58 Both printed on recycled FSC stock, Root Studio’s ‘All Mixed Up?’ poster was commissioned by What is FSC paper? Choosing greener paper means responsibility as well as reuse Today’s paper market has advanced hugely from the days when an attempt to be eco-friendly was essentially a shortcut to scratchy stock.As well as considering the amount of post-consumer (or recycled) waste contained in the stock you buy, Forestry Stewardship Council (www.fsc-uk.org) or FSC paper accreditation also enables you to trace its origin – whether it’s recycled or not. For studios that strive to make sustainability a priority, it’s essential to take ownership of this chain of custody. “We regard ourselves as an eco-conscious design agency, so we try to print as ART197.manual_58_59.indd 58 responsibly as we can,” says Tom Bradley, partner at award-winning Root Studio (www.rootstudio.co.uk).“That means using recycled or FSC-certified paper, or a mix of both. From our perspective, recycled paper is always going to be the best choice because less energy and fewer chemicals are involved. But you can’t do that forever. There’s a limit to how many times the process can be repeated.” “FSC certification essentially refers to paper stock that’s made from wood pulp, which has been sourced from sustainably managed forests,” says Janine McNab, customer segment manager at prolific paper supplier Robert Horne (www.roberthorne.co.uk).“So it gives you knowledge of that entire chain of custody.” To qualify for accreditation, forests must be managed in ways that are environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable.They are inspected and certified against the FSC’s ‘10 Principles of Forest Stewardship’, with inspections being conducted by independent organisations, such as the Soil Association. While most people recognise the recycling symbol, there is still much less awareness of the meaning of FSC. “Studies have shown that most people know what that mobius loop relates to when they see it, whereas only 25 per cent recognise the FSC logo,” McNab explains. “So if you’re working for a client who wants the Natural Health Clinic, and this leaflet was designed for High Barnet’s environmental body, Green Home Zone to make a strong statement around their own sense of responsibility, recycled stock is the way to go. “It all depends on what’s needed for the job you’re working on,” continues McNab.“Producing FSC paper still takes 70 per cent more energy than recycled paper – that’s always going to be the most sustainable choice. However, if the budget doesn’t flow for that, FSC is a good option because you can trace it back to the source.” And that’s the draw,says Bradley, who advises seeking out FSC-accredited printers. While other schemes exist, FSC is widely agreed on as the preferred scheme.“It offers the ability to track the entire life-cycle of the fibres used, from the forest to the paper mill, printer and final user,” he explains. There are three types of FSC-certified stock:FSC Mixed Sources blends virgin fibre (at least half of which must be FSC-certified) with recycled fibre; 100% FSC comes entirely from sustainable forests;and FSC Recycled consists only of post-consumer waste from accredited paper mills. Whatever stock you choose, remember that sustainability no longer means sacrificing quality.“Recycled papers have come on so far now,” McNab points out.“Print quality is comparable to virgin fibre and the coatings available are incredibly good in comparison to where we were five years ago.” 12/19/11 6:28:22 PM The design manual Green design UX Designers’ hobbies 59 New approaches to user experience design By Andy Budd,founding partner and MD,Clearleft www.clearleft.com Attending events like UX London, a three-day conference combining cutting-edge talks with workshops, will help you stay abreast of the latest UX developments What creatives do when they’re not working… The current trend is a move towards a more lightweight approach rooted in academia. It’s only in the last five or six years that a new wave of design-focused practitioners has emerged. These are people who learnt their skills not through degrees in HCI (human-computer interaction) or information science, but at the coalface; and these designers and developers have brought a new, more practical approach to UX problem-solving. The current trend is a move away from formal, document-driven processes towards a more lightweight approach. Low-fidelity sketches and working prototypes; not large reams of paper and wireframes. The old-fashioned way of spending months producing documentation is fine in a big corporate environment, but UX design isn’t about churning through documents. It’s a mode of understanding and interrogation – a process of discovery. A lot of what we do can’t be represented physically. We do more sketches on paper than anything else these days. While UX design has been around for a long time, it has suddenly become the hot new thing – companies have woken up to the need for a more considered approach to designing interactive systems, but a lot of agencies have rebranded as UX agencies without any real experience or understanding. A lot of under-experienced people are being hired into roles that they’re not really qualified to undertake, which is serving to have a profoundly negative effect on the perception of UX. User experience is a huge field of enquiry.To legitimately call yourself a UX designer, it needs to be your primary focus – the bulk of your working life will be involved with activities like user research, wireframing, prototyping and testing. If you’re still spending a lot of your time in Photoshop or writing production-ready code, calling yourself a UX designer is somewhat misleading in terms of the expectations that employers or clients might have. That’s not to say designers and developers shouldn’t take an interest in all things UX – but there’s a very large difference between knowing a little and making it your full-time career. Shortcuts Hit Ctrl/Cmd+J in Photoshop with a layer selected to duplicate it ART197.manual_58_59.indd 59 The cook “My mum was an amazing cook. She taught me so much of what I know. I’m inspired by colours and flavours – I like the challenge of transforming fresh ingredients into a delicious meal. It’s a way to step back from my everyday work and still function in a creative outlet.” Jenny Kutnow, designer, www.kutnow.com The violinist “I tried out a few different instruments but the violin was truly my match. I spent the earlier part of the year playing with my boyfriend’s band,The Goldberg Sisters, and promoting the new album. We usually practice after dinner – it’s nice to get away from my screen at night.” Roxanne Daner, illustrator and designer, www.yoursroxanne.com The swimmer “I’ve been swimming ever since I can remember. It’s helped me to develop respect about my own physical being and it also helps as a form of meditation when things are very hectic at work. It’s all about counting strokes, good form and technique, so it’s very Zen.” Paul Willoughby, creative director,The Church of London, www.thechurchoflondon.com Illustration:Sergio Membrillas,www.sergiomembrillas.com If you listen to the current buzz around user experience (UX) design, you could be led to believe that it’s a relatively new and ill-deﬁned ﬁeld. This couldn’t be further from the truth: UX design is a mixture of several disciplines – usability, information architecture, interaction design and more – that have roots in a time before the existence of the internet. There were plenty of companies following the same approach as us when Clearleft was set up as a UX consultancy in 2005, although almost all were based in the US. Conferences like the IA Summit (www.iasummit.org) have been around for over 15 years and Lou Rosenfeld’s Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (known as ‘The polar bear book’) is approaching its 15th birthday. A lot has changed in the UX world, however. Most of my peers cut their teeth in large organisations: public broadcasters, universities and financial institutions, for instance. As such, UX used to be a much more formal discipline Designers’ hobbies Computer Arts February 2012 12/19/11 6:28:24 PM