The Times They Are a-Changin'

By Wendy Jedlicka

Visionary architect William McDonough has called it the Next Industrial Revolution, others call it Design for the Environment, and then there's the Triple Bottom Line. There are many, many more terms, but have we dared to say IT? HAS anyone made IT official? CAN we make IT official?

Mainstream stores such as Byerly's grocery in Roseville, MN, are featuring more organic and sustainable options to help customers find the goods they're looking for on their shelves, rather than go to a dedicated natural foods store.

Today we're watching the dawn of a new era. With all that's going on, with players big and small starting to "get IT," can we come out and say Sustainable Design is... The Next Great Era of Design? It's not been announced officially (not that there IS a way to announce an era officially), but it is nonetheless happening.

You heard it here first: the 1800s were characterized by Industrial Arts/ Decorative Everything, the 1900s by Industrial Design/Bauhaus and Form Follows Function, and the 2000s will be the era of Sustainable Design/ Harmony of Design, Reason, and Balance.

Governments, companies, designers, and consumers are waking up to embrace new products, services, and ideas that deliver on the promises they make. Things that aren't just all surface beauty, or brief functionality, but truly innovative and useful. And, most importantly, things that were created with all stakeholders in mind—including ones not destined to be born for some time yet.

And for good reason

Today's leading organizations are embracing sustainable design practices not only because they're good for the environment, but also because they're good business. At the forefront of sustainable design, longstanding eco-pioneers like Starbucks, Nike, IKEA, Interface Carpet, and Aveda are being joined by mainstream giants like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and GE.

As markets globalize and become ever more competitive, just doing what's allowed in the U.S. simply will not cut it in the global marketplace. With production dispersed from here to Timbuktu (literally) and internet sales changing the concept of "local" shopping to something that is delivered to your door (from Timbuktu), the whole landscape of what and how we provide design solutions is changing.

From changes in producer responsibility laws in countries we sell to (as well as the U.S.), to changes in how consumers feel about the products they buy and the companies that make them, to increases in material costs forcing a re-look at established practices, designers are feeling all eyes turn to them saying: "Now what?!"

For those who have been using sustainable design practice for years, these are heady times, and busier that ever before. For those who are ready to join them, this is indeed a great new era, with more resources coming out everyday to help them better understand how to take advantage of (or not be crushed by) opportunities to be found in sustainable design and applied systems thinking.

As green products are pulled out of the dusty niche and thrust into a more mainstream atmosphere, the cold realities of marketing and packaging need to be given special attention. What was limping along in the rarefied atmosphere of a dedicated eco-store, is now having to compete in the real world—whether they like it or not—facing competition with well established mainstream products starting to green-up their acts.

Growing into the mainstream

In the past, for the eco-product, it didn't mater so much. People predisposed to eco-consumption were exclusively shopping in natural/eco niche stores. No matter what the package looked like, if the eco-product fit the need, the eco-consumer would buy it, period. Today though, sustainable products, and natural/organic foods in particular, are outgrowing their mainstream counterparts. Where is this growth coming from?

Annual growth rates for this segment are staying solidly in the 20% to 25% range, and nearly half of the eco-product sales are moving through mainstream retailers (Source: Organic and Natural News - Facts and Stats). Natural/eco products are no longer just selling to a few diehards, but to mainstream shoppers who are changing their consumption options to include healthier products.

Once relegated to a dusty corner, mainstream retailers too are recognizing the shift in consumer demand. Rather than lose traffic to the dedicated eco-niche stores, mainstream retailers have integrated sustainable products into their regular product lineups. To help the eco-shopper find the products now mixed in with regular stock, and to help the new eco-aware shopper spot the natural products, stores are developing in-store ID systems to help feature their eco-selections, such as Minnesota's Byerly's stores.

Shifts in consumer awareness, though, are not coming just from a newfound desire to pursue a more healthful lifestyle. America is becoming ever more melting-pot like, ethnic shoppers, as well as mainstream shoppers looking for more (or better) choices, are finding common ground in natural products. And concepts like energy savings and more uses per pack are ideas everyone can get their arms around.

As mainstream stores look to add natural products to their product offerings to help keep from losing market share, producers who can both express a natural point of difference, as well as stakeholder oriented corporate ethics, are finding a whole new audience to share their products with—helping to create a really rich and diverse shopping experience.

Wendy Jedlicka, CPP is president of Jedlicka Design Ltd. (www.jedlicka.com), is chapter chair for o2-USA/Upper Midwest and liaison for the o2 Global Green Design Network (o2.org), and packaging and economics faculty for Minneapolis College of Art and Design's groundbreaking Sustainable Design Certificate Program (www.mcad.edu).