Entry Title: "
Fuel Economy Label Redesign"
Company:
MSDS
,
United States
Category: Professional, Transportation|Concept
Designer(s): Ryan Reynolds
Entry Description:
In 2010, the EPA and Department of Transportation released a set of proposed redesigns for fuel economy labels to be affixed to all new vehicles sold in the United States. (See http://www.epa.gov/air/caaac/mstrs/oct2010/1_snapp.pdf). In response to the reaction that the proposed labels may be too simplistic or subjective, MSDS collaborated with SAFE, a leading energy policy organization, to submit our own redesign of for fuel economy labels.
The overall challenge was simple consumers with accurate information regarding the fuel economy, cost, and environmental impact of vehicles in order to promote purchases that are better for consumers and the environment. But the design challenge was far more complex create a system that works not only for gasoline vehicles, but for the myriad of alternative fuel, hybrid, and electric vehicles entering the market.
Our approach was to create labels that maximize transparency by providing meaningful metrics and apples-to-apples comparisons of vehicles inside and outside the vehicle class. So in addition to seeing the 5-year operating cost of a mid-sized hybrid sedan, consumers could also see how it stacks up against all mid-sized sedans and all other vehicles for critical metrics like cost per mile, greenhouse gases, and other pollutants. By printing this in plain old black and white, we removed the subjectivity associated with the originally proposed color labels and enhanced sustainability by eliminating need for manufacturers to invest in new, full color printing equipment to produce the labels. |
