Renourish is a resource for the graphic design industry. When green design is usually discussed, most people think of buildings, products or even cars, but what about packaging? Shouldn't magazines, business cards, brochures and websites be green? At Renourish, they're helping to start the conversation on green graphic design by providing defintions, tips, and links to sustainable resources designers can use to make their work a little greener.
Renourish is a tool. It exists to provide the graphic designer and their clients a host of resources to practice more sustainably in their craft. It helps you understand the importance of sustainability and how practical and invigorating it can be for the creative process and, in turn, our lives.
Renourish has provided, in the guts of their site, a variety of links to resources that are important for the graphic designers' daily practice: paper companies, ink vendors, printers, companies that provide sustainable products, existing green design firms, bloggers, and news articles about sustainability. They didn't choose these links at random, nor did any of these companies pay them or told them to include them on their list of recommended vendors. Their selection of these links was based on three years of research and a set of criteria:
- Company must have a respect for the community/planet
- Aim to improve our quality of life with their offering
- Conserve Earth's vitality and biodiversity by lessening their ecological footprint
- Advocate renewable energy
- Put their money where their slogan says they do - "walk the walk"
- Promote sustainability through their work
Renourish is the culmination of Eric Benson's three years of MFA graduate research at the University of Texas at Austin. Eric is now an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
