Designer ego…

To conclude (?) my 14-day journey TRYING not to consume single-plastic goods…and maybe to start my life-time journey PERSUEING the possibility to have this option.

A quick recap (for myself included):
- my 1st post on this topic, on this platform and under this challenge was full of expectations over the effects that this approach of writing publicly about all of it was going to have over me;
- my 2nd post, now that I look back into it, already showed a completely unexpected attitude rising from me that I attribute mainly to the “exposure” of sharing thoughts. In the “Sharing the guilt” text, the idea of drafting a letter to the companies that were not offering me the choice to avoid the single-use plastic consumption, was my last promise and from where I’ll start this statement.

Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels (click here to reach the image’s source)

I began imagining the words after “To whom it may concern” of my consumer appeal to food companies, packaging suppliers and regulatory authorities (FDA in the United States, ANVISA in Brazil and EMA in Europe) and I felt the panic I believe most of us would feel when behind this picture’s microphone, with a blurry audience in front of it.

Investigating my inner self on what the reasons for this fear could be, I bumped into a quite embarrassing and deeper realization of why: my ego, more specifically my OLD-SCHOOL DESIGNER ego. And ironically, in this case, my discomfort into disclosing it tells me that this might be worth talking about.

Did I jump too far? Let me explain better, and again, this is hard, so bear with me a bit:

Remember when I mentioned that my expectations over changes were being born? Yeah…they were and they had more identity than what I wanted them to have. I am in the Product Service System Design master, I have a bachelor in Industrial Design and I grew into myself something very human, kind of common, that most of my professional colleagues have but do not discuss: professional EGO with a pinch of ambition. Of course, it varies individually and it doesn’t mean money, or nothing specific, but it exists.

So, obviously I want to achieve some unshaped status in my career, and the confession is that this time, I was expecting to have a breakthrough moment on an innovative service that would be provided with brilliant sustainable products and would improve the society in a broad range, in simpler words, I wanted to make the world a better place.

…(this is a pause for us to share my embarrassment)…

Now, why the f* was that important to admit? Well, after doing so, I could really see the growth I got from this endeavor: I immaterially, without infographics or decent picture choices, not even wondering about the type font or the kerning and layout, selected writing an invitation as the best modification tool to provide people the opportunity to not consume single-plastic.

And this was really disappointing in one way. I struggled with the devil on my shoulder saying “you’re not even branding this letter”?!

And the answer is “no, I’m not branding my communication because I want it to reach the companies from the consumer place, not as a design counter-movement newsletter that the customer service departments will spam.”

My self-dialogue finished with “Okay, so you’re designing not to design…really?!” and I gave up being self-bullied…

I’ll finish this up with my draft letter to Farmina, my cat’s food factory:

By the way, this is Batman, my cat

“To whom it may concern,

I’m a pet lover, I have a cat that is healthier thanks to your food that I know offers natural ingredients, without preservatives and GMO-free (genetically modified organism).
I’m also, as I believe we all are, very concerned and engaged in improving my consumer practices in trying to minimize the environmental issues we’re all responsible for causing.

I’m recently more focused on avoiding the single-plastic packaging and I couldn’t help noticing that N&D is sold in the worst kind of recyclable plastic packaging possible, type 7.
Therefore, I’m writing as your faithful but trapped consumer to question and ask for a solution to this issue.
As you already proudly invest in quality ingredients for your products I believe you aim to attend people like me, that pay attention to sustainable and natural resources and care about degrading nature the least possible.
Nevertheless, you are offering an unpleasant and nowadays unacceptable casing for it.

Could you help me understand why and if there is any investment from you on seeking alternative ways of selling the product (bulk, for example) that do not include single-use plastic?

I appreciate in advance the attention and I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Isadora Koike”