Oxide Design Co.

OMAHA NE

Drew Davies, Owner, Oxide Design Co., and National President Emeritus, AIGA writes:

“We believe strongly in using our design powers for good, to support worthy and valuable efforts in our community and our world. Part of this drive is explained by our manifesto: We design to solve problems, realize meaningful change, help people, and make sense of the world. In that vein, over half of our work is donated or discounted for nonprofits and charitable organizations, and we seek to work with organizations we could be most valuable to – where we can do the most good. One branch of our socially responsible work is civic design. We work toward the goal of making the election process smoother for all and including more folks in the democratic process by using plain language. We also partner with a wide variety of nonprofits that we believe are doing good out in the world — from local arts organizations to international initiatives dedicated to helping women leave the sex trade.”

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Oxide Design Co. regularly partners with the Nebraska chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Recently, this has included creating an identity and collateral pieces for one of their programs called Western Nebraska Irrigation Project (WNIP). Nebraska irrigates more acres of farmland than any other state. WNIP is an entirely new program to study irrigation patterns and allow scientists, professors, and ag producers to work together to conserve water. The technology involved in this project includes an electroconductivity map, soil moisture probes, and mobile-accessible pivot tracking. The Nature Conservancy is cost-sharing this technology with the farmers, as well as educating them on its use. The technology should pay for itself if not within the first year, for sure by year three. With hopefully thousands of acres to study this year, WNIP should gain valuable information about where the water goes, how the watershed is affected, and how to improve conservation. In the future, this research could lead the state to incentivize conservation among producers — which would be a big win for conservation.

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Pictured above (left to right): Adam Torpin, Mandy Mowers, Drew Davies, Josh Schwieger, Chris Walker