The outputs were: Logo, letterhead, DVD cover, teachers guide, A2 case study posters and postcards.

If you would like to find out more about the campaign, please visit: http://www.sendmyfriend.org/take-action

Finally, we have managed to find some time to upload all the recent projects on our site. Check out the Design Products Collection identity, Global Fellowship Journal, V&A Summer Camp programme, and recent Forum for the Future reports. We also completed a great schools newsletter for Actionaid, a report for The Tijuca Project in Brazil and last but by no means least, 2012 Velodrome sketchbooks for Expedition.

Innovation Greenhouse is a project curated by Kingston University in partnership with the Design Museum and staged as part of the London Design Festival at the V&A (The London Design Festival runs from the 18–26th of September).

Find out more about the thinking behind the project here and this prestigious international design accolade at: www.graphis.com.

We are excited to be helping to take the debate from the staffroom to Parliament – designing the campaign and raising the voice of teachers and lecturers above the party politics of education.

Here’s the story of how we did it:

Let’s start with the paper... We know that by switching to a post-consumer recycled stock we can save up to 70% of the embodied energy of a piece of print. But then we thought, what if we use paper that is already sitting in our printer’s warehouse because of an over order? We riffled through their surplus stock and chose some suitable weights and finishes. We didn’t stop there. We asked our printer to use it as ‘make-ready’ (paper that preps the press on a number of jobs). Once it had finished this useful task, we saved it from being discarded.

Now onto the inks... Even with vegetable-based ones there’s a story. They may be low in VOCs (Volatile Organic Chemicals) and less polluting, but there are some serious questions around soy crops causing rainforest deforestation to contend with. Every time a designer asks for a particular spot colour (even for the smallest job) the printer mixes up a tin. That’s a whole litre of ink when you may only require a spoonful. So instead of contributing to this global impact, we spent an afternoon peering into leftover pots (checking them for low barium and copper along the way) to arrive at our new brand palette. But what about the metallics... Aren’t they a big no-no? Well we checked the supplier’s specification and asked some experts about the silver ink and the effect of using big floods of colour on the de-inking process. They responded by telling us that our approach was great and would not detract from the overall recyclability of the finished article. Hurrah!

So, we had our paper and our inks. Now we could take these back to the studio and get designing. It may seem a backwards process starting with the restriction of leftover materials, then thinking about what items would make best use of space on the press sheet - but it made perfect sense to us!

We love print, we love design challenges and most of all we love our new identity.

...as does Creative Review who have today published a story about it all:

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog

We have therefore decided to return three of these packs to you for re-use (though even as I write this letter there has been no success in obtaining a postal address). As a lobby group for the National Association of Paper Merchants who claim compliance with PAS 2020 I would suggest that your direct mail should follow two simple rules in order that it does not undermine its message:

Firstly – make sure your mailing list is up to date. This will stop you sending out multitudes of mail to people who no longer exist, or overload the mailbox of a studio unnecessarily. Secondly – if your piece is delivered to the wrong destination it has the chance to be re-used (remember the age old mantra of re-use before recycle) by including a return address on the outside, halting its painful and wasteful journey straight into the recycling bin (if its lucky).

Whilst we at thomas.matthews believe in the power and impact of great print, we fundamentally believe in sustainable thinking and efficiency in every decision from concept to delivery.

Yours sincerely,
Sophie Thomas

We created a series of limited edition prints based around the usefulness of a simple orange bowl. Members of the studio were invited to contribute by either illustrating, screenprinting or letterpressing on top of the bowl image to create something amazing.
 

Useful Simple is a trail-blazing endeavour. It operates through pioneering design projects, as innovators in design education, and through real-world activities in sustainability and communication. It offers an alternative to profit focused, socially unaware business models and opens the door to the new and the good.

The Useful Simple Trust is an employee benefit trust. So far it comprises 45 beneficiaries, 7 trustees and 3 companies: thomas.matthews, Expedition Engineering and Think Up.

Find out more at usefulsimple.co.uk