We’ve recently completed a logo redesign for a nonprofit, the California Coalition for Civil Rights. CaCCR is a statewide alliance of civil rights organizations, activists, educators, lawyers, and advocates. Their existing logo (top) was a generic map of California matched with a wide, industrial-looking typeface. They wanted something that spoke more directly to their mission as a civil rights organization concerned with equal justice for Californians. At the same time, they wanted to place more emphasis on the acronym CaCCR, rather than their long name. We presented several options, and they chose the faces in profile image shown here.

According to Rabia Shirazi of Realize Ink, who managed this project, “Dan did an outstanding job for the client and now I’m working with him directly for my own shop. He’s talent and smarts and creativity rolled in one. Not to mention he’s super great to work with–first designer I’ve ever worked with that delivered ahead of time and went above and beyond for my client!!”

We’ve recently completed two books for the same client, Red Cell Publishing, for which we recently won an award. The first, Iran’s Dirty Banking, delves into the Iranian government’s attempts to skirt monetary sanctions, and names the foreign and U.S. banks that are helping them do it. It contains approximately 100 pages of complex tables and was designed and laid out in just three weeks. The second, On the Trail of Terror Finance, is a companion to Tainted Money, a primer on money laundering, this time aimed directly at law enforcement. The covers for both of these were designed to pick up typographic elements of the Tainted Money cover, in order to create a consistent house style without sacrificing their individual voices. They’re printing now and will be available on Amazon shortly.

“I am very happy with the end product,” said John Cassara, coauthor of On the Trail of Terror Finance. “Dan listens to his clients. He is professional, innovative, responsive, on-time, and a delight to work with.”

The awards ceremony will be June 10. Details are on the Washington Book Publishers website. You can see the cover and lots of other design in our portfolio.

Online media may be less green than print, thanks to mountaintop removal. Photo by Unanimousgraphics / CC BY 2.0

For the 40th anniversary of Earth Day today, we wanted to share a few thoughts about sustainability and print design.

One of the more visible signs of “sustainability thinking” in our daily lives is the effort by companies to reduce the amount of paper we, their customers, receive. Banks, utilities, and the like, for example, have been encouraging people to switch to paperless statements and online billing “for the sake of the environment.” And we’ve all seen the common email tagline, “Please consider the environment before printing this message.”

But paper and printing have gotten a bad rap here. In fact, digital media can be just as much of an environmental problem, if not more. Why? Much of the electricity used to power the data centers where the Internet lives is derived from coal, one of the greatest contributors to global warming. And the mountaintop removal system of coal extraction widely used in Appalachia is directly responsible for deforestation (another global warming trigger), biodiversity loss, and pollution of rivers and streams. (We’re indebted to Don Carli for his excellent work on this issue. See “Is Digital Media Worse for the Environment Than Print?”)

On the other hand, paper these days is often created with energy from renewable biomass, wind, or hydroelectricity. Responsibly sourced paper can actually be a factor in slowing deforestation. The printing industry has started a campaign, Print Grows Trees, to address this issue. They claim that, by giving landowners an incentive to replant trees rather than deforesting the land in favor of crops or, worse, suburban sprawl, printing can save trees and slow global warming.

Take their information with a grain of salt. You still need to make a distinction between diverse, natural forests and monoculture tree farms. Uses that convert the former to the latter are not doing the world a lot of good. And there are still carbon consequences to making paper from virgin fiber that this argument doesn’t address, not to mention the energy involved in running printing presses and transporting paper. But the point is that printed material is not necessarily worse for the environment than online media.

And, we should note, companies also have a financial incentive to reduce their print usage. Printing and mailing paper statements is more expensive than emailing a PDF or a link to a website. There are times when print is appropriate, and times when it isn’t.

So what should you do? Minimize paper usage, using recycled paper whenever possible. Look for FSC or SFI certification when buying paper and printing (or any other wood products) to ensure responsible forestry. Use the tools at Renourish to choose environmentally sound paper or an eco-aware printer. And support efforts to protect existing forests and plant new ones at home and abroad (via land trusts, carbon offset programs, etc.).

When setting up a website, consider using an ISP powered by renewable energy rather than coal.

At Sensical Design we strive for sustainability both in our office and our design work. We have purchased carbon offsets for our business through AIGA’s CarbonCool program. We donate approximately 1 percent of our revenues each year to Environmental Defense Fund to support their global warming efforts. And we are on the AIGA’s sustainable design task force, supporting and helping to spread the Living Principles for Design. We help our clients print and publish in environmentally responsible ways, and help other designers do the same. How can we help you?

For more detail on this issue, including discussion of “dark data” and the recently expanded Lacey Act, see “Print vs. Digital Media: False Dilemmas and Forced Choices.”

Without further preamble, then, let us introduce Ruka Press: An Illuminating Publisher. Ruka Press is a new, independent publisher of nonfiction books designed to beautifully and intelligently explain the world. We intend to publish nonfiction books with a strong information-design component for a general audience.

Why? Well, we love books. We’ve designed and overseen the printing of lots of books, and we think we’re pretty good at it. We also have experience writing and editing that can be put to good use. And we can take advantage of today’s technology and our low overhead to publish attractive books in a cost-effective way. It won’t be easy—it’s going to mean a lot of hard work—but we’re really excited about giving it a try.

We hope you’ll come along on this journey with us. Here’s how you can get involved:

• Visit the Ruka Press Web site and leave a comment, or send us your feedback. It’s a work in progress, and we welcome your thoughts. (And a side note: the site was designed and coded by us at Sensical Design. Can we do some Web design for you?)
• While at the Web site, please sign up for our mailing list. If you’re on the Sensical Design list, you will not automatically be added to the Ruka Press list; the two will be kept entirely separate. We promise just to send occasional messages when we have something interesting to report. You can also send us a message and ask us to add you to the list manually.
• You’ll see that we haven’t announced any books yet. We’re hoping to be able to announce our first title soon, but in the meantime we’re looking for authors. If you or someone you know fits the bill, please send them to the site.
• You can also follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

In this members-only Salon, we will review AIGA’s newly-unveiled Living Principles framework to bring clarity to integrated sustainability. Our discussion will focus on what this means for working designers, the next steps in developing the framework, and how we can put these principles into action in our own practices.

Details and registration are here.

We’ve tested in various browsers (Firefox and Safari on the Mac, IE 6, 7, and 8 on the PC), but if you see any obvious problems on your system, please let us know. We’d love to hear any comments you have, good or bad. Like all Websites, this one’s a work in progress.

And please contact us if we can bring our designer’s eyes to your organization’s Website (or your print materials). We’d love to help you improve and focus your communications.

Tainted Money

At right is the cover for the book Tainted Money: Are We Losing the War on Money Laundering and Terrorism Finance? by Avi Jorisch. This book about money laundering and terrorism financing is primarily intended for a readership of policy makers, international law enforcement officials, and bankers. The cover needed to be dramatic, simple and interesting. We wanted a strong image that captures the sinister nature of the topic, without resorting to the obvious clichés that spring to mind when envisioning money laundering: clotheslines, washing machines, and the like. The bloody cash, photographed by Stefan Klein, was perfect.

Author Avi Jorisch said, “Working with Sensical Design was nothing short of a pleasure. This is a company that delivers high quality products on time and within the proposed budget. Dan designed an eye-catching cover for my book, Tainted Money. He also designed a sleek and easy-to-follow layout for what proved to be a complicated internal structure for each chapter. This firm’s record of professionalism and success speaks for itself.”

Judging took place on a Friday in May. We judges pored over the 180 submitted entries to choose the winner in various categories and an overall Best of Show. The winners were then presented to a packed ballroom last Thursday, June 11.

All the entered books, winning and otherwise, were laid out in the back of the room for inspection. Outgoing WBP president Betsy Kulamer and incoming president Chris Kelaher presented the winners, and the judges took turns commenting on the winning entries and explaining why they were chosen. The winners then were given a snazzy certificate (designed by our friend Anne Kerns) and a chance to speak.

After the event, several people mentioned how much they appreciated hearing the judges’ comments and getting our perspective on good book design. For me, the most important thing coming out of this experience was a reminder that what really matters, what separates the great work from the merely competent, is not some sort of mysterious creative genius. Rather, it’s precise attention to detail in all things: typography, color, imagery, balance, production, etc.

Incidentally, Best in Show went to the absolutely gorgeous Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans, Expanded Edition.

Photos by Barbara Hart of Publications Professionals

Considering the books on Judgment Day

The audience at the awards ceremony