ZERO-FIFTY Studio Visit

Zero-Fifty.
Studio Visit.
Designed to look like a magazine, ZERO-FIFTY presents the complex issues of climate change in an innovative, playful, and appealing way, with content that includes future city visions, ground-breaking energy generation technologies, and enlightening infographics. Its chief objective is to educate audiences of all disciplines, not only about the problems the planet is facing, but also the solutions. David Arnold and Alexa Ratzlaff launched a kickstarter campaign to help fund their climate change book. Visiting Zero-Fifty and seeing what they have produced, and how they have done it just shows how much can come from kickstarter campaigns. Showing that if you really believe in something and want it to work, then kickstarter campaigns can really help.

Subject of their book.

After speaking to David, he explained what he had to do in terms of copy-write and crediting people in the book, and I have found how much work that takes to do. The entire book has been made from volunteer Graphic Designers and Architectures. There isn't a lot left to go into the book, therefore he doesn't require any help at the minute as there is just copy-write left to do. Although he said that in the summer he will be looking for some illustrators to help with the social network advertising of the book, this is something that I would be interested in doing. And may volunteer to do this in the summer, depending on a job situation and whether I have on or not. As if I don't manage to find a job, I would like to keep my hand in design whilst I am looking.

What I was most interested in, when it came to the climate change book, was the information graphics that has been produced for book, and the illustrations. They were amazing, and although they were all done by different people, therefore throughout the book the illustration style changed, but this still worked really well for the book. As it just showed how many people there werr involved in making the book.

Information about the book.
Climate change has been described as the biggest challenge mankind has ever faced, and scientists believe that if the world continues to emit carbon at the current rate, our planet will be beyond salvation in less than a decade. “The question is however, what can we do about it? Most books and documentaries that tackle climate change only write about the problem, not the solution,” David explains. “ZERO-FIFTY aims to bridge that gap by demonstrating what it really takes to reduce man-made carbon emissions to zero and prevent climate change.”
ZERO-FIFTY starts off by providing a vision of what our world would look like if mankind chooses to do nothing, business as usual – climaxing to a vision of the earth when global average temperatures rise by up to six degrees in 2100. The rest of the book then focuses on how this can be prevented by reducing the amount of energy the world consumes over the next 35 years. This includes explaining how to substantially reduce the amount of energy buildings, vehicles, and factories expend with minimal disruption to modern lifestyle. Finally, the book demonstrates how to power the remaining energy demand using existing zero carbon energy generation technologies and a selection of highly innovative urban energy generating towers – transforming cityscapes around the globe.
The authors have decided to self-publish – “We want to publish ZERO-FIFTY both as an app for tablet devices and a physical book. Most publishers were not too keen on that idea. On top of that, with all the parties involved, the book becomes more expensive than it has to be, and, by publishing ZERO-FIFTY independently, we can print the book just the way we want to – using certified recycled paper and vegetable inks,” Alexa explains.
To self-publish, ZERO-FIFTY is currently raising funds on the popular crowdfunding website Kickstarter.com until March 1st. On Kickstarter, anyone can pledge towards ZERO-FIFTY in exchange for a variety of rewards, including signed copies of the book, personalized postcards, presentations to companies, and invitations to the ZERO-FIFTY launch party. The catch is however, ZERO-FIFTY must meet its goal of £20,000 by March 1st or it will not receive any funding. “We believe that ZERO-FIFTY will have a really positive impact on the way people think about climate change,” says Alexa. “That’s why we are really hoping to gather enough interest so that our backers can help us help the planet.”
Kickstarter is a funding platform for projects from films and music to design and technology. Since its launch in 2009, 5.6 million people have pledged $971 million, funding 55,000 creative projects.
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After the Visit.
After visiting Zero-Fifty and finding out more about their project and what they are doing, I have really started to think about the way I live and how what I do impacts the world in a positive or negative way. I also have realised that I would like to go back in the summer if I haven't already found a job, just so that I can keep my hand in design. I also think that this would be a good project to be a part of. I will try to keep in contact with Zero-Fifty even though I know that it may not lead to a future job, I think that it is important to know people, and make a lot of friend in design.