But Is It Sustainable

When I enrolled at University of Delaware way back when, my major was listed as “Graphic and Advertising Design.” At some time during my four years there, the program’s name was changed to “Visual Communications.” I was not a fan of the name change. The original was straight forward and needed no further explanation. The latter was a bit more obscure, and really no one outside of the industry (AKA my parents) understood what it meant—even though the meaning is fairly obvious. I was learning how to communicate visually.

To this day, if I am asked what I do, I will say “I am a graphic artist” or sometimes “a graphic designer.” I don’t think I have ever referred to myself as a “visual communicator” although that is actually a pretty accurate description of what I do.

Each January, NAVC hosts one of the world’s largest veterinary conferences (this does all tie together, just bear with me). For the 2024 show, they launched a new sustainability initiative. Sustainability is currently a hot buzzword in corporate America. Sustainability gets mentioned a lot (if not actually practiced a lot). Far from being some left-wing conspiracy, it actually makes a fair amount of business sense. Do more with less. Reuse, not remake. Eliminate waste. Save money. All good things.

To announce this new initiative, NAVC wanted a small ad created for one of the conference booklets. A logo had been completed a few months prior, but no other graphics had been designed—so where to start? Of course, the schedule was tight, the ad needed to be designed on the fly, and completed quickly. And look good. And work long-term. No pressure.

While doing a quick search of stock photography for sustainability concepts, I found a lot of images of hands holding the planet earth, hands holding light bulbs, hands holding recycling symbols, pretty much every overused trope for sustainability. Plus, one image of a paw print made up of plants. I didn’t love any of them, and all the images had that “been there, done that” vibe. However, this ad was being done for a veterinary conference, and the paw print image got me thinking. Hmmm. Dogs. Hmmm. Paw prints. Hmmm. Paw prints fading away. Hmmm. Paw prints on a beach. Dogs on a beach.

And there you have it. “Leaving a lighter footprint” communicated visually.