A Sustainable Love
It is a rare privilege to collaborate on a project that is deeply rooted in love. Not just an easy or convenient love. But one that takes care, consideration, patience, and ultimately, sacrifice. One might say this is the only love that can last. That is sustainable.
Bestselling author and Elephant Journal founder Waylon H. Lewis fundamentally believes in that kind of love, not just for ourselves, but for the planet. That is not simply a sound bite for marketing. Lewis partnered with Dot Think Design for the daunting task of designing a fully modern, sustainable book to fall in love with ourselves.
Dot Think worked closely with Waylon to create snapshots of moments, strategies and experiences of every day life. Each page a vignette of it’s own is strung together in a series of 108, a significant number in Waylon’s tradition of Buddhism. The illustrations, hand drawn by Waylon himself, were converted to high res art and thoughtfully placed through the book and cover. Unlike most print projects, Waylon and Corti spent time on a screen share, moving images and type around as if playing in a zen garden. It was truly a magical process.
There is such an ethical premium on literature and books that few people know how toxic they are to the environment. Most works are printed with toxic inks and plastic covers at remote facilities then delivered by climate-heating container ships. For Lewis’ latest book, It’s Never too Late to Fall in Love with your Life, the cover, inks and print production were as sustainable, eco-friendly, and carbon neutral as possible.
Printed locally with carbon-sucking algae instead of ink and a cover that is literally the only cloth available that is plastic- and plastic-coating free in the whole world, this design took time, care, consideration and hard choices. We could not be more proud of the results.
This is Lewis’ second book and he describes it as: “Chock Full with Buddhist wisdom, environmental tips, activism, and life lessons learned the hard way (made accessible so you might learn ‘em the easy way)…this carbon-negative,
plastic-free gift book opens up a life of meaning, caring, change, and joy for a world in need.” Read it and buy it at shop.elephantjournal.com
Waylon H. Lewis
Waylon Lewis is the founder of elephant magazine, elephantjournal.com (named Top 10 in US for Green) and host of “Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis” (named “Top 10 green video in US” by MNN). Born in Boulder, Colorado, Waylon graduated from Boston University’s top-ranked magazine journalism school, was named Naturally Boulder entrepreneur of the year in ’07, Top Denver-area Single by 5280, “Green Hero” by Discovery Network’s Planet Green and “Changemaker” by Treehugger, “Prominent Buddhist” by Shambhala Sun magazine, and #1 on twitter in the US for #Green content (Shorty Awards). Recently, Waylon was named Treehugger’s “Best of Green” Reader’s Choice Eco Ambassador in Culture & Celebrity for 2010. A featured columnist for Huffington Post, Waylon is a 365-day bike commuter, mediocre and lazy yogi who aspires to help change the world for the better (and get filthy rich), have 12 children (and only one wife), run for President (and lose), and have fun all along the way.
Dot Think Design
As a woman-owned & operated agency based in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Dot Think Design serves businesses and nonprofit organizations across the US with branding and marketing strategy, print and web design, social media and email campaigns. Clients include the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Harvard Business School Precision Medicine Accelerator, Lululemon and more.
DotThinkDesign made sure that the beauty of this composition goes much deeper than what’s written on the page, although we did design the book and cover. Most works are printed at remote locations or factories then delivered by climate-heating container ships. This book is locally printed and compiled supporting good-paying jobs with benefits using non-toxic inks. We are proud to be an intricate partner in such an eco-friendly undertaking that makes a very sustainable finished product.
