The idea of using the compass as a product label is a good way of introducing compass concepts to non-experts. It’s an idea that is easily recognised by people living in modern economies.

Here is a description of the project. The project was for a new shop that was specialising in “ethical and sustainable” products – dry food goods, cosmetics and cleaning products. The owner was careful to select goods to sell that had a short transportation circuit, so “local” products, coming from small businesses. All packaging is re-usable and a client is encouraged to bring his, or her, own container. Since the food is sold in bulk, one only buys the quantity that one wants.

I proposed to the owner that my ex-student Quinn Samouilidis, should construct an entirely intuitive compass reading for each product, using an ecological economics compass. This would then be included on the label for each product, along with the name of the product and the price. The compass would be an impressionistic holistic evaluation of each item.

The owner and I, as a compass constructor, ascertained that, in light of the ideological orientation of the shop, the favoured colour is a light green, and that it would bleed towards red on one side and towards a dark grey/purple on the other. See Fig. 12.1. This is the same as the colour sensitive compass in Fig. 9.2, except that there is a sixty-degree rotation anti-clockwise. The idea was to put the “favoured” colour on top. What was counted as favoured came from the ideological orientation of the shop owner.

Fig. 12.1
figure 1

The compass as a product label

Full size image

Over one summer, Samouilidis developed data tables and compass labels for each product. The data tables were meant to be kept under the front counter for consultation (and eventual amendment). We also produced a poster explaining very briefly what the circle was meant to represent, and how to interpret the arrow. We made a leaflet available that gave a longer description, which was also meant to be available on the website of the shop.

We hoped for three reactions – that clients would prefer, ceteris paribus products with the arrow pointing upwards – indicating harmony and ecological sustainability. As a second reaction, we hoped to arouse curiosity about the products and awareness of the many considerations that can be made concerning the product, inviting criticism and debate about the indicator arrows. We hoped that producers would learn from each other to improve their products and to co-ordinate the small producers, and small agricultural community.

Unfortunately, the shop owner decided not to include the compasses on the labels. He found that as it was, the concept of selling goods in bulk was already demanding for his clients. Also, we were too late. Before Samouilidis had finished, the shop owner had developed his own labelling system: blue stickers to indicate close circuit and green to indicate organic. The stickers he used led to confusion for his clients. He took them away after a few weeks.

What can we learn from this experience? Not all seeds fall on fertile ground. The setting up of the exercise is key. I think that his own experiment was not well thought through – the colours blue and green being too close together, and blue not suggesting short travel distance. Separating the information is also not useful, prima facie. Lastly, without an explanation in the form of a poster meant that if clients did not ask about the stickers, they could only guess or wonder at the significance.