Sustainability in graphic design

Get creative + print sustainably

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

From one piece of artwork Calverts produced these neat little notebooks.

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An A2 size abstract pattern was printed in three spot colours on sheets of 320gsm Cairn Natural 100% recycled board left over from a previously printed job – no need to purchase and transport paper.

The imposition – method in which individual pages are placed on a larger printed sheet – was such that up to eight unique cover designs could be achieved from a single artwork (minimising waste on the sheet by keeping to a trimmed size of A6, which is appropriate for an A2 untrimmed sheet). *Designers need to know about imposition, because along with a basic understanding of printing press formats, they can use imposition knowhow to cut both the financial and the environmental costs of paper and print.

The inner pages of the notebook were a selection of recycled papers which had been sitting on the shelf. These were left unprinted and  collated randomly throughout the notebook.

The plates used to print the notebook cover were produced on a processless CTP system dispensing with the need for chemical developer and water.

The inks used were vegetable oil based and biodegradable.

The printing process itself was powered by renewable energy, and by using recycled paper (made from post consumer waste which would otherwise have gone to landfill) 137kg of carbon was saved.

Get creative + print sustainably. Contact Calverts on 020 7739 1474
or email: info@calverts.coop


There IS an Alternative

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Coops14Pack.jpgHere’s a sneaky peek at some of the printed elements in the new Co-operatives Fortnight toolkit. Designed and produced by Calverts, the pack is made with Paperback’s exclusive range of recycled papers and boards, and printed using Bio vegetable oil based litho inks. The leaflets and posters are on 150gsm Context FSC 75% post-consumer recycled, a premium shade and grade white uncoated. The pack folder is on 350gsm Multi Grey, an unusual 100% recycled greyboard with white blade coating on the inner side. In addition to leaflets and a set of posters, there are sheets of 37mm stickers and premium quality button badges.

As well as working on logos, key messages and print materials, the Calverts team also designed the front end for the Co-operatives Fortnight Drupal-powered website, where there are downloadable resources and a style guide for partner organisations wanting to co-promote the event.

We’re delighted to be working on the C14 campaign, which will continue to build between now and the Fortnight of June 19th – July 3rd. It’s not always easy to measure the impact of communications design and and print, but we’re confident the pack, resources and website will help win over diverse audiences to the key message of this first Co-operatives Fortnight: ‘There IS an Alternative’.


The Wave

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

We’ve been working with Stop Climate Chaos and Unicef to produce a wealth of placards for The Wave.

On Saturday 5 December 2009, ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will march through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.

Part of a global series of public actions, The Wave will call on world leaders to take urgent action to secure a fair international deal to stop global warming exceeding the danger threshold of 2 degrees C.

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60 tonnes of recycled paper

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

As designers and printers paper plays a big part in our lives. We use a lot of it so it’s essential that it comes from a sustainable source – for us that means recycled, FSC certified or a mix of both.

Since 2004, we have worked with London Remade to measure the environmental impacts of the recycled papers we use and our figures for this year have just been released.

The full report can be downloaded from our website and shows that in 2008/9 we used just over 60 tonnes of recycled paper. Based on the emissions conversion factors provided by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) this translates as environmental savings of 80.05 tonnes of CO2, 1819410 litres of water, 1637.47 kg of air pollutants and 275.4 m3 diverted from landfill.

Hats off to all our clients who specified recycled paper over the past year, and for those who want to know more about how Calverts can help measure and reduce the environmental impacts of  producing brochures, books, stationery, and all your print matter that matters – please get in touch.


Your Personal Carbon Ration Book

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Pics19Oct09 002Artist Clare Patey invites you to have a cup of tea and slice of cake with the Minister for Actually Doing Something About It, at next week’s Festival of Interdependence, hosted by the New Economics Foundation (nef).

‘It’ is climate threat, and the event kicks off at the London’s South Bank next Saturday, 24th October. You will receive your personal book of carbon ration stamps, which will show you how much you can ’spend’ on everything from the food you eat to how you travel – with suggestions for the many things you can do to your heart’s content.

The Ration Book was designed by Thomas Matthews and printed using surplus-to-requirements paper (various shades from the fabulous Colourset 100% post-consumer recycled range) and vegetable oil based litho inks in two pantone colours. Each page of ration coupons is perforated, and we turned round 2,000 copies in five days, including two rounds of inkjet proofing and artwork amendments, complex die making for the coupon perforations, repro, printing and binding. The format of the booklet – 24pp plus 4pp cover, 165mm x 115mm portrait – was specified to minimise paper waste and make optimal use of our B2 printing plates and Heidelberg 74F litho printing press.

Thomas Matthews are getting really good at this – we’ll be blogging soon about how they went about specifying paper and print for their new corporate identity collateral, by turning the usual print design process completely on its head.