Sustainable Stories: Linking Graphic Design and the Environment to Inform, Educate, and Inspire

The importance of the field of graphic design lies in its ability to communicate with others. It can serve to transcend barriers, to clarify messages, and to deepen universal understanding. Similarly, sustainability encompasses the three spheres of the environment, society and economy—demonstrating its interconnected complexities and multifaceted applications. In pursuing my Honors Thesis, I aimed to develop a project which would reflect the ideals of sustainability while simultaneously serving to educate about the importance of caring for the natural world. Furthermore, my research explores how the disciplines of sustainability and design overlap and interact, searching to discover ways in which they may be linked for the purpose of education and inspiration. The medium of a children’s book introduced me to one creative avenue for combining the fields and realizing this aspiration. Download the book They Named Me, They Know Me from eCommons