Contact: Sarah Haun
Two Twelve Associates
902 Broadway
New York, NY 10010
212 254 6670
shaun@twotwelve.com

TWO TWELVE PROMOTES SUSTAINABILITY MESSAGE TO DESIGN COMMUNITY
Conference poster for AIGA New York Chapter event “Grow: Design for Sustainability” illustrates complexity of “green” issues in graphic design

New York, NY, August 24, 2006 - Two Twelve Associates, the New York City-based public information design firm, announces the completion of a promotion piece for “Grow: Design for Sustainability” a conference sponsored by the New York Chapter of the AIGA, the professional association for design, and held on March 25, 2006. The poster is being mailed to attendees of the event, and addresses many of the major issues raised during the proceedings.

“The goal of the poster is to extend the conference experience and keep sustainability issues alive within the design community,” says Michelle Cates, a junior associate of Two Twelve who designed the poster with teammate Whitney Grant. “We encourage designers to hang the poster in places where people gather, like classrooms and offices, and ‘start a discussion’ on the topic.”

“As advisers to public and private sector clients of all kinds and sizes,” says Ann Harakawa, a principal of Two Twelve, “Graphic designers have the opportunity to influence what they produce and how they produce it. And those choices have impact not only only their immediate audiences, but on society and the planet. Two Twelve is embracing this concept and supports AIGA in promoting it to its constituency.”

“When we started the project, the outcome was going to be a giveaway at the conference,” says Marc Alt, graphic designer, recent AIGA NY Board Member, current Co-Chair of the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design, and chair of the “Grow” event, “But as we explored approaches to the information, we realized it could have more impact as a reference resource afterwards, to consolidate what was discussed at the event, and invite action and further exploration of sustainability issues on a continuing basis.”

The poster depicts an actual bulletin board that was in place during the conference and invited attenders to post questions for speakers and messages for general discussion. “We wanted to capture all of the comments, questions, and even frustrations that are often lost during the typically short Q&A sessions in these types of conferences,” adds Mr. Alt. The poster “responds” to the posted inquiries, providing facts and sources for further information on complex subjects as diverse as wind power, sustainability reporting in business, and overseas production.

AIGA is mailing the poster out this week to the approximately 250 attendees, speakers and sponsors of “Grow.” Another 150-200 posters will be available at the upcoming GAIN Business and Design Conference, October 26-28, 2006 (gainconference2006.ws5.aiga.org). It will also serve as an introductory announcement for the new AIGA Center for Sustainable Design.

This initiative reflects Two Twelve’s environmental mission: to make conscientious decisions about the objects it designs to reduce their wear on the planet.

All services required to create this poster were donated: graphic design by Two Twelve, writing and research by the Institute for Sustainable Communication, paper stock by Mohawk Paper Company, printing by Sandy Alexander, and coordination and creative direction by Marc Alt + Partners.

Two Twelve principal David Gibson is a member of the national board of AIGA, and its marketing director Sarah Haun served on the New York Chapter board in 2003-2005.

About Two Twelve
Two Twelve Associates (twotwelve.com) is a multi-disciplinary graphic design company specializing in public information design, the planning and presentation of complex information to diverse audiences. David Gibson founded Two Twelve in 1980, and he and his partner Ann Harakawa presently run the firm's New York-based operation. Two Twelve offers a full range of services in branding and environmental graphic design for corporate, institutional and municipal clients nationwide. Important commissions have included the design of signage and wayfinding systems for the Yale University campus, Shea Stadium and Grand Central Terminal, as well as brand communications for the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, New Jersey Transit, and New York City’s 2012 Olympic bid.

About “Grow: Design for Sustainability”
The New York Chapter of AIGA (aigany.org), the professional association for design, produced a conference entitled “Grow: Design for Sustainability” (grow.aigany.org) on March 25, 2006. The event focused on the major transformation underway in business and society in which leaders of industry are turning their attention to the state of the planet and business practices that address the increasing realities of climate change, social concerns and global citizenship. Conference topics represented the worlds of business, print, product, packaging, architecture and communications design, with speakers from IDEO, Cook+Fox Architects, Material ConneXion, Flag, Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Osram Sylvania, ValueNewsNetwork.com, UN Global Compact, Earth Pledge and many others. The success of this one-day event, attended by about 250 members of the design community, has led to the formation of a Task Force on Sustainability and the new AIGA Center for Sustainable Design (sustainability.aiga.org) at the national level, with Grow visionary Marc Alt as its co-chair.

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