Return Design Wins $15,000 Sappi: Ideas That Matter Grant

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2012

MEDIA CONTACT
Joanna Rieke, Sappi Corporate Communications
617.423.5409
[email protected]

Cyndi McMahon, Gordon College Media Relations
978.867.4236
[email protected]
 

WENHAM, MA—Sappi Fine Paper North America announced today the 13 grant recipients for its 13th annual Ideas that Matter program, the industry’s highly respected grant program aimed at helping designers create and implement print projects for charitable causes. Among the lists of recipients is Gordon College Creative Director and Program Coordinator for Return Design, Tim Ferguson Sauder for the LOOKLOOK campaign with Kestrel Educational Adventures.

LOOKLOOK is a personal project started by Fergsuon Sauder which currently includes a set of animal trading cards and an accompanying research journal. After establishing the main design of the cards and the style of illustration he enlisted the help of Return Design alums and later Return Design itself to help in the ongoing production of the cards and journal. Return Design is assisting in the production of the card and journal designs and is being awarded the Sappi:Ideas That Matter grant in the amount of $15,000 to pay for the production of a set of cards and journals to be distributed to North Shore schools through Kestrel, a local non-profit.

Since 1999, Sappi's Ideas that Matter program has awarded over $12 million worldwide in grants to designers around the globe to support their work for nonprofit programs and organizations. This year’s winning projects reflect the on-going commitment in the design community to utilize design in combination with innovative thinking to solve social problems. Grantees submitted outstanding proposals outlining their ideas, creative execution and their unique ability to instill positive social, cultural or environmental change.

"Being awarded the Sappi grant is incredibly exciting for us," said Fergsuon Sauder after learning of today's Sappi announcment. "It not only confirms the quality of work and ideas that are happening in Return Design but it also gives us the opportunity to more effectively support our local school systems through good design. Gordon College has from our inception been a huge support to our ideas and program—its great to now see that support mirrored by the broader design community."

Return Design is a graphic design studio located on the campus of Gordon College comprised of college students who work to deliver design solutions to nonprofit and art-related organizations. With the support of Return Design alums and a number of outside partners Return Design helps people who are doing important things more effectively serve their clientele.

"We're committed to using design as an agent of change for the better, whether that’s supporting a non-profit or developing a system from scratch like this one," said Fergsuon-Sauder, who founded the program in 2004 while serving on the faculty at Gordon College. "We hope this project will instill in students across the North Shore a knowledge and understanding of the animals around them that translates into an ever increasingly sustainable and respectful approach to their world."

The selected Sappi proposals were determined by an independent judging panel of leaders, all widely recognized for their forward-thinking commitment to design for social good, from the design profession.

“Sappi started the Ideas that Matter program because we wanted to give back in a way that we felt could make a real and lasting impact,” said Patti Groh, Marketing Director, Sappi Fine Paper North America. “After 13 years, we are proud to see this legacy continue and to be able to recognize the critical role that good design plays in inspiring people to take action.”

For information, or to see a full listing of this year's Sappi: Ideas that Matter grant recipients, visit www.sappi.com. To schedule an interview with Tim Ferguson Sauder and the Return Design program at Gordon College, call 978.8674284.

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Located on Boston’s North Shore, Gordon is one of the nation’s premier Christian colleges, offering majors in 38 fields with graduate programs in education and music education. Gordon is strategically located on the Eastern Seaboard—just 20 miles from Boston, and a few hours away from the financial and political capitals of the Western world (New York and Washington, D.C.)—providing students with extraordinary access to leading-edge learning and professional opportunities. We set ourselves apart from the many outstanding institutions of higher learning in New England by combining first-rate training in the liberal arts and sciences with an informed Christian faith.  

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