Planet Truth

Planet truth is a group of people who are highlighting contemporary issues through t-shirt design. Through there powerful imagery and clever text, they aim to bring out the truth through edgy, urban, organic t-shirts.
The designers promote the truth about issues through t-shirts which are thought provocative, but at the same time very fashionable.
Issues that they deal with have been toxic chemicals in perfumes, the effects of the meat industry on the environment, sugar poison, chemical companies destroying the environment and other issues.

Take a look at the website for Planet Truth at
www.planet-truth.com
The designers would also like to hear about designs for future t-shirt designs, which can be emailed to them at truth@planet-truth.com, and they may even use one of your ideas regarding a contemporary issue.

The Reality of Drought-Poster Design

As a part of our studies within the contemporary issues of design class, we had to design a poster relating to an issue, which included information about the issues, the current engagement of designers and also future recommendations regarding how designers could help to solve the issue.
This poster looks at the drought and how people who live in cities are saving water, because the drought does not affect their everyday lives directly.

What do you think of this poster? and how does the drought affect you personally?

Designs Contribution to Sustainable Development

Designs contribution to Sustainable Development comes with the reorganization of design world wide to promote producing products that look beyond the way it looks and performs, to consider what goes on when products are made and what happens when they are eventually disposed of. Working with governments, communities and industry, designers are working to prevent pollution and over-consumption from ruining the planet and natural resources we all rely upon. To support this there is a need for urgent development of industrial products and processes, to make them more sustainable, this is good for people, profits, and the planet. (Datschefski, 2001, p. 8-9)


The design brief has been seen as the most crucial part in the entire design process in terms of achieving environmental design strategies. By using the briefing stage to set out environmental criteria, allowing assessment throughout the various design process, and ensuring that environmental design strategies are not being compromised. This way of briefing is only a new consideration, many barriers need to be overcome including cost, lack of information, lack of education, inappropriate legislation, aesthetic and philosophical constraints. With inclusion of all parties involved in the design process, for example environmental scientists, engineers and designers and others, the barriers can be overcome and a greater range of issues covered and integral relationships between the environmental strategies established.

Greater emphasis on the environmental issues at the briefing stage can ensure greater levels of sustainability. During the generation of a design, it becomes increasable difficult and costly to added environmental considerations in later in the process, making decisions made at the briefing stage of least effort and placing importance on decisions made early and increasing the opportunities for greater level of sustainable design and less expensive.

The key design process in a sustainable design process include:

1. Education
• Briefing process
• Educating client of design possibilities
• Nature and the environment
• Lifestyle changes
• Relations to sustainability

2. Development of Functional Brief and Environmental
• Requirements
• Spatial relationships
• Budget
• Aesthetics
• Research
• Environmental strategies and goals

3. Resource Producing Strategies
• Strategies that involve generation of energy, water and food and the treatment and or reuse of waste.

4. Passive Design Strategies
• Strategic responses to climate, site, context, aimed at minimisng impact of the design

5. Material Selection Strategies
• Attempting to minimise impact of the design before its use.

6. Construction Strategies
• On site building practices aimed at minimising the impact of the construction of the building.

Primary Structure
• Minimising existing site disturbance
• Minimising waste during the construction process
• Ease of construction
• Speed of construction
• Maximises volumes to maximise potential air flow
• Adequately allow functional spatial requirements
• Minimise embodied energy
• Materials from renewable resources
• Utilisation of small waste to produce larger elements
• Low embodied energy

7. Cost Planning
• life-cycle costing
• Environmental cost-benefit analyses of the strategies were undertaken.
• Capital cost of the house.


The brief can be a very useful tool for the process of design. It will help the progress in not only the design of a product but help designers refine the way in which things are produced. Constant refinement of the design process will help designers contribute to reaching environmental goals and achieving a sustainable design future for generation to came.

Melissa Stewart

Green Roofs

Green roofs are something that may interest landscape designers, they have been around for a while and are basically a gardening style that includes using your rooftop as a garden space where plants, and also grass can be planted.
Green roofs are a great answer to growing environmental problems, when plants or grass is grown on your roof, they can minimise the homes energy costs, improve air quality, extend the roofs lifespan, can be used as insulators, and also reduces water runoff.
This practise has been done for a very long time in Europe, but recently Americans are starting to use green roofs in design, with Australia a potential place for this to be implemented. In China, they are planning to have 45% of homes and buildings with green roofs by the year 2008.
Firstly your building or home needs to be strong enough to hold up the weight of a garden, manufacturers have created a new product called Green Grid systems, which are like canturf, but for your roof, or trees and shrubs could also be used.
Green roofs look great, but can also be used for useful purposes, in areas of mass population such as cities, green roofs provide an area on high rise buildings for workers to use as a rest and relaxation place, they can also be used to grow food, which can be harvested by the home owner, and improve air quality in places normally polluted.
Many people believe that in the future large cities such as New York will be covered in green roofs, making the city a more pleasant place to be.
Green roofs are a great way to maximise the potential of a space that is normally not used, providing a visual statement, that is not only attractive but beneficial.
Here a few links to sites about green roofs:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/10/building_the_gr.php
http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden_product/sustainability/landscaped-architecture.htm
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/chinas_learning.php

Civil Liberties Abstract

Civil liberties are a vital part of any functioning democracy. The Australian public know very little of their rights as citizens. The Australian government is able to get away with silencing any dissent and manipulating any information made available to the general public. Australia is showing declining participation by citizens in democratic processes. This disengagement is further exacerbated by restrictions on the flow of information to the public.

The dissenting opinions being stifled include that of charitable organisations by using threats of funding withdrawal. The Australian government have also tried to suppress dissenting voices in universities, research sectors and the media through the use of bullying tactics including public, personal attacks and even vicious rumour spreading. This has a direct impact on the average Australian citizens capacity to be informed and therefore participate.

Australian law as it currently stands does not protect even the most fundamental rights that Australians assume they have. For example to law does not fully protect freedom of speech or freedom of religion. Civil Liberties Australia (CLA) is attempting to rectify these occurrences, bring them to public attention and also educate the public about their civil liberties. They achieve this through publicising issues on their website, sending out newsletters to members, keeping a good relationship with the state ombudsman as well as producing submissions for government bodies. One such submission is a proposal for/design of a bill, or charter of rights. They are hoping this charter will firmly cement civil rights in the law and also help to bring them to the attention of the general public.

Graphic design could be the key to getting the information out in the public arena. The priority of all graphic design is to get attention. The public needs to feel intrigued, astounded or provoked in order to illicit a response and this can all be achieved through the use of texture, colour, imagery and text. A design campaign using print matter, online or even television campaigns utilising the power of graphic design could help to get the message out to the public and ensure our rights and our future as a free and democratic society.

- Irene Rayment

Civil Liberties

-Irene Rayment

What choice do we have?

Once we begin to investigate these questions of global warming, we enter a labyrinth of fact and theory that could involve years of study. The question is, how? Is it possible for the non-specialist to form judgments about issues involving a high degree of specialized knowledge? The more specialized our culture and its problems, the more critical this question becomes.
Global warming, or global climate change, has been one of the most urgent and controversial environmental issues in the last decade. Scientists have determined that the maximum amount of global warming the planet can tolerate is two degrees Celsius. If we continue on our current path, we'll achieve that rise by about 2050, and we'd reach a rise of three degrees Celsius by 2070. With a temperature rise that high, the consequences are catastrophic-the polar ice caps would melt, warmer ocean temperatures would result in severe weather patterns, and we could lose 25 percent of the species on the planet.

This issue of global warming is slowly being recognized by the millions of people around the globe but unfortunately is going in the right direction slower then we need it. Designers around the world are beginning to cater for this diaster we have brought upon ourselves by creating systems like green star ratings and using further Environmental Sustainable Design.

One of the keys to slowing global warming on our little blue planet may be educating architects and other building professionals about designing and building more efficient buildings. We can achieve a better environment by making sure siting and orientation of buildings work with the environment and take advantage of passive heating/cooling and natural lighting.

The architectural community has the unique opportunity to lead the way in reversing the destructive trend of human induced climate change. They hold the key to the lock on the global warming situation. If they open the lock, and if the automobile industry also accepts its responsibility to decrease the fuel consumption of its assembly and if more countries use a percentage of their energy to come from non-polluting renewable resources then the world will have a possible strategy in place to combat global warming and restore its international good will and credibility.