Janine James, Founder / Creative DirectorOctober 2003

T H E M O D E R N S

THE POWER OF DESIGNAIGA National Design ConferenceVancouver, British ColumbiaOctober 23 - 26, 2003

The Power of Design: culture, economy, environment

Designers are incredibly powerful. We have a hand in creating the communications, experiences and artifacts that shape our world, and we have growing influence on decisions that affect the quality of life for millions of people. We make the mundane easier; we delight the spirit; we make things function better; we can help others understand the implications of choice by the way we see problems; and we can help all people communicate among themselves better. These contributions will always be important; today, in a world struggling against itself and its environment, they are absolutely critical.

This year’s national design conference will focus on the role of designing and designers in the 21st century. Speakers will discuss designing for our culture, economy and environment in the beautiful city of Vancouver.

AIGA CONFERENCE BAG

Original design

Pop culture icons

AIGA used the styro-foam cup as a symbol of the kinds of problems of sustainability that we face on a daily basis.

The Moderns concept was to build on this iconography for the event and “upcycle” an icon from our everyday consumer lives, the nutrition label, asking everyone as we do check the ingredients before specifying.

Final design

CONFERENCE BAG BOOKLET

Booklet: cover

Booklet

Booklet

Booklet

Booklet: label sheets

Booklet: label sheet and text

Booklet: the end

ENVIROMENTALSUMMARY RESEARCH AND REPORT

Ingeo™ fiber from Cargill Dow, a polylactic acid or polyester derived from cornstarch.

Ingeo is made from the same polymer as PLA, however, it differs in that it is a yarn that can be made into a fabric. Ingeo was a desirable and interesting material because it is made from a renewable resource and could either be biodegraded or truly recycled (i.e. because Ingeo is a polyester, it can be chemically recycled or depolymerized, unlike most other plastics, which can only be physically recycled, and therefore downcycled instead of upcycled).

HandlesThe bag has what the industry refers to as self handles, which means they are also made from the Ingeo fiber.

StitchingThe bags were sewn with a cotton, polyester blended thread.

TEXTILE

Nazdar, 9600 series

The most prevalent screen printing ink used by the industry is Plastisol and uses a PVC-resin system. Not environmentally desirable, because it contains a carcinogen (residual polyvinyl chloride monomer). Also studies have shown that a flexible PVC contains a plasticiser which has been criticized for the premiture development of secondary sexual characteristics in young girls (pre-pubesent).

The Moderns contacted the thirteen largest US silkscreen ink manufacturers, found at www.screenprinters.net, to see if any made a PVC free, screen printing ink. Most companies contacted said they were either still in development or about to launch a PVC-free ink. Nazdar (9600 Series Polyester Screen Ink) and Sericol (Textcharge TC) were the only two companies who made PVC-free inks.

In the end the choice was to use Nazdar’s 9600 ink. Although it did have acute and chronic toxicity issues associated with its use, we felt it a better (not optimum) solution than the PVC, which itself contains a carcinogen (residual polyvinyl chloride monomer).

SCREEN PRINTING INKS

PrinterMetropolitan Fine Printers in Vancouver donated a lot of the cost to print and produce the booklet. Their environmental practices are currently being audited more thoroughly, but represent themselves as having some leading environmental protocols in place.

Booklet PaperThe booklet is printed on Save-A-Tree, super smooth, 96# cover, provided by Unisource, BC of Canada at no cost. Save-A-Tree was chosen because it is made from 100% post-consumer recycled content and was processed without the use of chlorine (PCF).

Booklet Cover SheetThe booklet cover sheet is a polypropylene sheet, which can be recycled and is one of the most environmentally benign types of plastics.

Offset InksThe inks specified were soy-based.

ChainAn aluminum chain was chosen for this application primarily because it can be recycled into a new product at the end of its useful life.

BOOKLET

SCHEDULE AND BUDGET

Oct 1st: Wednesday: 1500 linear yards of material processed in 3 days

Oct 3rd: Friday: 3:00pm: Truck shipped 7 - 62” wide bolts, each weighing 150lbs (1,050lbs of textile) from Burlington, North Carolina to Bedford, New Hampshire in 2 days with a guaranteed delivery by noon.

Oct 6th: Monday: 12:00pm: 1500 linear yards arrived at bag manufacturer

by noon.

Oct 7th: Tuesday: 1500 linear yards were cut, screen printed and sewn into 3,000 bags

Oct 13: Monday: bags were truck shipped to Canada (25 boxes, 1 pallet, 652lbs)

Oct 17: Friday: bags are expected to arrive in Canada

Standard lead times 4 weeks for printed bags

TM lead times: 9 days for bags, 4.5 days to ship to Canada

SCHEDULE

Ingeo fiber57" w x 900 yards of Ingeo $3,150.0057" w x 603 yards of Ingeo $2,110.50

Shipping between Copland and Enviro-Tote $932.75

Conference bagProduced and printed $6,000.00Delivery to Canada $1,495.00

BookletPaper donated, no chargePrinting $4,740.00

Chain $250.10

Design stipend for TM $250.00

AIGA budget $20,000.00

Actual budget used $18,928.35

BUDGET

T H A N K Y O U

For more information visit The Moderns at themoderns.com or contact us at 212 387 8852.