Bertschi School: Teaching Sustainability

My client Bertschi School in Capitol Hill has an on-going commitment to sustainability and uses a global approach to education. Recent additions to the campus include an impressive LEED certified building, water cisterns, solar panels, a green roof and more. Last year I designed an interpretive signage system to highlight these features, as well as inform students, parents and visitors. The signage functions in tandem with an interactive kiosk which gives additional information the viewer.

I created a system of 14 signs that cohesively fit with the style of the existing campus signage. Each of the signs represents one of the 5 main categories—sustainable sites, water efficiency, solar energy, air quality, materials—and has a corresponding illustration at the top of the panels.

We created the signs to be: intriguing, engaging, fun, informative and to have a 5-8 year lifespan. They also needed to have the ability to display the students' artwork year round. The signs are made from steel and allow the metal's natural finish and oxidation to show through, then were protected with a clear coat finish.

Summer sign-up

Although it's February and rainy, summer will truly be here in a few short months. So that means Bertschi School needed a Summer Program schedule created to get students signed up for all of their fun, creative classes—knitting, robotics, inline skating, pirates! Seriously folks, kids today have way more options to keep busy during the summer months than I did—not that I'm knocking my mad macaroni necklace skills. 

I designed this schedule to print in two inks to keep costs down, but mixed and matched the inks in varying percentages to create a finished piece that doesn't have the boring duotone feel. In keeping with the school's commitment to environmental responsibility, it was printed on an FSC stock with 100% post consumer waste and soy based inks.

As always, you can click on the image for a closer look.

Brandeis Anthology

I recently partnered with Plural, a Brand Strategy and Design consultancy in Boston to design a 70 page anthology for Brandeis University. The collection of essays are written by academics on the subject of Jewish Experiential Learning—in other words, stepping out of the classroom and learning by doing. I really enjoyed working on it for a few reasons. The University has an existing brand that is well-designed and allowed me to build upon it. I also had really great photography to work with, which is not always the case. For this project, after reviewing every essay, I recommended photography styles and content that would support the text. The cover was printed in 4 color process, while the rest of the book is only 2 inks–blue and brown—however I used the two inks in a variety of combinations to really push the results. A lot can be done with only two inks! Above are a few spreads from the book.

It IS easy being green

It's my lucky day when I have a client that is not only easy to work with, understands good design AND has a commitment to environmental concerns! I recently partnered with Bertschi School to create a brochure that complimented their new recruitment brochure. This new 'sister' brochure is all about their commitment to Sustainability & Diversity. Bertschi is an amazing school—energy, enthusiasm and enlightened thinking abound. I really admire clients that understand doing their part for the environment is not only good for the planet but also for their brand. It shows that they are forward thinking and respect the triple bottom line: planet, people and profit. We printed the brochure with an FSC certified printer with soy ink on FSC certified 100% recycled post-consumer waste paper (Neenah Environment PC 100) that was manufactured with 100% certified renewable energy and without the use of chlorine.