During the last tutorial with Justin, we sat and had a discussion about where I might want to take my FMP after the Easter break. I wasn't really very sure where I might want to take it, but I had made some notes and got some ideas down about a couple of possible briefs.
As my subject/theme is Sustainability Within Design, he wanted me to focus on what I mean by that. Dig deeper into what I'm on about, in a bit more detail than I have been doing.
After a bit more discussion we came onto the conversation about re-branding and packaging. Which then led onto easter eggs and too much unnecessary packaging, he proposed the idea of me looking at redesigning some easter egg packaging...which then moved onto me considering a sustainable confectioners. Creating a brand, and then proposing ideas such as no-packaging and alternatives, the promotional material etc. Along the lines of that, but focusing on a confectioners.
Since then I've had a think and I really like the idea of producing something like that for the big main brief of my FMP. A lot of research is still required before I make any final decisions.
Anyways...I've come across
Unpackaged. Unpackaged, an organic local grocery store in North London, uses design to help its local customers to be more environmentally friendly by using less wasteful packaging when they buy their supplies.
PROBLEM
We use packaging like it’s a never ending resource. Every person in the UK generates about 500kg of waste each year, 160kg of which is packaging waste that uses finite resources then ends up on landfill sites because not all of it can be recycled.
RESPONSE
Unpackaged, a North London social enterprise helps people use less unnecessary packaging. It worked with designers to create a local organic grocery store which helps local customers shop in a new packaging free way.
RESULT
60% of Unpackaged customers reuse their own packs when they return to the shop and about 1.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions are saved by the store each year compared to if it was selling the same groceries pre packed.
Packaging is an environmental problem because the materials that make it are often from finite resources (like oil which is used to make plastic, or trees that are turned into cardboard and sometimes not replaced with new trees), and once it’s used, packaging tends to end up on landfill sites rather than being recycled. Unpackaged started as a stall at Exmouth market while Conway figured out what groceries people were likely to buy loose and got feedback on the sort of issues that would put them off buying unpackaged goods.
Unpackaged needed a brand identity that would pack an eco-friendly punch but also counteract preconceptions that self serve stores were bargain basements and that sustainability was all about knitted carrier bags and chairs made out of old bottles. A classic glass jar provided inspiration for the Unpackaged logo which uses a simple outline and modern typeface to make the idea of reusing packaging appealing for a 21st century customer
"Everything we’ve produced from the start has been not wasteful. Everything doubles up as something else. The flyers and invites are printed on bits of old cereal boxes. And when we moved from the stall to the shop I had lots of business cards left and they were stapled together and made into Unpackaged loyalty cards..... ‘We designed a flyer that uses icons with the same proportions as the Unpackaged jar to explain how the new shopping concept works. The “weigh, pay, save” process is illustrated with a set of scales, an old-fashioned till and coin purse. Once Cath moved from the market stall into the shop we put larger versions of these icons in gold foil on the door so everyone who enters the shop can easily figure out how it works.’’ - C. Conway
