To formalize Tricycle’s reputation as a sustainability expert we designed a self-published 120 page book entitled Reverb, edited and organized by our Communications Director, Caleb Ludwick. The book was made up of eleven articles contributed by eco-consultants, commercial designers and editors from major industry publications, including designers at leading firms Gensler and TVS Interiors, editors at Interior Design and Contract magazines, and the national president of AIGA, America’s professional design association.
They wrote on topics ranging from creating market demand for more environmentally friendly products and marketing to integrating project teams for best eco-practices. All articles were donated by their authors enabling 50% of the sale of each book to go to Architecture for Humanity — a not-for-profit organization bringing architectural and design solutions to humanitarian crises in America and abroad.In response to the immediacy of the pieces, I and my team spent an extended weekend creating a book design that is itself an experiment. Cut to three sizes including a textbook, a flipbook, or full-size integrated design, Reverb's graphics and layouts react and respond to the content of the pieces.
We launched the book in a smartly design exhibit at NeoCon 2006. The interest was overwhelming and started a groundswell. All 2500 copies were distributed in a matter of months. Editorial coverage was significant in traditional and non-traditional media. Environmental Design + Construction reprinted one of the articles in their nationally distributed publication. Interior Design distributed 1400 copies at their annual gala, the “Oscars” of the interior design industry. The blogosphere loved the book; Massive Change, MocoLoco, Inhabitat, Treehugger and Core77 all ran stories (links to all here).
To date, the book has been honored as one of the top 100 designs of 2006 by Step magazine, and as a winner in Print magazine's A+C=D Business Graphics Review and their Regional Design Annual, the Best of Show winner in the 2007 Mohawk Paper Show and selected for the AIGA National Design Archives housed in the Denver Art Museum. Though it's out of print Reverb is still available as a downloadable e-book.
