Core77

You will recall our enthusiasm for Valerie Casey's Kyoto Treaty of Design proposal back in frog's Design's June Design Mind, and her presentation at AIGA's conference last October. It's definitely time for another update.

The initiative has been renamed The Designers Accord (the possessive apostrophe's been dropped since no one could agree on where it was supposed to go :), with a new logo (designed by Eric Strohl), and a tighter spec. Core77 will be throwing its weight behind the initiative by providing member design firms to badge themselves over at DesignDirectory.com (coming soon!), and the open-source website for member firms to share resources and knowledge will be firing up in the new year.

We spoke with a design firm this afternoon who said, "well, we're already doing a lot of the principles of the accord already, so signing up will give us an opportunity to take it the rest of the way," and that's probably the same situation your firm is in. So visit the site right now, read the details (it's quick), and sign yourselves up today.

Here's the pitch:

The Designers Accord is a coalition of design and innovation firms focused on working together to create positive environmental and social impact.

This movement started as a call to arms for designers to engage in the environmental movement with optimism and creativity. We believe it is our obligation to use our knowledge, experience, and reach to positively influence what we design and consume.

The Designers Accord calls for the following:

We ask all designers, globally, to proactively engage in a dialogue about environmental impact with each and every client, and to evaluate sustainable alternatives in design. Our rationale is that by collectively committing to having this conversation, our client base - the world's manufacturers, distributors, and services providers - will be compelled to evaluate sustainability as a key vector in decision-making around the products and service they create for their base - the global consuming audience.

We promote openly sharing knowledge about green design and sustainability. We believe that building environmental intelligence should be a collective exercise. For this cause, we advocate for inverting the traditional model of competition, and encourage pooling knowledge so that all may benefit and build on marketable and sustainable solutions.

Adopting The Designers Accord provides access to a global community of peers who share passion and ideas around environmental innovation. Our reach and influence grows exponentially when we act together. View a full list of adopters.

The Accord is for all designers - interaction, digital, industrial, graphic, advertising, architecture - and those involved in the design industry, including engineers, business consultants, researchers, marketers, and educational institutions. Any designer, consultancy, or organization creating consequence at scale should join.

Please take a moment to learn more. All info here.