This past spring 2014 semester I joined forces with two other design educators from vastly different teaching institutions than my own to test the most effective way to teach sustainable design to the millennial generation. Yvette Perullo (Newbury College), Brooke Scherer (University of Tampa), and myself (University of Illinois) took... read more →
Jun
14
Oct
28
Some may argue that the trend towards “going green” began with the release of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) and the brief American disillusionment with oil that began in the 1970's. However, I would argue that the big change began with Al Gore's 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. After the... read more →
Oct
02
I never considered myself an environmentalist before I undertook a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies. To be perfectly honest, I still don’t see the stereotypical tree-hugging, granola-eating environmentalist when I look in the mirror. I did the degree in an attempt to diversify my knowledge base and because I was... read more →
Jul
18
This past April 2013, I accepted an invitation to participate and attend the Launch 2020 Summit at Nike HQ in Beaverton, OR. This two-day summit was sponsored by NASA, Nike, USAID, and the US State Department and brings together 150 of the world’s brightest innovators and sustainable system thinkers to... read more →
May
21
On April 13, 2013 I gave a presentation with a colleague John Jennings (SUNY Buffalo) at the AIGA Blunt Conference in Norfolk, VA entitled "DeZombies and the Coming Design Apocalypse." Here is the abstract: When director George Romero introduced the modern conception of the zombie in 1968, he created an enduring... read more →
Mar
18
What does a sustainable photography studio look like, and how do you create one? Jason Lindsey worked hard for several years now to make our studio sustainable. In the process, we've encountered some unexpected challenges and reaped some surprising rewards. We began when we relocated our studio to a 2200-square-foot... read more →
Feb
09
I have been working on this poster for the upcoming College Art Association conference in NYC being held next week. My goal was to show the interrelationships between various parts in sustainable systems thinking in communication design. Below is an excerpt of the poster text: Communication designers develop printed ephemera... read more →
Jan
30
The exhibition: "Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for a Digital World 2001–2012" will feature 122 posters. The exhibition will open first at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Massachusetts. The dates of the exhibition are January 15 – March 2, 2013. The opening reception will take place on Tuesday, January... read more →
Sep
29
This past Thursday (September 27, 2012) Yvette and I spoke at the INsight Design Conference at the Hammond Regional Art Center in Hammond, IN. The conference featured speakers from the Chicagoland area and folks from all over Northwest Indiana attended to hear some inspirational advice from design leaders in the... read more →
Jun
20
During the fall of 2011, I had coffee with a Professor from Architecture where we hatched out a plan to use our respective spring 2012 courses to create a functioning farm-to-market produce cart and related farmer's market awareness campaigns for the Sustainable Student Farm on the University of Illinois campus.... read more →