Nothing is So Beautiful

At an STA event on May 6, Dian Sourelis of Brainforest made a presentation about Creative Pitch and sustainability branding at Brainforest. Creative Pitch—which Dian started—is an initiative that collects all the valuable, but unused stuff designers have stacked up in the office (T-shirts, binders, used illustration board, stock photo books, etc) and distributes it to art instructors in under-served schools in Chicago. Brainforest’s sustainability effort is an approach to operating the business in a way that both cuts waste and adds value to the Brainforest brand.

Nothing is So Beautiful

Dian Sourelis, Vice President,
Director of Community Initiatives, Brainforest, Inc.

I’ve been a partner with Nils Bunde at Brainforest for 10 years. It’s a partnership that allows us both to do what we do best: He is the creative director and visionary, I am the business director and lead our community service initiatives. We strongly believe in giving back to the community that sustains us and we are proud to be known as much for our community service and our not-for-profit initiative—Creative Pitch—as for our strong design and strategic work.

The title of this presentation—Nothing is So Beautiful—speaks to the role of design and designers in doing our part to reduce, reuse and recycle, and to taking responsibility for trying to eliminate the toxic and wasteful practices of our profession.

We don’t know everything about the subject of sustainability—in fact we don’t know that much. But we are learning. It is contagious once you start. I know it is of concern to a lot of us, especially young designers who want their work to make a difference in a tangible way.

I would first like everyone to think of the term “sustainability.” It is kind of like defining “branding.” Now put your mind around “sustainability branding.” Brainforest has been developing our sustainability brand for years, even without a formal definition.

I would venture to say that we all have. Any brand develops, whether guided or unguided. What you do and how you do it reflects who you are. A sustainability brand works the same way.

I have come to realize that as a profession we are currently irresponsible and very wasteful. In fact, in many cases, we encourage pollution, waste and environmental decline because most of our products are designed for a short cycle of use. But the design profession and care for our environment don't have to be mutually exclusive.

So here, step-by-step, is how Brainforest started thinking about becoming a sustainability brand.

Step one: Our “Aha!” moment

We started going "green" (a vague and widely misunderstood term) about four years ago when we moved our office. There’s no better opportunity for soul searching, revising corporate practices and generally taking responsibility for waste than an office move.

We had a lot of old stored materials:

  • Samples of projects completed six years before
  • Paper swatch books we had never used
  • Extra paper dummies—printers always gave us more than we needed or asked for
  • Extras and overs of all kinds

I think deep down, we knew we didn’t really need all these materials, and that whoever gave them to us just wanted us to buy more of what they were selling…but we took them anyway.

So that was the beginning of our realization, and we made a decision to:

  • Accept no more unsolicited mail, paper swatches or printer promos
  • Present digital portfolios only. No samples. I can’t remember the last time that Nils took samples of our work to a client presentation
  • Develop no more mounted presentation boards when digital presentations would do…and the boards that come back are reused
  • Make polite, but firm phone calls to companies telling them to stop sending multiple copies of catalogs, stock image books and illustrator postcards. We didn’t need even one—let alone one for each of the 12 people in our office

So we cleaned. We threw out the garbage and carted anything of value (T-shirts, binders, used illustration board, stock photo books, etc) over to the neighborhood school. They were thrilled to have it.

Step two: If it works, why not make it bigger?

If I like an idea, I like to make it a big idea. So after our move I got to thinking: If we had all those great, reusable materials, what about all the rest of Chicago’s agencies—the small firms, the huge ad agencies, the paper mills, the printers?

Thus Creative Pitch was born.

Creative Pitch is a Brainforest-developed Illinois not-for-profit corporation that began by collecting unused and unwanted materials from the Chicago-area design community, and giving them, free of charge, to art teachers working with our most under-served students. In just three years since its inception, Creative Pitch has provided more than 50,000 students at 70 schools and art therapy programs with tons of paper (yes, tons), plus markers, collage materials, books, fabric, tubes, paint, cardboard, T-shirts and other assorted goodies.

And it makes us feel great.

Brainforest recently made the decision to launch the program on a national level beginning in January 2009. What we do in Chicago can be replicated and expanded to provide free materials to our students in other underserved communities nationwide.

Step three: Sustainability Branding

Brainforest has decided to formalize our sustainability brand by examining and revising every single studio practice to conform to actual, definable and measurable sustainability practices and guidelines.

When we finish doing it for ourselves, we intend to do it for our clients. In fact, we have already started to incorporate sustainability branding into our traditional branding exercises. For example, we are currently helping one of our clients, a fleet leasing company, understand how they can clean up their act, both internally, and then externally to their clients.

You, too, can develop a sustainability brand. You already know that it’s the right thing to do. But for those who need more incentive, think about this: A sustainability approach will enhance your brand, differentiate your product and provide a measure of transparency.

Finally…

I am sure a lot of things will change as sustainability branding, exemplified by Creative Pitch becomes more deeply ingrained at Brainforest. We will ride our bikes more. We will now use a more eco-friendly cleaning service. I will give up my pencils.

And those are just the small things. I can’t wait to find out more about the big ones!

If you would like more information about creative pitch, please visit Creativepitch.org. If you want to check in with how our sustainability brand is going, please visit Brainforest.com