A brighter future blah, blah, blah…

04.11.2021

We turned 25 this year, but instead of reflecting on the past we decided to look forward to the next phase of our journey. We want to do something meaningful and help contribute to a brighter future. Mid-life crisis? No, more environmental crisis!

So what can we do to make a difference? We believe we’ll have the most impact by using our skills and experience as designers and communicators to spread the word of causes we believe in. A good idea, but where to start? As climate change and plastic pollution are increasingly taken more seriously, everyone is suddenly very keen to communicate their eco-credentials. With COP26 arriving things are now reaching fever pitch. Watching TV recently we noticed that most of the commercials were made up of large corporate’s sustainability propaganda. Supermarkets, Swedish flatpack furniture giants and – hardest to swallow – oil companies! There is an ever increasing amount of green noise and waffle out there. As Greta Thunberg put it so brilliantly recently “blah, blah, blah”. So how do you say something meaningful on the subject, how do you know who to listen to, and who is telling the truth?

Over the last two years we have been lucky enough to work with Eco-Age, collaborating on sustainability campaigns for various global brands. Eco-Age deal with these dilemmas well because they work with the brands from the ground up, providing technical consultancy to build sustainable practices – creating transformative change – before helping them communicate them to the outside world.

As designers we’re not always on-board at this early stage, so we need to be discerning about what we feel is authentic and truly sustainable and what is greenwashing. Increasingly we are being asked to create sustainable brands and net zero campaigns for new and existing clients. We are learning as we go along – hoping that we make the right choices – and our creativity is being used for genuine causes. It’s a big challenge for everyone, but we believe it’s better we all start doing something now, even if we’re unsure – as the one thing we are certain of is that the time for deliberation is over.

Blah, blah, blah.