January SF EcoTuesday: Designing Healthy Business
One of the best things about organizing SF EcoTuesday is the opportunity to meet and showcase sustainable business leaders partnering with designers to create thoughtful experiences. My hope is to draw more people from the design community to SF EcoTuesday as a place to connect business ideas with design strategy and solutions. This is a chance for designers to directly network with entrepreneurs and be more involved in work that effects change for the common good. As a designer my personal goal is to be more focused on working for and partnering with organizations who’s goals are to build a more sustainable world.
A great example of this is our upcoming speaker, Dr. Larry Weiss from San Francisco company CleanWell. Dr. Weiss and business parter Sam DeAth teamed up with IDEO to create CleanWell, a line of healthy hand cleaners to promote healthy habits. Weiss and DeAth had a compelling mission inspired by a personal story and an all-natural product based in science. Using design thinking to build a business, IDEO brought their expertise to craft CleanWell into a meaningful experience and brand. The combination of CleanWell and IDEO has succeeded in connecting people to a brand that goes beyond a product by resonating with our daily choices in a tangible and thoughtful way. Good hand washing habits with a healthy, enjoyable cleaner negate the need for us to expose ourselves and environment to toxic chemicals.
Their collaboration resulted is a line of non-toxic, alchohol-free alternative to hand sanitizers and cleaners, produced cruelty-free and made from sustainably grown ingredients. The packaging is considerate in it’s sharp and simple visual design, including low-tac adhesive for easy removal for minimal branding in the home. IDEO designed the packaging and graphics for CleanWell’s line of spray and toweletts, as well as helped build operational and manufacturing capabilities. IDEO’s expertise comes from an interdisciplinary team including industrial designers, engineers, business specialists, and communications and graphic designers who create “multifaceted experiences that connect people to brands in harmonious, meaningful, and emotional ways.” Four years later, CleanWell can be found in Whole Foods, Rainbow Grocery, Walgreens, Target and many other retail locations. Both Seventh Generation and Method sell products powered by CleanWell technology. Through these partnerships the CleanWell logo itself has become a mark of excellence, representing the highest standard in all-natural cleaning quality. You can read more about the IDEO CleanWell case study here.
In preparation for our event next week, I’ll be visiting Dr. Weiss at the CleanWell office to talk about his keynote and see first hand how much a small, focus team can accomplish. Starting off with a clear mission and fantastic branding has clearly helped keep CleanWell true to it’s passion, “A Better Way to Clean”.
EcoTuesday is a networking event for sustainable business. Every event features a 20 minute keynote by an industry thought-leader, followed by the hallmark “Introduction Circle” where all participants have an opportunity to share about their about passion and find like-minded collaborators. Events take place nationwide on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Please join us at The San Francisco W Hotel at 6:30 pm. $5 with online registration ($10 at the door).
RSVP online for SF EcoTuesday, January 25 at 6:30pm, W Hotel San Francsico