Tilt

Years ago, my parents ran a small design and marketing firm out of Ohio. Their largest client was Kimberly Clark. If nothing less than experts, my parents were huge paper advocates; my mother is now a professional papermaker having studied from California to Japan with any master that would teach her and my father is a carpenter and cameos as children’s story book writer; beginning his stories only with paper with his first book entitled, “The Little Nut” based on an acorn who grew into a tree. For years as a child I remember the experience of paper and how it surrounded my life… and know I realize how important it really is.

As an adult with an profession as an environmentalist and a designer, my interests have been identified as somewhat of an oxymoron: Paper has a reputation for being bad for the environment and designers waste paper like it is going out of style. Well, paper is going out of style. It is a sad truth, but with the invention of the computer and the internet, tangible items made from paper are a thing of the past. With amazing toys like Apple’s iPhone and Amazon’s Kindle, where you can load an infinite number of books, audiotapes and videos onto something smaller than a “tiny” book, why would you need to use anything with paper again?

I have to admit, I’m a little sad.

Paper is made from a tree that is grown from the earth. It is a renewable resource which is biodegradable, recyclable and renewable. While the harvesting and manufacturing of paper in years past has been questionable, paper is a vital tool to our communication strategy as a culture. Paper is tangible, tactile and sets a mood for the piece being presented. It is a smaller commitment from a cost standpoint and in most cases the impact can be larger (if presented properly). It lies around a space and becomes one with it. It is a physical, 3D object that has to be dealt with. In modern culture, anything written on paper is considered important since it is a rarity.

It is a very controversial issue and I am not sold on either side of the story. I can certainly understand paper as an easy target since it is something thrown away on a daily basis. It is not able to changed as frequently and easily as something like an iPhone or Kindle, and it is basic. On the other hand, technology certainly has its benefits. Right now I am writing a message to be sent out to the entire world with technology. I don’t have to pay for shipping to get this blog post delivered. Technology means I can quickly look something up and I don’t have to go to the library to look through a catalog or sit in front of a microfiche for hours (for those who don’t remember, see below). I can bring all my resource material with me in a 2 lb device instead of lugging around books and papers which could potentially weigh a few tons. Again, it is controversial.

But don’t you just love the feel of paper? The texture of holding something in your hand is so special.

My favorite part is the client emotions around this subject; particularly those who deal with retail and consumer based operations. Frequently I hear, “Posters are so wasteful. If we get a monitor we can update the information anytime we want and we will be apart of the movement to save on paper.” I can understand where they are coming from, but in actuality going with electricity is going to cost them more money and be much more wasteful in the end.

Let’s dissect this, shall we? The number of parts that go into a single monitor take more than 1000% more electricity than 1 ream of paper (500 sheets). While printing requires electricity to produce an image on paper, it is relatively efficient. Paper doesn’t require electricity to display a message when it is on the wall. With a monitor you are unable to display a message unless it is Powered On. Once you are finished with a poster, you can recycle it and at least a portion is going back into new products; it is what Michael Braungart and William McDonough refer to as “Upcycling” in their book Cradle to Cradle. To dispose of this monitor, however, you have to ship your broken technology to an offshore location where underpaid workers dismantle the parts, discard elements that are non-recyclable and reuse parts as possible. In all actuality, however only 18% of all technology is currently being recycled and 60% of all paper is recycled. So, let’s just be clear in the environmental movement in the message: Saving paper by using a monitor is not saving the planet. (It may be apart of your sustainability message, though, in that it saves time and provides fresher messaging to your customers.)

Last year, in spite of the movement to ban paper, Tilt started a campaign for paper. It is called PaperLove; meaning “For the Love of Paper.” We felt a little defeated with our efforts and dropped the plan, but who knows? As everything goes in cycles maybe someday we will launch this campaign again someday! In the meantime, use technology, but please don’t forget to love the tangible qualities of paper.