I’m a graphic designer, and I love paper goods. Lately I’ve been trying to combine these two aspects of my life in a more complete way, and this quest has led me to Re-Nourish.com.
Mainly a resource for graphic designers, ReNourish is a site that’s “designed to be a tool, and therefore simple and intuitive”. If you’re curious about why graphic designers should be concerned about sustainability issues in their line of work, the site has an interesting perspective on this, particularly the concept that you should “design for the death of your piece”. It’s not just about using recycled paper and soy inks; as designers, we should be thinking about how the materials we use and recommend will end their journey on the planet. Are our projects headed for landfills? Can any synthetic materials used be recycled, or, even better, reused in some way?
ReNourish also provides resources for its readers, including paper, ink, packaging, and printers they recommend. I’m particularly interested in an article in their living section about Blackle, Google’s energy-saving search engine. Apparently it takes more energy for computer screens to project light colors than dark ones (which I didn’t know), so Google came out with a mostly black version of their search engine. This knowledge about power use in color projection will surely affect the way I design websites in the future.
I think sites like ReNourish are important. Though I don’t believe that any one design resource site will have all of the answers, it’s good to periodically peruse these sites for new ideas. As designers, looking for inspiration is a big part of our lives, so check out ReNourish to see what gems it may have to offer.
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