Ten years ago, recycled paper  was all the rage; the trouble was that it simply wasn’t ‘green’ - or at least it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It was expensive, it cost more electricity to clean and recycle and it wasn’t necessarily environmentally sound, either in the processes used to produce it or the methods used to print on it. Ironically, the paper industry itself was always reasonably environmentally sound - virgin papers have nearly always been made from sustainable crops; it was the rest of the process that didn’t marry up.

These days, it’s much more joined up - accreditation like FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) have ensured that the process, as well as the paper itself, is ‘green’ - whether the paper is virgin, recycled or somewhere in between. It also means that to wear the badge you must be doing more than buying environmentally friendly paper, you must be joined up in the way you print. So many factors contribute to this approval process - the use of vegetable based inks, computer-to-plate (no film, no wasted silver), biodegradable laminating, water-based varnishes and - of course - environmentally friendly papers.

It’s interesting that the focus of attention has been on the forests, the printers and the print process itself rather than on the specifier which in this industry is more often than not the designer. It is we who recommend to our clients which paper stock to use and then specify that stock to the printer of choice. Often the client demands that the FSC logo be printed on their literature - sometimes to be part of the box ticking that is CSR, sometimes a genuine attempt to be green. But what is interesting is that little thought is given to the waste factor.

For instance, how often do we print more copies than we need, ‘because the run-on price is so cheap’? What do we do with all those unwanted brochures, magazines, newsletters - return them to the printers? No way, I can’t remember the last time someone asked us to dispose of their surplus unwanted print - so where does it go? Hopefully it is recycled.

Digital printing has allowed short run printing, in full colour, to become accessible to, and affordable by, everyone. As the price goes down, the quality goes up in line with technological improvements. We certainly are not litho printing the volumes we once were (who do you know who uses conventional letterheads any more, apart from IFAs and solicitors?). So in theory we are using less paper, though I know plenty of people who print out their emails to read later.

As graphic designers, we have a social responsibility to advise our clients to think green - to wait until they have six or eight people who want business cards rather than print one name at a time, to think about how many copies they actually need rather than order reams more than necessary. To even advise against printing at all if the better solution is to distribute the message electronically. However, even this can backfire - when I bought a new TV lately I had to print the 48pp instruction manual myself which cost me more in ink than the printer is worth.

With the current media attention on global warming, deforestation, sustainability, the acidity of the oceans, the melting of the ice caps, the storms, floods and the imbalance between what we use and what we produce, our focus on going green in the design and print business may seem a little over the top. But it is relevant, when you come to think of it.

A brand is a promise. When there is competition in the marketplace then it’s your brand that sets you apart from the rest. Your brand creates and maintains your reputation and reflects your customers’ experience of your organisation. A strong brand makes you stand out from the crowds.

Brands provoke an emotion. Take Boots for instance: when we think about Boots we think of trust; Virgin conjures up a personality – fun/innovative. Cadbury’s makes us of think of quality, the rich purple of the logo symbolises royalty (French Royalty used to use this exact shade of purple) Cadbury’s decided to trademark the colour and make it their own. Harley Davidson trademarked the sound of the deep-throated roar of the motorbike and soaking up endless miles of US blue-skied highway – companies become possessive about their brands.

Our loyalty beyond reason to brands has been neatly explained by Kevin Roberts from Saatchi and Saatchi in his book Lovemarks: “If a brand delivers the promise it earns a special place in the consumers’ hearts and minds. So whenever the market gets difficult listen to the customer and go back to the basics of branding”.

• define your brand values e.g. design excellence, trust, innovation, value for money, quality customer service.  Are you offering what your customers want? Are you matched? Once established, convey this message throughout the organisation, from your business card and website through to employee attitudes. Your employees are your brand ambassadors; do they reflect what you stand for?

• manage your brand – keep employees involved - give someone the responsibility for your brand strategy. Continually reinforce the message that what they do is important and explain why. Make sure they know that breaking the promises to customers that your brand makes - just once - can damage the brand and your business.

• review your brand – get regular feedback. Keep checking that what you promise will be delivered is. Stay relevant to your customers. Bear in mind people stay loyal to a brand, emotions are involved so any changes need to be made sensitively – think carefully about a rebrand.

• budget for your brand – a budget focuses the mind and forces you to prioritise. Budget for: design: logo, signage, business stationery or product packaging, your premises, advertising, time you’ll need to spend with employees to make sure they understand your brand, resources you’ll have to provide for employees to enable them to carry out what the brand promises, eg customer service costs, keeping your company website updated.

It’s evident then, that brand is more than the just the logo, it’s the core value of your business and what it means to your customers and suppliers and the attachment they have to it. So if anyone sees Shaun, the missing ORS sheep – please let us know.

This blog was written by Jackie Poate, Business Development, Cradduck Design Co.