The Society of Graphic Designers Canada, BC Chapter hosted their fourth Practivism - Collaboration in Sustainable Design event on Friday night. Located in the smartly designed CIRS buildings at UBC, the presentations featured local stories of designers and clients working together to promote sustainability.
Practivism, a mix of practical action and environmentalism, assembled a handful of local case studies to demonstrate how design adds value to our community as a sustainable shepherd, assisting in bringing great ideas to the surface and designing ways to make them reality. This is a very fitting topic for BC designers to own, given Vancouver’s reputation as a green leader, and it makes perfect sense that designers here would seek green ways of being unique in a globalized marketplace. The strongest of the presentations was Thisfish.info with Ecotrust Canada and Biro Creative, a food accountability project that is a genuine harbinger for how design is creating meaningful social change. This is a topic that has massive implications as we move forward and issues around food production are becoming politicalized.
The real value of the evening had less to do with education on how to be better designers and more to do with bringing together local graphic designers in a social setting. If you were looking for an interactive evening of dialogue about taking design to the next level, I did not leave with that experience, but the night did introduce me to dozens of industry insiders. The value of bringing creative people together is always positive and can only lead to a stronger design scene in the city.
Todd Falkowsky, citizen brand
