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“The AIGA (Re)designAwards are about rethinking that power and redirecting it to do the right thing by supporting and motivating the emerging ethos of a sustainable economy. This design competition is looking to recognize the best of the best in sustainable graphic design created by designers around the world.
Sustainable Organization Category: # 1st place / Atelier Louis-Charles Lasnier / Écocentre, City of Montréal
Project goal:
Écocentre, as the name implies are a series of sites on the island of Montréal were people can drop off recyclables that are not already picked up at their door as part of the Blue box program.
They were initially owned and operated by each municipality, but as part of an island wide merger in 2002, the new Ville de Montreal launched a limited competition to define a new identity and signage system for its 5 existing sites.
The initial mandate called for a complete rollout of the new identity and signage in all 5 sites within the year. The initial brief also called for the Centres to be as ‘self-serve’ as possible. But we realized early on, that the people working at these centres acted as key ambassadors to proper recycling. Furthermore, young people who were interested in working at the Écocentre were often people who had not found a meaningful role in society, too critical of the consumerism culture to work at entry-level jobs in fast food chains or shopping centres. Here, they found a job that was meaningful to them.
Project result:
As we began the project, we realized that the City of Montreal had only a vague idea of what it needed. Within this context, we decided to design a visual questionnaire to be sent to everyone involved with the management or exploitation of the Écocentre. This allowed us to announce our involvement in this new project and get a broad range of resources involved in the decision making process.
Based on these results, we then suggested the launch of a pilot project. The City agreed to this methodology and the whole process became much more open and research based.”
To continue reading about the City of Montreal Ecocentre…
To view the list of all 2009 winners…
For more information about Atelier Louis-Charles Lasnier…
(Source: Stéphanie Jecrois, Design Montréal, Service de la mise en valeur du territoire et du patrimoine, Direction du développement économique et urbain, Ville de Montréal. Source photo: Prix Grafika 2009)