The Design Management Review‘s current issue features a piece by our sustainability experts Grant Kristofek and Mark Bates. Colorblind, our extensive in-house research project on consumers and their perception and digestion of all things green, is the focus of the piece.
Download it here.
Fellow Design Strategist Sean Brennan and I recently participated in an IDSA event entitled Next Up: Sustainability After the Trend. Hosted by the burgeoning Rhode Island chapter, it was an intimate gathering of the area’s design professionals, educators and students housed in the new atrium of the Peerless Building in Providence.
Sean and I presented Colorblind, Continuum’s consumer-focused project on sustainability. Many in the audience had historically been focused on the latest and greatest in green product innovation. Yet Colorblind placed consumer needs squarely in their sightline. It was a perspective that resonated, reminding us that real change will happen only if sustainable designs are created not with other designers in mind but the average consumer.
We were followed by Emily Pilloton, founder of Project H Design, and Meaghan O’Neil, founding editor of TreeHugger and editor for Planet Green. While Meaghan shared a wide range of green design innovations collected in the TreeHugger archives, Emily’s first slide pictured the gold-painted plastic trinkets that she vowed never to design. With hints of the passion you’ll find in her manifesto, Emily managed to impart the do something imperative that clearly drives Project H to address social issues around the world through design innovation.
Indeed, that was the spirit of the evening. Conversation topics in the forum discussion that followed ranged from the future of green design to the value of professional collaboration. Ecolect’s Materials Petting Zoo topped off the night on the rooftop amid local brews, gourmet pizza, and great conversation. Overlooking the sparkling city with so many engaged designers, it was easy to be optimistic about what’s next. So, let’s do something!
