Sims Hill - Community Supported Agriculture

Well, it was a long time coming this logo. A journey, started back in Spring. I saw a post on freeconomy looking for a designer to help with a community supported agriculture or CSA project called Sims Hill. As an idea that caught my imagination I volunteered my services. I also saw it as an opportunity to put into practice some of the ideas I have had for Raconteur design.

Sims Hill is essentially a space to the north of Bristol for community lead agriculture. It is lead by 6 individuals with diverse backgrounds but common hopes. http://simshillsharedharvest.wordpress.com/

"Sims Hill exists to create a partnership between people and the land that is mutually enriching."

Their short term aim is to enlist 100 paying members to get Sims Hill growing. In exchange for money, those members will hopefully receive food and the opportunity to learn how they may reconnect to the land both mentally and physically. In the long term this will be a centre for community development, running courses and open days. It will also be a fully fledged food producer, creating food locally and organically. They have the land and the skills, time, energy and dedication of the team. Now all they need is a good dose of will and support.

As food production and all the issues that connect with it, is something I feel passionate about I was pleased to be involved with the group. I hoped that through their design I would be able to help them tell their story to the people of Bristol. By doing so they would inspire others to become involved. it would effect a movement that empowers community and gives more choice as to where we get our food from.

As I have mentioned this journey is a long one and I must say at times one of the hardest design jobs I have been involved in. What have I learnt from the experience?

• It is crucial to meet with all those that will be involved with the decision making process. In this case it is all of the members of the team. That way, every voice is heard and a true picture of the group can be gained.

• The brief is everything! It is the story that makes the brief... All members need to agree upon one unified story. The story of their unique organisation. Then and only then can the visualisation of that story begin.

• Always agree on a time line for the project and try and stick to it as closely as possible for time is of the essence! There is nothing like a deadline to sharpen the mind... Without defined time lines, projects drift and loose focus.

Looking at the logo now and knowing what I know about the group that it represents... Do I think that it tells their story? The logo is gentle in nature, there is a cooperative sense of harmony about it. It speaks quietly and purposefully rather than shouting it's message. Stylistically it is purposefully rough -made not manufactured. Not slick or over designed it talks of our symbiotic relationship with the land: Shared Harvest - "partnership between people and the land that is mutually enriching." It passes a nod to the past and speaks of an era when things were simpler. OR perhaps it speaks more of a hope for times to come..

"Live simply so that others may simply live" - Ghandi

I think that by it's nature this identity will organically grow with the group it is representing. As a seed, this logo and the organisation it represents, is full of hope.

Cradle To Cradle

I have recently been researching cradle to cradle design http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm. Conceived by Michael Braungart a bio chemist and William McDonough an architect and designer, it is described fully and more eloquently than I can, here on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_Cradle

As I understand it, it is an approach to design in all its forms, a new way to approach industry and commerce and overall the way humans live and do business on the earth. It embraces the natural, and sites natural systems as it's inspiration.

Consider the cherry tree: thousands of blossoms create fruit for birds, humans, and other animals, in order that one pit might eventually fall onto the ground, take root, and grow. Who would look at the ground littered with cherry blossoms and complain, How inefficient and wasteful! The tree makes copious blossoms and fruit without depleting its environment. Once they fall on the ground, their materials decompose and break down into nutrients that nourish microorganisms, insects, plants, animals, and soil. Although the tree actually makes more of its product than it needs for its own success in an ecosystem, this abundance has evolved (through millions of years of success and failure or, in business terms, R&D), to serve rich and varied purposes. In fact, the tree?s fecundity nourishes just about everything around it. What might the human built world look like if the cherry tree had produced? (Cradle to Cradle, M Braungart and W McDonough)

With regards specifically to product design it considers the full life cycle of products. Most products are designed with a cradle to grave philosophy, at the end of a product's useful life we throw it 'away'... but there is no away. Valuable metals and minerals are lost to landfill, gone forever, at best providing no benefit to nature and at worst poisoning soil and water supplies. Toxic chemicals are used in everyday items in our homes and offices. They not only are released as the product degrades so effecting us, they make hazardous waste when we decide to get rid of the product.

The current mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle only goes part way to addressing the issues we face today. It implies a strategy of business as usual... and a philosophy of being 'less bad', we can carry on doing harmful things but just do less of them! The major problem with this is that products that were not designed to be recycled in the first place are very hard to disassemble, process and reassemble. By combining natural and man made materials and using harmful chemicals to do so it makes it very difficult to separate the products after use. In stead of things being recycled into products that are of equal quality they are downcycled into inferior quality items, until they are once again put into landfill.

The current messages of environmentalism based on guilt and fear, although born out of a desire to reverse the current degradation of the natural environment, have only gone so far to achieving their aims. We are told that we have destroyed our planet and climate change will kill us all and destroy earth as we know it. Although there is obvious misgivings for which western consumerist society is responsible for. The current media, government and in some cases environmentalist message does little to instill the positive mindset needed to address these problems. Radical thinking, positivity, collaboration and imagination are needed so that we may conceive a world where humans live in harmony with nature and perhaps even positively enhancing the world.

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

Cradle to cradle advocates design that not only aims to combine form and function. It seeks to positively enhance the life of people and the natural environment. It is not so much about reducing consumption as re thinking it. I believe that cradle to cradle is a case in point for the prophecy of the eagle and the condor. Western technology, science and intelligence coming together with indigenous spirituality, philosophy and intuition once again. http://www.mtnmath.com/condor.html

It is a practical tool that is achievable, economically viable and with a little bit of effort ready to be applied. The technology in many cases exists and with more support can be created. If commercial, social and political will exists this is a wholly positive and progressive solution that can satisfy our want for economic growth while connecting us with the natural world once again.

“Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.” Albert Einstein

Here are some examples of packaging that have adopted the cradle to cradle approach, http://spcdesignlibrary.org/items/index