard

together and also to stick the pencils together. We had to make sure

that we used a fair amount of glue on each layer so that they all stuck together

well. Another way of sticking everything together would be to use double-sided sticky tape. Most people would have tape in the house rather than a glue gun.


Image showing both final products of the foot-stool. The final design for the feet of the stool worked really well, providing enough support neccissary.

Image showing the testing of the footstool. The feet were placed on and a little pressure was applied to test if the stool could hold the right weight. The first design of the feet for the footstool, the extended centre pencil snapped which meant we had to redesign the foot. We came up with a much sturdier design which is displayed in this image.

Group Project


Sus ta inabi l i t y w i t h i n Design

For the main project we will be working in a small group of five. The subject for the brief that we have been given is Sustainability within design. We have been given the challenge of researching the problems of a subject from a list and finding a way of making it more sustainable.

Out of the list we were given we chose the subject of Ink. We all agreed that we did not really know about any problems with ink and sustainability so thought it would be interesting to find out. I think that sustainability with ink is a bit under the radar that nobody really thinks about. Everybody recycles ink cartridge packaging and thinks that they are recycling the card that encases the cartridge but nobody really thinks about the ink. Even though inks take up such a small part of the packaging they have a huge impact.

The Origin of InkWhere does it come from?

Approximately 5000 years ago, an ink for blacking the raised surfaces of pictures and texts carved in stone was developed in China. This early ink was a mixture of soot from pine smoke, lamp oil, and gelatin from animal skins and musk. Other early cultures also developed many colors of ink from available berries, plants and minerals.

About 1,600 years ago, a popular ink recipe was created. The recipe was used for centuries. Iron “salts,” such as ferrous sulfate (made by treating iron with sulfuric acid), was mixed with tannin from gallnuts (they grow on trees) and a thickener. When first put to paper, this ink is bluish-black. Over time it fades to a dull brown.

Scribes in medieval Europe (about AD 800 to 1500) wrote on sheepskin parch-ment. One 12th century ink recipe called for hawthorn branches to be cut in the spring and left to dry. Then the bark was pounded from the branches and soaked in water for eight days. The water was boiled until it thickened and turned black. Wine was added during boiling. The ink was poured into special bags and hung in the sun. Once dried, the mixture was mixed with wine and iron salt over a fire to make the final ink.

In the 15th century, a new type of ink had to be developed in Europe for the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. Two types of ink were prevalent at the time: the Greek and Roman writing ink (soot, glue, and water) and the 12th century variety composed of ferrous sulfate, gall, gum, and water. Neither of these handwriting inks could adhere to printing surfaces without creating blurs. Eventually an oily, varnish-like ink made of soot, turpentine, and walnut oil was created specifically for the printing press.

Scribes in medieval Europe (about AD 800 to 1500) wrote on sheepskin parchment. One 12th century ink recipe called for hawthorn branches to be cut in the

spring and left to dry. Then the bark was pounded from

the branches and soaked in water for eight days. The water was boiled until it thickened and turned black. Wine was added during boiling. The ink was poured into special bags and hung in the sun. Once dried, the mixture was mixed with wine and iron salt over a fire to make the final ink.

In the 15th century, a new type of ink had to be de-veloped in Europe for the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. Two types of ink were prevalent at the time: the Greek and Roman writing ink (soot, glue, and water) and the 12th century variety composed of ferrous sul-fate, gall, gum, and water. Neither of these handwriting

inks could adhere to printing surfaces without creating blurs. Eventually an oily, varnish-

like ink made of soot, turpentine, and walnut oil was created specifically

for the printing press.

Christ ian Faulkner P.1 1

Research for Group ProjectThursday 13th October www.designerscanchange.com


The homepage is left quite simple, with the link bar at the bottom of the page

On the different links they have mini presentations on different topics on sustainability. These slides are really simple and easy to use.

Information on the firm:•Website informing and helping people understand the issues on sustainability and how this is affected by designers.

•It is also an initiative to get graphic designers to use their influence and purchasing power to combat climate change.

•Was started by smashLAB which is a design firm based in Vancouver.

•Their aims are to:- Bring together the design community

to leverage our collective strength- Establish a set of definitive standards that we can all readily implement- Showcase the work of designers committed to the environment - Promote designers and studios who embrace sustainable practices- Raise awareness of the importance of sustainable-thinking

Information from website:•Designers are responsible for a huge amount of paper product waste.

•230 pieces of mail per person

(American) per year.

•Pulp and paper is the third largest industrial polluter to air, water and land in America.

•It is also the third largest user of fossil fuels and the single largest user of water per pound.

•Designers can be careless in what they waste and how/what they design, having a massive impact on the product’s lifecycle.

The BriefThinking about the way you design

Module aims:1. to explore the function and flexibility

of grids and house-style;

2. to consider the strengths and limitationsof static and digital graphic outcomes;

3. to examine the editorialand organisational role

of a graphic communicator;

4. to develop the ability to produce artworkfor print and screen;

5. to introducethe designer–client relationship.

Communication, or information, design covers a huge range of digital, interactive and static graphic forms – for example books, magazines, newspapers, signing-systems, timetables, charts, diagrams, instructional texts, etc – published in print or on screen-based devices.

You have already explored the organisation of information, (relatingto both function and aesthetic) during your first year. For this module you will consider these issues practically, working as groups and as individuals. You will explore the theme of sustainable practices in graphic design, allowing time for your understanding and opinions to be established, as well as encouraging the incorporation of sustainable-practice into your own design working-method.You will begin to consider aspects of professional practice – specifically by working with a client, by taking and developing a brief, by scheduling your time, by collaborating with and working within a team, by applying commercial production techniques and by applying presentation techniques.

Following the first two-weeks of activities, training and research,you will meet your client, and together you will consider the requirements of the brief. On behalf of your client, in creative groups and as inspired individuals, you will be asked to produce design proposals that will raise awareness of the extent of sustainable- practice, or lack of it, throughout the graphic-design community...

Presentations will take place at the end of the period of study.You will be asked to peer-assess the design-proposals in order to develop your ability to critically-analyse the project-engagement and the work-output of your colleagues.

You will be given links to on-line and podcast resources in which it will be essential for you to continually engage, using your own initiative, and from which you will need to gain understanding and application of the software technologies and of sustainable practice for this project.

In addition, we expect you to regularly view contemporary design magazines – Eye, Creative Review etc – and on-line articles in order to become increasingly self-motivated and as well-informed as possible about the requirements of this project. We do not expect you to read all the titles listed below, but do encourage your wider engagement with this subject.


About InkPigmentsA pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb certain wavelengths of light. Materials that humans have chosen and developed

for use as pigments usually have special properties that make them ideal for coloring other

materials. A pigment must have a high tinting strength relative

to the materials it colors. It must be stable in solid form at ambient temperatures.For industrial applications, as well as in the arts, permanence and stability are desirable properties. Pigments that are not permanent are called fugitive. Fugitive pigments fade over time, or with exposure to light, while some eventually blacken.Pigments are used for coloring paint, ink, plastic, fabric, cosmetics, food and other materials. Most pigments used in manufacturing and the visual arts are dry colourants, usually ground into a fine powder. This powder is added to a vehicle (or binder), a relatively neutral or colorless material that suspends the pigment and gives the paint its adhesion.

CMYK A range of colours used to create a whole range

of co

lour a

nd to

ne. G

ood

desig

n is

alw

ays h

elpe

d by

usin

g CM

YK o

r RGB

Ink Split Apart

Cyan is also one of the common inks used in

four-color printing, along with magenta,

yellow, and black; this set of colors is

referred to as CMYK as in spectrum.

While both the additive secondary and the

subtractive primary are called cyan, they

can be substantially different from one

another. Cyan printing ink can be more

saturated or less saturated than the RGB

secondary cyan, depending on what RGB

color space and ink are considered.


Cyan is also one of the common inks used in

four-color printing, along with magenta,

yellow, and black; this set of colors is

referred to as CMYK as in spectrum.

While both the additive secondary and the

subtractive primary are called cyan, they

can be substantially different from one

another. Cyan printing ink can be more

saturated or less saturated than the RGB

secondary cyan, depending on what RGB

color space and ink are considered.

In color printing, the color called process magenta, or

pigment magenta, or printer’s magenta is one of

the three primary pigment colors which, along

with yellow and cyan, constitute the three

subtractive primary colors of pigment

(the secondary colors of pigment are

blue, green, and red). As such, the hue

magenta, is the complement of green:

magenta pigments absorb green light;

thus magenta and green are opposite

colors.

The CMYK printing process

was invented in the 1890s, when

newspapers began to publish color comic

strips.

Process yellow (also known as pigment yellow, printer’s

yellow or canary yellow) is one of the three colors

typically used as subtractive primary colors,

along with magenta and cyan. The CMYK

system for color printing is based on using

four inks, one of which is a yellow color.

This is in itself a standard color, and a fairly

narrow range of yellow inks or pigments are

used. Process yellow is based on a colorant

that reflects the preponderance of red and

green light, and absorbs most blue light, as in

the reflectance spectra shown in the figure on the

lower right.

Ink Varieties

As a graphic designer, it is so important to think about the inks available to use. The different inks out there do not create much of a different effect to each other but the way that they are made and printed affects the environment in a big way. I think that it is so easy to forget about how damaging ink is and how sustainable it is, which I think that nobody realizes. Petroleum based inks entered the printing arena in the early 1960’s. These inks pose a host of hazards to our natural environment. They contain a range of heavy

metals (barium, copper, zinc) that leach into and contaminate the

soil and groundwater. Petroleum-based

inks also emit

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) into the air. VOCs are hazardous irritants to print shop workers and contribute to our world’s smog issues. These volatile compounds are also released into the air in any normal day-to-day office printer and can be as hazardous as inhaling cigarette smoke.Graphic designers should think about a few things before they choose the most sustainable inks for the next job. Sustainable inks should: Reduce emissions (VOCs)

Create less toxic waste

Use Renewable resources

Be readily de-inkable/reusable

Be Biodegradable/Minimized in use

Thinking about Sustainability with Ink Choices

The Problem

The humble office laser printer can damage lungs in much the same way as smoke particles from cigarettes, a team of Australian scientists has found.

“

The humble office laser printer can damage lungs in much the same way as smoke particles from cigarettes, a team of Australian scientists has found.

“It is possibly one of the best options for designers to go for as it contains less VOC’s, and IPA(Isopropyl Alcohol) solvents than petroleum based inks. Depending if you print using alcohol free or waterless methods will lessen the impact on the

environment.

Vegetable based ink

Soy ink is primarily made from soybeans. The ink is a lot more environmentally friendly than any traditional petroleum based ink, which also makes it easier to recycle the paper it’s printed on and provides more accurate colours. The only downside to using a soy-based ink is that the drying time is a lot slower than any other alternative due to it’s little amount of evaporative solvents. A newspaper company in America in the late 70’s was searching for other ways to make ink, instead of using petroleum ink. Petroleum based inks at that time were rising in prices which was the main reason for them wanting the change. They came up with the idea of using soybeans to make the ink by testing out thousands of vegetable based formulas. By 1987 soybeans were tested and introduced into the market. A main disadvantage is that it is not suitable for all situations. It may not be used in ballpoint pens, personal printers or for use on food packaging. There is research being done now into UV reactive ink curing which dries a lot faster, uses a lot less energy, is cheaper and does not emit any VOC’s.

Soy Ink


Toner InkThe problems with using toner

Toner is a powder, which is used in photocopiers and laser printers and is typically used to create printed text and images onto paper. The toner particles are heated and melted by the fuser in a printer, which binds the toner onto the paper. When it first came round, the user had to pour the carbon toner from a bottle into a reservoir in the machine. Modern day printers feed it from a sealed cartridge. According to recent research, some laser printers emit submicrometer particles, which have been associated in other environmental studies with respiratory diseases.

Most manufacturers practice the recycling of pre-consumer waste toner. This toner primarily appears from the cleaning operation of the photo-printing machine. In some of the first printers, as much as 25% of feed toner like this would be put to waste. Most modern day printers have now managed to reduce these levels considerably. Some printers have now designed a function within the printer that reuses the toner that was going to be put to waste by feeding it back into the main toner reservoir.

Most toner use is to print onto pages, most of which will be recycled further down the line. To remove the toner from the recycled paper pulp is not an easy job. When all of this toner and other inks have been collected from the paper pulp, they are as good as useless, with the appearance of thick sludge, which is a low value off product. In the UK, large compatible ink cartridge manufacturers like Jet Tec have implemented toner-recycling programs in order to receive back empty cartridges for refilling of bigger print company names.

Picture showing a toner spillage in an office. It is easy to see how the toner has dropped and spread everywhere due to its light, powdery form. This just shows how it could be enhaled so easily and must cause some damage to the body.

Image showing mass paper recycling. This machine

cleans everything out of the paper pulp, including ink.


Ink CartridgesAnd How to Recycle Them

Every minute of everyday 500

cartridges are thrown away

These cartridges travel from the

trash to your local landfillIf

you took all of the cartridges weights

and added them together, it would

weigh the same as 112,000 VW

Beatles

When your printer runs out of ink, you take out the empty cartridge

and throw it in the recycle bin. You think that you are doing the right thing when

you recycle it but it’s not really as sustainable as you would think. If you think about where

the cartridge goes to, to be recycled you would probably be in a place called Guyu, in China. Guyu is where most of the UK’s electrical waste goes to, on the other side of the world. The transportation of that ink cartridge also leaves a massive footprint on the environment, with all the emissions from the engine of the boat or plane that takes it to its destination. The following are some facts about ink

cartridges and their recycling:- They have a maximum shelf life of 18 months- Each Year millions of them are thrown away- Most cartridges can be recycled up to 6 times- Recycled Cartridges are cheaper than branded ones and produce the same quality as normal cartridges- They are constructed out of plastics and petroleum based products that take up to 1000 years to decompose- 30% of used ink cartridges are sent to be recycled- 70% of them end up in landfills

There is a bunch of helpful websites informing you on how best to recycle your ink cartridge. Some of them will pay you for your empty cartridges as well. What some companies do is refill your empty cartridge for you, which means that it will not be sent to be put into another landfill.


EcofontsHow Good Are They?

Ecofonts have come about to save on the amounts of toner people are using when they print text. It is a downloadable piece of software that changes the filling in a letter so that less toner ink is used. I found some useful information from the website that supplies the software.

Ecofont Software adds a print button to your toolbar. With just one click of the mouse you can save up to 50% toner when printing. Both your wallet and the environment will be grateful to you, since ink and toner are a particularly heavy burden on both.

Advantages:- Save up to 50% on ink and toner costs- No holes on screen, just in your prints- Print without images or in greyscale to your choice - Only print your selection, not entire email conversations (richtext)Works with all printers- Print to .PDF files so your readers will print environmentally friendly too

Why Ecofont saves more ink than Century GothicA study by the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, revealed that Century Gothic saves more ink and toner than Ecofont. For Ecofont Vera Sans (the Ecofont version of Vera Sans) this holds true. The university had unfortunately not realised that the Ecofont software can also print in Ecofont Century Gothic (Ecofont version of Century Gothic). Because of the holes, this version of course saves considerably more ink/toner than the regular Century Gothic.

Century Gothic, really the most economical?When it comes to ink and toner, Century Gothic is justifiably one of the most economical fonts. If we include the amount of paper used however, Century Gothic turns out to be a lot less thrifty. The wide font uses much more paper for the same amount of text than for example Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman.


Presenting the ProblemWhat we are going to do

The idea that we have decided to go along with is to

create an animation informing and educating people on the problems and

solutions to ink. We quite like the idea of having something that is interactive, where

the audience engages with what they are being told. We needed to acknowledge who our target

audience are, to see who exactly we are dealing wih. The following is some information on who and what we are:

1.To whom are we sharing this message, to whom are we speaking?Creative professionals that attend design festivals and want to educate and expand their horizons as well as net working.

2.How will we attract the attention of these people and where will we encounter them?We will attract these people by having a campaign that is engaging, inspiring, relevant and which communicates the problem within the ink industry. We will encounter them both online

and at design festivals. We will spread the word by advertising on various materials that our target group will come across such as packaging, cartridges, etc.

3.what are the sustainable/ cradle-to-cradle and unsustainable/ cradle-to-grave components/ materials of ink?-Emissions-Mining-cartridges-petroleum vs soy+soy ink+ eco font+ recycling cartridges+ DO YOU NEED TO PRINT?

4. How do we demonstrate a relationship between sustainable practices compared to unsustainable?By highlighting the problem and then a possible solution

5. what effect does the extraction/ manufacture/ distribution of materials have on human and

biodiverse lives?Mining has negative effects on the local are in china where the water been polluted which kills crops and wrecks the local community.

6. What will be our story line, our narrative?1. Brand thINK2. placing the brand in real life –packaging, printing, paper etc3. interactive exhibition- people watch an animation and then print their own t-shirt with the logo/designs.

7. How will it engage, enthuse and inform?

The website is going to be the main hub for information. while the logo placement engage the audience and finally will have the animation and t-shirt to enthuse people.

8. How will we tell the story in print and on screen? And how will we link them across the 2 medias?

All aspects of the campaign are to be linked by the logo, we will also have the same house style running through everything.

9. What will our specific media be, in order to communicate most effectively?

Website/screen based media as this is the quickest and most

effective way of informing a large group and will also

reach our target audience well as they are a very computer literate group.

10. How will distribute tasks amongst ourselves?

We are going to work very closely as a team making sure we meet up regularly We will distribute tasks to play to people’s strengths, but certain things particularly the animation are going to need input from everyone as they are large and time consuming tasks.

11. How will we organise our time? Liaise, collect material and engage in the design process?

By having regular meeting we will soon form a basic timescale for the rest of the term. There are no particularly difficult materials that we will need to get our hands on but when we come across things we will discuss who will collect it.


Seeing as we are dealing with graphic designers we need to be thinking about them and what would be appealing to them all the time when we are designing.

Group ideas

ProjectionWe were thinking of having a projection that would be set up above a printer in a graphic design studio that shows the designers how damaging their printing is to the environment.

We were particularly concerned with how much ink affects the environment. We did not know that the ink cartridges are shipped to the other side of the world to be recycled and then sent back to be used again. Our ideas will be backed up and aimed

at these thoughts. I think it will be a strong piece of work if we can link the concerns with design. On this page I will be briefly going over some ideas we came up with.

Print RollsWe had the idea that when a designer orders a print online, the print would get sent in the post in a hard cardboard Print Roll. When the user recieves the print, they are presented a fact or something saying how much ink they have used printed onto the roll.

FingerprintWe really enjoyed the idea of linking the source of where the ink cartridge had gone when recycled. We thought of the idea of using fingerprints to link the persons hands that cleaned the cartridge with the end user. The fingerprint could either be on the cartridge itself, on the packaging, the logo etc. We could also have a poster behind the printer in a graphic design studio or in a design festival where the person stamps their fingerprint on a poster, showing that they acknowledge the the issues involving ink sustainability.

AnimationAnimating is a really good way of giving people information as it informs them in a way that is fun and easy to follow. When you read facts on a piece of paper it is difficult to get enough information in because it is a massive chunk of text. When an animation tells a story, the user becomes attatched by characters and storylines and so the information is given across a lot easier. The animation could just tell the story of the hands that an ink cartridge passes through when it is recycled. The story could be in an emotional way showing a dirty workplace where somebody is cleaning out ink cartridges. It could also give facts on the sustainability of ink and all the issues. Typographic animations can be a really nice way of giving over information in a fun way.


The IdeaWhat we will be undertaking

We were particularly concerned with how much ink affects the environment. We did not know that the ink cartridges are shipped to the other side of the world to be recycled and then sent back to be used again. Our ideas will be backed up and aimed at these thoughts. I think it will be a strong piece of work if we can link the concerns with design.

After a lot of talking and decision-making, we have come to our final conclusion of what we are going to do for the project. We have been meeting up everyday to work out what to do and a lot of Ideas have been discussed. We have found it quite hard to come up with the right idea for what to do because we were not sure how best to tell the story.

The first thing we are going to do is design a logo for our non-profit organization. We need to capture the fingerprint idea and use it within the logo. This will make the audience think about what the thumbprint is there for, and hopefully work out what it is. The word that we have decided to use for the logo is ‘think’. We really enjoyed the simplistic style of the word and the meaning behind it. We were also thinking of using the play on words ‘think ink’ to get people to think about how much ink they are using.

As we are going to be having a stall at a design festival, we needed to try and engage the people who see what we do. We thought of having a massive A1 Acknowledgment board that has the outline of our logo. There would also be an inkpad below the acknowledgment board so that you can stamp your fingerprint inside the logo outline to show that you acknowledge the issues raised.

The animation is the main part of the whole project. This is where all of the information would be passed over in a fun, creative way. I think that having an animation to tell the story of ink is a really creative way of displaying information as it allows you to do anything you want. The storyboards for the animation will also be a main part in showing the story. They need to be precise and need to show exactly what happens in each transition. The animation will start with somebody throwing away an ink cartridge. It will then lead on to tell the story of where the ink goes and what happens along the way. It will also have a narrative over the top of somebody telling the story.


Logo DevelopmentOver the next few pages I will be displaying the development of all the logos that I have done both with my group and myself.

sustainable

These are some logos that I designed before the group project. I thought they tied in well with what we were doing.

thinkthinkChrist ian Faulkner P.26

Logo Development

think

thinkthink

thinkthink

think about i

nk

think ink


Logo Development


Logo Development


think

Final Ideas

For the logo we decided to use a lightweight font, Century Gothic, as it uses a lot less ink. We used the CMYK colours in relation to the print industry.



StoryboardDevelopment to the final storyboard

The following couple of pages shows the first storyboards that we drew up. This animation seemed good untill we found out that we had 6 minutes of narration to animate to. We realised that this would take far too much work for the time limit we had and had to start the storyboards again to make a much shorter animation.

do you want to...

Place you thumb here

animation start page people press the thumb to begin the animation.

Sound- narrators voice- We are going to tell you a story, the story of ink. As designers we come into contact with ink in almost every area of our prac-tice, but do we actually know where it comes from and where it goes after we’ve used it? Our story is about ink and the hands it passes through, including yours. Transistions- Drips fall and land at the bottom filling the screen with black.Duration- 0-18 seconds - frames 0 - 432

CHINA

Sound- narrators voice- Our story begins at the source. Ink is made using pigments, which specifies the colour when printing.Transistions- black fades to white. circles appear and spin in a circle gradually moving closer togetherDuration- 19-24 seconds- frames 433- 553

Transistions- the three cirlcles eventually merge into 1 black cicle. Duration-

Sound- narrators voice- These come from heavy metals, which are mined by the hands of disadvan-taged workers in China’s devastated countryside. Transistions- the black circle then transforms into a cave entrance and a rail rack extends from the black. Before fading out.Duration- 25- 30 seconds - frames- 554- 674

Sound- narrators voice- The untreated waste from these mines causes devastation among the local people and environment.Transistions- As the cave fades out a simple outline of china fades in with major rivers highlighted in blueDuration- 31- 35 seconds- frames- 675 - 771

0 years 500 years 1000 years

Ink cartridges take up to 1000 years to decompose, and every minute of every day 500 of them are thrown away.

These cartridges travel from our rubbish straight to our local landfill;

this leads to the terrifying fact that every year the number of cartridges thrown away weigh the same amount as 112,000 VW Beatles.

When you send your printers and cartridges off to be recycled you assume you’ve done the right thing,

but did you know that almost 80% of recycled electrical waste is exported to Asia and developing countries. One of the major hotspots for this can be found around 500km from the city of Hong Kong.

0 years 500 years 1000 years

Final Storyboards

Start Start

Sound- narrators voice- You would assume the contents of this bin were taken to be used again but our tale carries our cartridge much further than you would think. Transitions- the recyling logo spins round in a circle.

Sound- narrators voice- Almost 80% of recy-cled electrical waste is exported to Asia and developing countries.Transistions-globe spins around.

Sound- narrators voice- In this instance our empty cartridge travels to Guiyu 500km from the city of Hong Kong.Transistions- Gadually zooms into the city of Guiyu

XWarning: Low on Ink

!

Sound- narrators voice- A warning sign ap-pears on your computer, it says “replace ink cartridge”Transitions- warning box zooms up on screen.

Sound- narrators voice-You unwrap another cartridge insert it into your machine and place the old one in a recycling bin.Transistions-the warning box splits in two and transforms into 2 cartridges. the full ink car-tridge then travels up and off the screen while the empty one travels into the recycling bin.

sounds- narrators voice- Guiyu has become a worldwide graveyard for electrical waste,transistions- the shape of a close up of china changes into a rubbish pile of electrical waste.

Sound- narrators voice-these graveyards line the riverbanks in massive piles,Transistions- zooms out showing lots of piles of rubbish.

200 2400

Sound- narrators voice- A child sits by the contaminated river bank,Transistions- Zoom into the 0 and a boy’s silhouette appears at the base.

Sound- narrators voice-Transistions- Screen pans down showing a river at the bottom of the piles.

Sound- narrators voice- poisoning the city’s water supply,Transistions-yellow flows into the water

Sound- narrators voice- it’s been found that there are over 200 times the acceptable levels of acid in the waterTransitions- the number floats up though the water before sinking back down

Sound- narrators voice- and over 2400 times the acceptable levels of lead.Transitions- the number floats up though the water, we then zoom into to the bottom of the second 0.

Sound- narrators voice- His dirty hand reaches for the nearest cartridge and he begins to scavenge with his fingersTransistions- zoom into the black back of the boy and the hand appears and looks as if it is pressing on glass.

Sound- narrators voice-These devastating conditions effect this child’s health signifi-cantly. the residents of Guiyu face the choice of living in dire poverty or earning a measly $1.50 for carrying out various life threatening tasks recycling our waste. Transistions- The scene appears with item sliding in and creating the background the boy looks side to side

Sound- narrators voice- for the one thing that will provide him the money for food and shel-ter that day, Toner. Transistions- the screen zooms onto the tip of the middle finger and the houses features appear.

Sound- narrators voice- Tonertransistions- the smoke from the chimmney fills the screen before starting to disperse.

Sound- narrators voice- The boy places his filthy hand over his mouth and stifles a cough. He is coughing because of the deadly toxins being released from the empty cartridgeTransistions- the smoke clears revealing the boy his eyes blink. particles float around his head.

HealthIncome

Sound- narrators voice- a delivery of car-tridges are unloaded in a pile next to him. Transistions- Pile of cartridge fals in from of screen.

Sound- narrators voice- But you didn’t you want this to happen you really had the best intentions putting that cartridge in that recy-cling bin, you had no idea it would end up as waste by the side of a river.Transistions- screen fades to black meaning that all the audiances attention is on the words.

www.think.org

Sound- narrators voice- Just think.transistions- words fade up


The AnimationThe steps we went through to make it

To make the animation as crisp and perfect as we could we needed to draw all of the objects and shapes to go into it. This meant that we had to plan everything including everything that needed to be drawn. This was quite an enjoyable activity as I really like working with illustrator. I find that the vector pen tool is such a useful tool on the program and there is so much you can do with it. Throughout

the animation there will be a constant house style. We have decided to go with the theme of CMYK to relate it to the printing industry. This means that we will have to only use the colours of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. These colours will create some really visually pleasing shapes and colours. Working on the animation part of the project from our group was Erik, Jen and myself.

Image i drew of a typical ink cartridge. This template will be used at various points throughout the animation.

Illustrations of a desktop computer. This was done to have to go into the animation into the electrical waste graveyard piles. To draw these i grabbed images of the keyboard, mouse, computer and monitor and traced round them using the pen tool. This technique was used for most of the illustrations.

Another illustration to go into the pile of electrical waste. This is an image of a modern day slide-function mobile phone.

Illustration showing a modern day plasma television.

Illustration of a lightbulb, also to go into the electrical waste pile.


The AnimationThe following steps

For this part of the animation I had to create a lot of layers. I had to make a layer for each pile of rubbish which so that i could individually transist each pile in the way i wanted. For scenes like these I would recommend making a layer for each object as this makes them a lot easier to control.

To make things easier and more organised,

we split the animation up into six parts and did two parts each. I was given the parts of the electrical waste and the part of the story

where the boy has to choose a path to follow.

This part of the scene is when the water comes through the piles of electrical waste. The best way to do this was to use scenes. I made a new scene for the water where I looped the waves in the water moving around. When i went back into the original scene I could move and use the water wherever I wanted and it would play everytime i move the playhead.

To make things easier and more organised,

we split the animation up into six parts and did two parts each. I was given the parts of the electrical waste and the part of the story

where the boy has to choose a path to follow.

This was one of the last scenes of the animation where the boy has to choose a path to follow. For this part we really wanted to make everything subtly appear in. We tried some of the effects but we thought that they looked a bit too generic. I then remembered from a flash workshop in first year a method of making text appear to be handwritten on the page. I used the same method to make the boy, the sign post, the hills and the road all come in, in this beautiful, tranquilent way. The way to achieve this effect is to break apart the image completley. You then have to rub away a bit of the end of the object then create a keyframe in the next frame. In the next frame you rub out a little more and then repeat this process for the whole object. You then select all the frames you just made, right click and reverse frames. You then put it in the right place and then it is done!


Alongside to the animation we have a few extra features to get our name out there more. A website is the perfect way to get a companies name out there. Aswel as a website informing people on the situation of ink we have made Twitter and Facebook accounts for people who support our appeal on the sustainability of ink. We have also

printed some t shirts using the method of screen printing which we would wear at the design festival itself and also for people at the festival to screen print themselves using soy based ink. An extra, last minute thing that we decided to do was to make stickers to put onto packaging of printers/ink cartridges and to hand out to people.

Animation ScriptWhat we used to record the Narrative

As designers we come into contact with ink in almost every area of our practice, be that at large scale, as the final print, or simply printing out an email. But how much do we actually know about this material, where does it come from and what impact is it having on the world around us. Ink is created using pigments, which specifies the colour when printing. Pigments come from heavy metals, which are largely imported from rural mines in developing countries such as China. The untreated waste from these mines cause devastation among the local people and environment. Cherished waterways are turned into channels of mud with poisonous chemicals and yellowish foam. These chemicals not only affect aquatic life but also the humans and animals that drink and use these sources for growing crops. Heavy metal mining has corrupted local ecosystems to an extent that areas

of polluted land will take 100 years to recover. 1.167 million tones of arsenic have been discharged into China’s environment since 2008. 12 million tones of grain have been contaminated, which is enough to feed 40 million people That is just the tip of the iceberg when talking about sustainable issues with ink. Production is not the only environmental horror of the ink industry, there is also the problem of what happens when you’ve finished with your cartridge. Ink cartridges take up to 1000 years to decompose and every minute of every day 500 of them are thrown away. These cartridges travel from our rubbish straight to our local landfill. As a terrifying result the number of cartridges thrown away every year weigh the same amount as 112,000 VW Beatles.

Hopefully this is making you think of the alternatives to just throwing away your finished cartridge. The problems don’t end there.

When you send your printers and cartridges off to be recycled you assume you’ve done the right thing, but did you know that almost 80% of recycled electrical waste is exported to Asia and developing countries. One of the major hotspots for this is located 500km from the city of Hong Kong. The city of Guiyu has become a worldwide graveyard for electrical waste, including both printers and cartridges. This waste lines the riverbanks in massive piles, poisoning the city’s water supply, it’s been found that there are over 200 times the acceptable levels of acid in the water and over 2400 times the acceptable levels of lead. Children clean toner out of cartridges in devastating conditions, using just their fingers and with no respiratory protection, causing large numbers of possible health problems. It’s been found that 100 of the 1000 children in the local school have asthma due to the city’s poor quality of air. To make matters worse the residents of Guiyu face the choice of living in dire poverty or earning a measly $1.50 for carrying out various life threatening tasks recycling our waste.

Looking at these problems you may begin to think these issues will never affect you but health problems related

to ink could hit you a lot closer to home than you may realise The most universal method of printing is digitally, which is the cheapest method on an industrial scale, but it’s highly unsustainable. Digital printing uses an ink called toner which presents numerous environmental challenges. These challenges are also found in personal printing, which uses Petroleum based ink. Recent studies show because of these inks, an average office contains five times more dangerous particles per square inch during working hours compared to non-working hours. It has also been found that when printing the printer releases ultra fine particles called VOCs, which stands for Volatile organic compound substances. These VOCs contain parraffins and silicon oils which have been proven to be as hazardous as inhaling cigarette smoke. Furthermore, VOCs have been known to be so harmful that they have been suspected of causing neurological damage & cancer to both humans and animals. To put this within context the printing industry ranks fifth above the automobile industry in the amount of VOCs emitted.

Because of these issues people have looked into alternative types of inks, which have lead to large printing companies using soy ink to do their printing. Soy inks are made from soybeans, pigments, waxes and resins. It is 100% biodegradable; financially friendly, great quality and produces vibrant colour. So as designers when we are printing in large quantities we should try and use Lithoprinting which is a printing method using soy ink which is an environmentally friendly alternative to digital printing which uses toner.The only problem with Soy ink is that it cannot be used in personal printers or ballpoint pens due to its drying time, which can take longer than 24 hours.

So all in all everything is not lost we just need to ‘THINK.’ Do we really need to print as much as we do? As designers no one wants to compromise the aesthetics of their design to save a little bit of ink. But maybe you can make a difference by taking some simple steps, for example using on screen handouts, using the draft setting before printing, reducing your font size and using a lighter font helping you save ink, saving you money and ultimately saving our planet. It is also possible to recycle your cartridges safely. There are plenty of companies within the UK that recycle cartridges in safe and environmentally friendly ways, some will even pay you for your trouble.The reality of the situation is that Ink is a massive sustainable issue in our world. There is no easy solution to these problems but by continuing to reduce the amount of damage we are causing we can look forward to a more sustainable future.


ConclusionI have really enjoyed most

parts of this project. I have particularly enjoyed having a term long preoject because it

gives you the chance to organize your time well and get everything done on time. I have been setting myself deadlines all the way through the project, just so that everything is done to a high standard and so that everything that needs to be done is covered. Again I have enjoyed animating. I did it for the last project last term which I found good fun so I was keen to get stuck in with another animation. There has been a lot of work to get done for this project and I feel that we could not have done it all if we had have been bad at meeting up in our own time and getting the work done. My team and I have worked really well together which has left me feeling positive about working in groups. In all everything has gone very smoothly and I think that we have organized ourselves really well.


Documents

Sustainable Me Journal