You’ve probably read about Nest by now, but if you haven’t, check them out. It’s not everyday something so ordinary and taken for granted gets an intuitive, well-designed and urgently needed overhaul (even though nobody really realized the need for it). Nest tells us that our thermostats control up to 50% of our energy bill, so why have we waited so long? Check out more about why they made it.

The Nest is a “learning thermostat,” designed to be easy to use and save money by programming itself, letting you manage it from the cloud,  and giving you tons of info and feedback to help you learn how to save even more. It’s good for the planet, and it’s good for your wallet. And it’s great design. Win-win-win.

We bought one for the office, and are excited to see how/if it transforms our energy usage. Watch for updates!

What’s an everyday product you think is in dire need of a redesign? Let us know in the comments.

It’s hard to believe it’s been over four years since our very first Green 2.9 post. Since then, we’ve implemented various (successful and not-so-successful at times) strategies in our effort to be as responsible as we know how when it comes to environment, social, and financial sustainability. We believe that these three arenas work together to form a complete view of what it means to be a sustainable company that contributes to the continued good of our world – both now and in the future. And we know that we’ve just begun to scratch the surface.

A small forest, a few swimming pools, and energy to spare…

2011 was a good green year for us. As you can see in the graph above, we met or exceeded nearly all the goals we set (with the exception of  aluminum cans recycled, but that’s because we drank even less soda this year, so we’ll toast to good health on that failed goal). We recycled more than we ever have this year. Our paper usage for printed projects was way up due to some large projects at the end of the year that used 100% post consumer recycled content paper. We made a few calculations based on the savings from those projects. When compared to using 100% virgin fiber paper, we saved …

405 trees provide enough oxygen for over 200 people to breathe for a whole year. It feels good to know a small forest is still alive because of a simple choice in paper!

That’s nearly 200,000 gallons of water! It’s hard to believe how much water goes into making paper. Now, if only we could get our own swimming pool in the R29 back yard…

Recycling paper uses much less energy than creating new paper. And, if your paper mill utilizes green power, that’s even more of a bonus. We calculated the paper we chose this year saved 125 million BTUs, which according to data is enough energy to power the average American household for 510 days. How would you like free electricity for over a year?

It’s Electric…

Speaking of electricity, we installed a new system in late June to help us get real-time feedback on our electricity usage. The Current Cost system is working well. It helped us find that our programmable thermostat is working (we weren’t sure at first) and also how our electricity ebbs and flows with our habits. We continue to monitor it and adjust our usage accordingly for maximum savings.

Our Footprint’s Getting Smaller…

We also met our carbon footprint goal this year with a footprint of 393.4 acres. That’s down from 510 last year, and we hope to get it down to 380 next year. We realized that transportation plays a large role in an office’s carbon footprint. So we give a shout out to all the bikers and train-takers out there!

Well, that’s one long post. Any green questions or suggestions out there? We still have a lot to learn.

Remember that you can always download our green designer checklist and green print form any time.

What is it about graphic design that moves us and drives us?  The image above says it all: design ignites change.

But how has design itself changed over the past decade? “Graphic design has broadened its reach dramatically over the past decade,” which has become the basis of an international exhibition on display at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN until January 2012: Graphic Design: Now In Production.

The exhibit examined the growing cultural role in mainstream design and the designer’s expanding role in content creation as well as in bridging the gap across once exclusive fields and roles, such as typeface design, product design, animation, and more.

Brand New contributed a before and after logo wall with a simple yet effective voting system in which many participated. This connected viewers with the exhibit and helped solidify the concept of the new cultural role consumers play in design.

Many posters were on display, which marked the growing role of design in cultural movements. Below is a shot of just some of the posters created by the masses for the growing “green” movement of the last decade.

And, a design exhibition isn’t complete without some beautiful Swiss-style poster love. Check out the posters below that portray popular TV shows in minimalistic style.

The exhibit included many, many more tidbits and treasures, but we’ll let you go and check it out for yourself.

What ways do you think design has changed the most since 2001?

We all have times in our careers when we are driven by excitement and passion, and we all have times when work becomes a little more mundane. What is it that makes the difference?

All of us can admit to feeling the ebb and flow of this spectrum. When we took our first steps out of college campuses and into our first gigs, our new careers were (somewhat frightening) combinations of lack of experience and fearless desire to change the world. A few years into it though, and maybe the world isn’t much better yet for all the experience we’ve put in. Or maybe the day-in and day-out is getting under our skin a bit. Certain projects bring back the twinge of excitement we felt at first. Others may not. This is fine so long as they balance each other out.

However, if the “other” types of projects are winning the battle and leaving you feeling a little burnt out, I have a question for you. This question has helped me during these times.

Do you believe in what you do?

This isn’t the type of question you ask yourself when you have 30 seconds or so to think about it. It’s a gloves-off type of question between you and your heart. Between you and your college self who dreamed the dreams that resulted in where you are today.

If you answered yes, take the time to list the reasons why. There’s something about recalling the positive things that can multiply the goodness. Write them down somewhere, or better yet, put it on a post it note by your desk to remind you the next time a project comes along that might leave you otherwise wondering. Don’t you feel refreshed?

If you answered no, list the reasons why not. What has happened since you first dreamed about this career that has derailed your trajectory a bit? Do they involve your current responsibilities? Your hours? Or is it your attitude? Are there ways to change these specific things? Consider why you went into this field in the first place. How can you make those dreams become a reality in your current job? Most of the time, it’s possible to work with your employees or employer to tweak your situation enough to make the difference.

But there’s one more thing. It’s that word believe. When a person truly believes in something, he or she is so convinced of its truth or worth that it changes how he or she lives. Believing drives a person to bigger and better things. Believing is also a choice. Just because something is true doesn’t force a person to believe in it. Your work could be making a difference, or have the capability to, but if you don’t believe that, it will suck the excitement out of your day and the joy out of your work.

Now, granted, not every job is going to give you the ability to change the world. Actually, not many jobs do. However, your work does give you the opportunity to made a difference in your own world, and in the lives of those in your community. Believing in what you do is your choice, and it starts with your perspective. It starts from the inside, remembering that you’re doing what you’re made to do. It isn’t measured by your output, but by the amount of heart you put into what you produce. So no matter if you work in-house, out of your own house, or at huge firm – your opportunity is the same. And it starts with believing.

So, do you believe in what you do?

It’s no secret that we designers (and other people with desk jobs) sit a lot. Upwards of 10 hours a day for most people if you count commute and maybe a little TV or additional computer time. And the fact is that, as our secret hunches tell us, sitting isn’t so good for us. A large-scale study by the American Cancer Society and a compilation of other research by MedicalBillingAndCoding.org show some pretty sobering statistics about the long-term toll sitting takes on human bodies. And both of these studies show that exercise doesn’t necessarily offset the risks of long periods of sitting (another excuse to skip the gym in the morning?).

But let’s not be a Debbie Downer…let’s talk about what we can do about it! After reading the studies above as well as receiving a few kind suggestions from my doctor, I started researching some lifestyle changes that would help. I stumbled on the GeekDesk – a motorized adjustable desk that goes from sitting to standing height at the push of a button. The adjustable height feature is important because standing for 10 hours isn’t exactly easy, so a strictly standing desk wouldn’t work (at least for me). I just received the desk a week ago and have been loving it so far. Assembly was easy and I was up and running in no time.

Desk at sitting height:

Desk at standing height:

If you decide to try an adjustable desk, there are a few fun tools to help you track your standing stamina. Standing Clock is a Google-based interface that lets you track your time spent standing. So far I’ve been standing between 3-5 hours a day, and plan to increase that time to 6 or 7 hours within a month. The only big change I’ve made to use this desk is slipping on a pair of comfy shoes for the standing portions of the day. Overall I am loving the experience and will report back in a month to let you all know how it goes.

What do you think? Would you like the option to stand for part of your workday? Any other suggestions for developing a healthy workspace? We’d love to hear your ideas.

You already know this, but it’s worth taking a step back and mentioning again. When it comes down to it, your business is based on one very important thing: relationship. The relationships that you maintain both between your employees (or coworkers) and your clients are crucial to the success of your company. Without one or the other, your business would crumble.

One thing that’s essential to maintaining those relationships is taking time away from work to kick back and just get to know one another better. Time spent intentionally developing that relationship will create rapport on a personal level that will multiply productivity in the workplace.

With that in mind, we’re suggesting five work-free outings that are intended to strengthen or build those relationships.

Outings with Employees:

- Serve together. Try a local food pantry, shelter, hospital, or school. Giving of your time together will give your team something in common other than work projects.

- Play together. Take a vote for a fun non-skilled sporting or competitive activity that won’t single non-athletic team members out, such as bowling, laser tag, paintball, etc.

- Celebrate together. Don’t let a birthday or other milestone go buy without celebrating the unique aspects of your team member.

- Relax together. Go see a movie, a concert, a sporting event, go to a gallery, or try a new restaurant together.

- Dream together. Spend an afternoon talking about company goals and finding out what it is your employees dream about in their careers. How can you work together to make it happen?

Note: if possible, shut down your office for an afternoon and do your team-building activity during work hours. This will show your employees that you value their time and offer them a reserved space within work hours.

Outings with Clients:

- Serve together: Especially if your client is closely involved with a non-profit, give it a try and show them you support the same cause they do.

- Play together: Go to a sporting event together or get your entire teams together and do any of the above. If your client is a foodie, try a cooking competition – Iron Chef style.

- Celebrate together. If your client has had a big milestone that’s worth celebrating, show them you care by taking notice. Treat them to their favorite restaurant.

Note: find out what your clients love, and even if it’s something your team isn’t wild about it, give it a shot. It will show your client that you’re willing to learn something new and maybe your team will end up being inspired by something new.

Another note: Remember, this is really about getting to know your client. Take the time to find out something new about them in the process.

What do you think? What are your favorite non-work activities with clients or employees? Let us know in the comments.

Last week, we celebrated with our good pals at O’Neil Printing as they launched their shiny new website. O’Neil has been innovating print since 1908, and they needed a new website to showcase their ever-growing set of resources and experience.

Just like any project we approach, we step back and look at the entire company to find its stand-out qualities that makes it unique, and highlight those particulars in the design. O’Neil Printing has been in business for over a century, and we’d like to think that any business that’s been at it that long has a few secrets up their sleeve. Although we could talk endlessly about O’Neil’s quality product, variety of services, sparkling equipment, or commitment to the environment, there are two things that really make O’Neil stand out: their people and their tradition of innovating the print business. O’Neil’s people are dedicated, service-oriented, and truly care about their clients. After all, O’Neil Printing is employee-owned, so they are invested in their work and their clients’ happiness. They’re also committed to approaching projects and business from a unique and effective perspective; a process of innovation that has kept the company young after all this time.

O’Neil’s site was designed to showcase both of these things, all set in a clean, easy-to-navigate, interactive backdrop. O’Neil’s employees are pictured throughout, creating a personal touch to an industry that can sometimes be perceived as cold and distant. And to showcase their traditionally innovative approach, the new website offers a variety of tools for both the print veteran and newbie alike. A new Request a Quote tool has been introduced that guides users step-by-step through the process of creating an accurate print quote. If you’re a current customer, you can upload files through the site or check out tons of other resources at your fingertips. Looking for a few resources on designing green projects? Look no further than their green section. Or, trying to find ideas and solutions to some tough print problems? Check out their case studies section.

While designing the site, we partnered with Wonderkind Studios to produce three videos that really capture the spirit of O’Neil Printing. Check them out throughout the site, such the one above featured on the services page.

In addition to the website, we refreshed O’Neil’s Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo networks.

We are pleased with the final product and hope you enjoy taking a look.

Here at R29, we love being green. It’s something we believe is at the heart of responsibility in this world. We have been tracking our recycling, print usage, and carbon footprint for several years now, and in doing so have found that one area we could improve upon is electricity usage.

For example, the average American household uses 908 kWh per month of electricity (source). The average household in Illinois uses less than that – about 728 kWh per month. Last year our average monthly usage was 1,856.5 kWh (and the year before that was even higher). Now, granted, we have more employees with more electricity demand than a household has, but we don’t think we necessarily need more than double the amount of electricity, do we?

There’s only one way to find out.

In order to do that, we recently purchased an electricity monitor to help us in this endeavor. If we can get real-time feedback on our electricity usage, it will be easier to change our habits and reduce electricity waste (and money!). Current Cost made it easy to get up and running with monitoring our electricity usage, which we’ve been doing for about the past 2.5 weeks. Our electricity usage data is automatically uploaded to the web every 5 minutes for us to view. Each day’s chart has been overlaid in the image above to give you the average idea of how our power usage goes. In the past two and a half weeks, so far we’ve learned:

1. Our programmable thermostat is indeed working (we weren’t so sure)
2. It seems most of the spikes in energy occur because of the air conditioning
3. We have about 600 watts of power always on. If we could eliminate that 600 watts, we could save about $560 per year (although we can’t completely eliminate it, we could reduce it if we find what’s causing the drain)

And so we begin our journey into electrical awareness and reducing our consumption. Will you join us?

• View our live electricity usage any time here
• Consider joining us in our endeavor – we’d love to hear how your office is reducing electricity usage.

About Team RWB

Team RWB firmly believes that It’s Our Turn to give back to the veterans that have served to protect the freedoms we enjoy. Team RWB is an organization founded by committed veterans who are dedicated to support and enrich the lives of wounded veterans and their families. They do this by partnering with athletes to raise money and volunteers who develop long-lasting relationships with wounded veterans, helping them reintegrate into civilian society. According to Team RWB, “We do not view success in terms of dollars raised, but by relationships maintained.”

To find out exactly what this amazing, multi-faceted organization does, check out their What We Do page.

Here are just some of the parts and pieces to the Team RWB brand:

This logo represents the strength of a partnership between civilians and veteran soldiers. which is what Team RWB is all about. A star forms the center of the logo mark, from which stripes create the eagle’s wings. An eagle represents speed, power, and intelligence, symbolizing not only the athletic side of Team RWB, but also the potential behind the concept of bringing these two worlds together. Besides the symbolic patriotism of the eagle, stripes, and star, the colors here are the national PMS colors for the red and blue on the American flag. All of these elements combine to create a logo that veterans, athletes, and civilians alike would be proud to wear during events and everyday life.

The next step was to create the website to help each audience interact with Team RWB and others. The site was created the in the same bold, patriotic style and incorporates dynamic images to showcase the consistently active nature of Team RWB. Along with helping Team RWB set up Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and blog pages, we also guided them in developing a central fundraising location for their athletes. Each athlete can create a profile and raise money for his or her particular event. Through this venue, Team RWB has raised nearly $150,000 to date.

One of the most exciting parts of this project, besides supporting the cause, is to see people rally around the organization and its brand. Here are just a few samples of uniforms, artwork, and other gear created by Team RWB advocates (as a bonus – someone even tattooed the logo on his leg!)

To conclude, we were humbled to receive this statement from Mike Erwin, founder and director of Team RWB last week, “You’ve been a critical part of our success—and our success matters because it’s people’s lives that we’re impacting.”

To show your support for our veterans, check out an upcoming event or race, order a K-Swiss Team RWB shirt, become a Team RWB athlete, become an advocate, donate today, or leave some love for your favorite veteran in the comments below!