A Sustainable Publication

1.Why did you pick this project to improve? I picked this project because I wanted to keep experimenting with an expressive publication in a sustainable way.

2.What were you trying to sustainabilize? I tried to sustainabilize the use of ink.

3.How did you go about analyzing your project for possibilities? The original goal was to use sustainable ink. My first approach was to create a sustainable colored paper that resembles a sticky note. I found online recipes that explain how to get sustainable ink from vegetable and fruit pigments mixed with vinegar and water. I thought about using the potato stamp technique. For the text, I was going to use sustainable ink and the typeface PIN from the Colophon Foundry website. This approach was going to be very exploratory but time-consuming as well. I decided to explore new ways to make this project sustainable without using ink. I used the same typeface-PIN as my inspiration for the typeface created without ink. I hand draw the letters. Then, I hand cut circles around each letter. I put a different colored paper under the paper where I hand cut the circles. The intention was to create a contrast between the second layer of paper and the first layer of paper where I created the text hand cutting circles.

4.What questions did you ask? (what did you keep asking as the project progressed?) How can I do to find a way to make it less time consuming? How to create contrast on the paper so that is legible and readable.

5.Where did you look for answers? https://www.colophon-foundry.org to find a sustainable typeface. I also went to the deck library at MICA and borrowed the book: Eco books: Inventive projects from recycling bin for inspiration on the design of the book cover.

6.What did you learn? I learned a different way to display text without ink. I learned that we can be sustainable designers if we think outside the box.

7.What resources did you find? I found sustainable typeface options. Before taking this class, I did not know about the existence of sustainable typefaces. Also, the deck library at MICA has a tone of books dedicated to sustainable design. (I liked Colophon Foundry for its dotted typefaces).

8.What do you know now that would have made your life easier at the beginning?(or what things that you figured out would be good to have given yourself when you were a first year or sophomore?) I learned that designers do not necessarily have to spend money printing or buying ink to display their work. There are other ways to be creative without hurting the environment, we just have to be creative enough to find a sustainable way to think outside the box.

9.What other projects or examples did you look at for inspiration? After I finished my sustainable project, one of my classmates told me about Annie Howe, a Baltimore based paper cut artist. She is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her paper cuts are used for a variety of projects including illustration, surface design, and three-dimensional work. I was excited to see all her sustainable work at her website anniehowepapercuts.com

10.Any images or in process examples you can provide?