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Investigating Material Lifecycles

A set of posters revealing the roots and impacts of “swag” merchandise culture

Investigating Material Lifecycles was a strategic initiative to critically examine material purchasing within Concordia University and instigate shifts in policies and practices. Targeting the event merchandise purchased en masse by student associations each year, I conducted interviews with student leaders and produced two visual research posters. The research was presented to Sustainable Concordia and the posters were placed on display at Concordia’s Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR).

I undertook this initiative as part of CUCCR and Sustainable Concordia’s 2019 Material Lifecycle Research Residency.

View poster #1 » View poster #2 »

When

Nov 2019 – March 2020 (5 months, part-time)

Where

Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, Canada

With

Concordia University's Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR)

Sustainable Concordia

Themes

material reuse

Event-branded T-shirts and merchandise were the focal point of this initiative, which positioned them as effectively single use, given their tendency to be fast discarded. Design theorist Jonathan Chapman's concept of emotional durability was intended to play a central role in the (unrealized) final phase of the project, in which student leaders would come together to brainstorm alternatives to swag.

Practices

Art

Design

Designed two visual research posters, including illustrations and iconography

Developed a plan to strategically deploy research (unrealized due to COVID-19)

Research

Reviewed literature on lifecycle analysis of cotton T-shirts

Conducted six interviews with student leaders

Writing

Facilitation