TORONTO—Design Edge Canada and its partners are presenting three workshops on the hot topic of sustainable design as part of the Design City show starting this weekend in Toronto. As a special offer to DesignEdgeCanada.com readers, this story contains a link to a savings coupon for admittance to the show.

On Saturday Nov. 22 at 2:30 p.m., the Forest Stewardship Council Canada will unveil the results of its first survey on the environmental practices and preferences of paper purchasers. The session will inform designers about environmental design and print trends and allow designers to compare their practices with industry benchmarks. Hosts Maia Becker, vice-president of FSC Canada, and Bernard Hellen, president and creative director of Traffic Marketing + Design, will also conduct an open panel discussion.

Then on Sunday, Nov. 23, Spread the Word co-founder and Grip Limited associate partner Patrick Robinson will conduct two workshops. The first, Using Footprint Calculators for Greener Design, will address the issue of how designers can help reduce the carbon footprints of their projects. It starts at 11 a.m. and this workshop is sponsored by Colour Innovations.

The second starts at 2:30 and is titled The New Creative Brief for a Sustainable Future. It will show how Spread the Word has “re-worked” the industry standard creative brief to include sustainability prompting questions. The session is sponsored by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

Spread the Word is an association of designers, design managers and design educators whose mission is to help make the world a better place by spreading the word of cause-based design.

Admittance to the sustainable design workshops is free for those attending Design City. Design City features more than 30 leading exhibitors to the design industry, and is part of Print World, which offers another 200 exhibitors and features, including the Adobe Print Software Theatre with CS4 demonstrations.

Entry at the door is $18, but readers can print out the coupon located here, bring it to the show and save $5.

Design City also offers three seminars on the new Quark 8, colour management and how to sell design, reported elsewhere on this site. Seminars are $75 and include admission to the show. (The $5 coupon can also be used for the seminars.)

Design City takes place Nov. 22-24 at the Direct Energy Centre on the Exhibition grounds in Toronto. Click here for full details.