This document discusses building a sustainability workflow in packaging design. It argues that incorporating sustainability requires changing existing paradigms and ways of thinking. Designers need to understand packaging as part of a larger system and consider sustainability from the beginning of the design process. The document proposes retraining and educating designers on concepts like cradle to cradle to foster a sustainability consciousness in their work.

1. Building a
Sustainability
Workflow By Joseph E. Ruiz, CPP
Most of the discussions that center on sustainability in packaging center around
materials and manufacturing. But there is a very lively discussion taking place at the
design agency level; and that is where a design is given birth.
At the agency level, many of us are still struggling with how and where we might
incorporate sustainability in our workflow. It might seem like a foregone conclusion, but
the fact is that change has truly yet to come. Unless clients are specifically requesting
this, and in many cases as part of the overall marketing of the product, there is not
tremendous incentive to design for sustainability in light of tight deadlines and very
conservative budgets.
I sincerely believe that designers want to design a complete package. Every
creative person worth his or her salt wants to see their concept fully realized. However,
designing for sustainability is a lot more than just reducing the amount of ink coverage or
selecting a recycled or wind-powered substrate. It requires an understanding of what in
fact happens to a package once it is produced as a physical object. “Packaging is an
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2. extraordinarily complex endeavor that must be viewed as a part of a larger system, within
which every activity has some impact or demand on that package”.1
It’s obvious that it is time for the existing paradigm to change. I would not be the
first one to say that, but I do feel that we are sometimes preaching to the choir, and that a
true outreach to the design community still remains to be seen. It should be an outreach
that not only focuses on the technical aspects of sustainability, but also encourages a new
way of thinking about design.
As Albert Einstein has been quoted so frequently, “we cannot solve our problems
with the same thinking we used when we created them.” The simplicity of this statement
belies the complexity of making such a change. It is time to think of new workflow
alternatives that incorporate sustainability as a philosophy in the workflow so it becomes
as natural to the creative esthetic as the esthetic itself.
“Yet as industrialists, engineers, designers and developers of the past did not
intend to bring about such devastating effects, those who perpetuate these paradigms
today surely do not intend to damage the world. The waste, pollution, crude products,
and other negative effects that we have described are not the result of corporations doing
something morally wrong. They are the result of outdated and unintelligent design.”2
Sustainability means many things to many people, but to the designer in the
agency, the intent should be clear. Creating a sustainable package from design inception
requires that a sustainability consciousness be present, not just a note on a brief to
consider using sustainable material.
A sustainability education has to start at the school level first for the packaging
designer. It should be an education that encompasses all the various disciplines including
an understanding of the packaging supply chain.
Even the most basic course based on the concept of Cradle to Cradle and or the
text Fundamentals of Packaging Technology, would increase the knowledge of the
average designer exponentially. Much in the same way that courses in Typography were
1 Soroka, Walter “Fundamentals of Packaging Technology” Naperville, Ill: IOPP, 2002,
p. 530
2 McDonough, William Bruangart, Micheal “Cradle to Cradle” New York, NY: North Point
Press, 2002, p. 43
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3. an absolute requirement at one time, this knowledge base could create the foundation for
this sustainability consciousness.
I am not proposing that all designers and creatives suddenly become packaging
engineers. What I am proposing is that we, as designers and creatives, develop an
awareness of a much larger process than just an esthetic one. This is a process that looks
to the whole, not the individual bits and pieces., and we could then say that this is truly a
holistic process, encompassing an awareness of all the parts. Understanding that the
same product could be just as easily and more sustainably be packed in a recyclable
carton than a metallized poly bag is a significant piece of knowledge, but not enough.
“We must tap into the same expertise and intelligence that created our current
systems and refocus on designing truly sustainable solutions.” 3
Creativity is dynamic, it responds to the stimulus around it. Designers spend
hours, sometimes days in ideation sessions trying to spark the engine that will drive a
great idea. I have no doubt that if designers were given the full breadth of this concept,
that it would change the esthetic of packaging at the very root level itself, much like some
of the incredible sustainable architecture that is being created.
The Architecture for Humanity project happened as a response to Cameron
Sinclair’s decision to take his design in directions that would benefit the very same
countries that had given him such excellent opportunities. These countries were in dire
need of designs that addressed the issue of housing in ways that not only provided clean
affordable shelter, but could also improve quality of life through socially conscious
design. “This experience highlighted the ways in which globalization benefited our
profession, enabling designers to work almost anywhere in the world. The real question
was whether we now also had an obligation to respond to some of the social concerns in
the areas where we worked.” 4
3 Sustainable Packaging Coalition and Green Blue “Design Guidelines for Sustainable
Packaging” Version 1.0- December 2006 Charlottesville, VA, 2006, p. 3
4 Architecture for Humanity “Design Like You Give a Damn” New York NY: D.A.P &
Metropolis Books 2006, p.11
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4. The issue here is not whether we will save the world through a better package.
The issue here is that the packaging professional and the packaging designer in this case,
has incredible power to effect change, but first the designer has to ask the right questions.
In order to ask the right questions, he or she must understand what the questions mean.
At the agency level, taking a proactive part in driving this process is critical.
When computers first began to change the design workflow, it took quite some time
before the curricula changed to reflect this, even though the writing was truly on the wall.
Instead, the first video based graphic systems became glorified presentation tools while
the rest us tried to figure exactly what to do with these systems. Maybe it is time for us
to stop picking a la carte and instead tell our recruiters and our schools what we need and
expect.
As companies are forced to cut back budgets and keep staff to a minimum, now is
the time to begin to retrain. The costs of retraining or educating employees in the long
run, is far cheaper and more effective than hiring new employees to fill these roles; and it
will also revitalize the employee base presenting new opportunities previously thought
unavailable. There is an old adage that says, “If you want to learn, teach”, and this is
certainly true. The fastest way to get on board with sustainability is to do it. Start the
education process and it will drive itself.
My own experience with this will bear this out. A conversation among a small
group of us on how to create a more sustainable work environment gradually became an
initiative to not only make serious changes in how we managed our office, but also to
create an outreach to help our clients understand the impacts of sustainability on the
market place.
Understanding the implications of any decision made at the beginning of a project
will set the tone for whatever is to follow; from the choice of material, print process, even
the amount of graphic coverage on a package. Can we do a better design with less
packaging? Is it time to redefine what a package is? What we consider to be packaging
is defined many different ways depending on what country you are in.
Edward Deming, the man who literally changed the way the entire culture thought
about work, was quite clear about this in his approach to transformation. “A company or
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5. organization that wants to transform has to change completely, including fundamental
beliefs and practices.”5
This may involve changing the workflow permanently. No more contained cells
of activity independent of each other. By necessity, we must now work as a team with a
goal that is much larger than a pretty container. While much lip service is given to
working in teams, teams are notoriously difficult to create and maintain, especially when
there are divergent interests on the part of each player. Designers want to design;
printers want to print; packers want to pack and the marketer expects an optimum
package put on the shelf quickly, inexpensively, and successfully. While these goals are
not necessarily divergent, they all serve different masters at different times, each
happening in it’s own space, independent of each other.
It may well be that we have to change the way we think about the work. In much
the same way that Dr. Edward Deming took on the role of changing the Japanese
workforce to a completely different model, to emphasize quality over quantity and think
about the way they worked in an entirely new way.
Change does not come easy. Nine years ago, as we entered the millennium,
sustainability still seemed a buzzword, understood by a few and mostly considered tree-
hugger terminology (my apologies to the tree-huggers) to many in the business world.
“Sustainable business practices are becoming recognized as essential not only for
corporate survival but also for the long term health of the planet.” 6
And of course, the big picture is about the survival of our planet, but we don’t
have to reach out so far. At ground level, right here where we are standing, it is about
improving the quality of life in a way that is not only sustainable for future generations
but for ourselves here and now.
Knowledge and awareness of the production process allows designers to truly
conceptualize a complete package on the shelf. The materials now become part of the
5 Architecture for Humanity “Design Like You Give a Damn” New York NY: D.A.P &
Metropolis Books 2006, p.121
6 Edwards, Andres R. “The Sustainability Revolution.” BC, Canada: New Society Press, 2007,
p.49
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6. design itself. Aveda is an excellent example of this. Their ability to design beautiful
compelling packaging with sustainable materials and incorporate that philosophy into
extremely successful marketing should tell anyone that this is not an impossible task.
Designers that have come into the fold prepared will find this to be a full
experience. More than just a design, they will find that they are creating a full package-
fully realized in three dimensions. Rather than a design process that ends at the inception
of printing, leaving the designer to reconnect with his/her work at the shelf, this would
truly be “concept to printed piece” and best of all a “cradle-to-cradle” concept. This may
truly redefine the experience of design much like the architect who sees his creation
through right to construction.
Many designers are woefully ignorant of the production process. In reality, in
many cases they are kept at a distance from this part of the process and not always by
choice. The prevailing wisdom has been that production details hamper and stall
creativity, but young designers today are fueled by curiosity, social consciousness and a
desire to own their work fully. Allowing them full team participation in the process can
open the doors to levels of creativity that we have not yet seen. This would be a true
holistic design, incorporating the esthetic with the technical and a closed loop, nothing
wasted, to create a product that not only meets the needs of the marketplace, but also the
needs of the environment and humanity at large.
“We can accomplish great and profitable things within a new conceptual framework- one
that values our legacy, honors diversity, and feeds ecosystems and societies… it is time for
designs that are creative, abundant, prosperous, and intelligent from the start..”
William McDonough and Michael Braungart.
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
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7. Suggested Reading:
Edwards, Andres R. “The Sustainability Revolution.” Canada: New Society Press, 2007
Soroka, Walter “Fundamentals of Packaging Technology” Naperville, Ill: IOPP, 2002
Architecture for Humanity “Design Like You Give a Damn” New York NY: D.A.P & Metropolis Books
2006
Sustainable Packaging Coalition and Green Blue “Design Guidelines for Sustainable Packaging”
Version 1.0- December 2006 Charlottesville, VA, 2006
McDonough, William Bruangart, Micheal “Cradle to Cradle” New York, NY: North Point Press, 2002
Aguayo, Edwards W. “Dr. Deming” New York: Fireside Books, 1990
Copyright © 2011 by Joseph Ruiz
For more information please contact:
Joseph E. Ruiz, CPP
jruiz5@mac.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/josephruizcpp
Tel- 347-524-9218
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