A party flier designed by Phase 2 in 1981. Cornell University Library. The work of Phase 2 is discussed in the article "In the Late ’70s in the Bronx, PHASE 2’s Party Flyers Created a Visual Language for Hip-Hop," which can also be found under Web Resources.
This section is meant to provide resources so that students can think about graphic design through a critical and compassionate lens, as well showcase the work of designers from marginalized communities.
CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It by
On design's complicity in systems of oppression: critique and exit strategies from the author of The Politics of Design Our current economic system could not exist without the number systems, coins, banknotes, documents, advertisements, interfaces, typefaces and information graphics that graphic designers have helped to create. Even speculative design and social design play their part in fueling the economic system. Capitalism has brought tremendous wealth, but it has not done so evenly. Extreme income inequality and environmental destruction is the price future generations have to pay for unbridled economic growth. The question is whether ethical graphic design is even possible under such conditions. CAPS LOCK uses clear language and visual examples to show how graphic design and capitalism are inextricably linked. By sharing examples of radical design practices that challenge the supremacy of the market, it hopes to inspire a different kind of graphic design. Ruben Pater (born 1977) was trained as a graphic designer and works in journalism, activism, education and graphic design under the name Untold Stories. His work has received several international prizes and he has participated in many exhibitions worldwide. His first book, The Politics of Design (2016), has been an inspirational sourcebook for design students, artists and visual communicators in many different places and contexts; Eye on Design wrote: "It's the kind of literature that should be handed out to all students on their first days at art school, along with all the Albers, Berger, Benjamin and Sontag that form the backbone of the design curriculum--an up-to-date assessment of the landscape through which all modern visual practitioners must navigate."
Design Struggles by
An intersectional take on design history and the design discourse, with feminist, decolonial, anti-racist, activist, non-Western and indigenous perspectives Critically assessing the complicity of design in creating, perpetuating and reinforcing social, political and environmental problems--both today and in the past--Design Struggles proposes to brush the discipline against the grain, by problematizing Western notions of design, fostering situated, decolonial and queer-feminist modes of disciplinary self-critique. It gathers a diverse array of perspectives, ranging from social and cultural theory, design history and activism to sociology, anthropology, and critical and political studies, looking at design through the intersections of gender, culture, ethnicity and class. Contributors include: Claudia Mareis, Nina Paim, Danah Abdulla, Tanveer Ahmed, Zoy Anastassakis, Brave New Alps, Johannes Bruder, Cheryl Buckley, Sria Chatterjee, Alison J. Clarke, common-interest, Sasha Costanza-Chock, Decolonising Design, Bianca Elzenbaumer, Arturo Escobar, Kjetil Fallan, Griselda Flesler, Paola De Martin, Ramia Maz e, Tania Messell, Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Rebecca Ross, Nan O'Sullivan and Mia Charlene White.
Design to Renourish by
Inspiration is everywhere when you stop to not just smell but watch the roses. Mother Nature's interwoven relationships between all life can serve as a powerful model for graphic designers to create sustainable print and digital work. Design to Renourish is a book for the graphic design professional that helps to integrate sustainability into their workflow through a design process called systems thinking. This process asks the graphic designer to approach a design problem by being more informed and aware of and influenced by the impacts that material and vendor choices have on one another, the planet, and consequently on us. The book not only walks the reader through how to design with Mother Nature as a model, but also offers solutions to the real life challenges of working with the client to create sustainable work. Through ten case studies that feature interviews with international design teams who embrace a sustainable systems methodology, the reader will gain valuable insights on how to design to renourish and improve life on Earth.
Developing Citizen Designers by
The aim of this book is to enable students, educators and designers in the early stages of their careers to learn and practise design in a socially responsible manner. It responds to the rise of academic debate and teaching in the areas of social design, sustainable design, ethical design and design futures. Citizen Designers is a practically and pedagogically focused book, with each chapter addressing a particular area or issue within design practice and education, with an overview framing essay, interviews with practitioners and educators, and assignment briefs through which the reader can understand the process by which a brief is set, met and critiqued.
Extra Bold by
Extra Bold is the inclusive, practical, and informative (design) career guide for everyone! Part textbook and part comic book, zine, manifesto, survival guide, and self-help manual, Extra Bold is filled with stories and ideas that don't show up in other career books or design overviews. * Both pragmatic and inquisitive, the book explores power structures in the workplace and how to navigate them. * Interviews showcase people at different stages of their careers. * Biographical sketches explore individuals marginalized by sexism, racism, and ableism. * Practical guides cover everything from starting out, to wage gaps, coming out at work, cover letters, mentoring, and more. A new take on the design canon. * Opens with critical essays that rethink design principles and practices through theories of feminism, anti-racism, inclusion, and nonbinary thinking. * Features interviews, essays, typefaces, and projects from dozens of contributors with a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, gender identities, and positions of economic and social privilege. * Adds new voices to the dominant design canon. Written collaboratively by a diverse team of authors, with original, handcrafted illustrations by Jennifer Tobias that bring warmth, happiness, humor, and narrative depth to the book.Extra Bold is written by Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type), Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, and Valentina Vergara.
How Many Female Type Designers Do You Know? by
A pioneering appraisal of female typographers, with historical research and interviews with contemporary practitioners This important new book surveys the past and present of women working in typography. The first section looks at the statistics, data and an overview of the field apropos of gender, supplemented with biographies of female type designers that worked in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These women contributed to the industry significantly, but are rarely mentioned in histories of the subject. The second portion of the volume comprises a series of interviews with 14 women that are either currently working as type designers or are in other ways involved in the field of type design: Gayaneh Bagdasaryan, Veronika Burian, Maria Doreuli, Louise Fili, Martina Flor, Loraine Furter, Jenna Gesse, Golnar Kat Rahmani, Indra Kupferschmid, Briar Levit, Zuzana Licko, Ana Regidor, Fiona Ross and Carol Wahler. The final part of the book presents a showcase of typefaces designed by women.
Queer X Design by
The first-ever illustrated history of the iconic designs, symbols, and graphic art representing more than 5 decades of LGBTQ pride and activism. Beginning with pre-liberation and the years before the Stonewall uprising, spanning across the 1970s and 1980s and through to the new millennium, Queer X Design celebrates the inventive and subversive designs that have powered the resilient and ever-evolving LGBTQ movement. The diversity and inclusivity of these pages is as inspiring as it is important, both in terms of the objects represented as well as in the array of creators; from buttons worn to protest Anita Bryant, to the original 'The Future is Female' and 'Lavender Menace' t-shirt; from the logos of Pleasure Chest and GLAAD, to the poster for Cheryl Dunye's queer classic The Watermelon Woman; from Gilbert Baker's iconic rainbow flag, to the quite laments of the AIDS quilt and the impassioned rage conveyed in ACT-UP and Gran Fury ephemera. More than just an accessible history book, Queer X Design tells the story of queerness as something intangible, uplifting, and indestructible. Found among these pages is sorrow, loss, and struggle; an affective selection that queer designers and artists harnessed to bring about political and societal change. But here is also: joy, hope, love, and the enduring fight for free expression and representation. Queer X Design is the potent, inspiring, and colorful visual history of activism and pride.
Reading Graphic Design History by
Reading Graphic Design History uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction and typography, often addressing issues of class, race and gender. David Raizman's innovative approach intentionally challenges the canon of graphic design history and various traditional understandings of graphic design. He re-examines 'icons' of graphic design in light of their local contexts, avoiding generalisation to explore underlying attitudes about various social issues. He encourages new ways of reading graphic design that take into account a broader context for graphic design activity, rather than broad views that discourage the understanding of difference and the means by which graphic design communicates cultural values. With a foreword by Steven Heller.
W. E. B. du Bois's Data Portraits by
The colorful charts, graphs, and maps presented at the 1900 Paris Exposition by famed sociologist and black rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois offered a view into the lives of black Americans, conveying a literal and figurative representation of "the color line." From advances in education to the lingering effects of slavery, these prophetic infographics --beautiful in design and powerful in content--make visible a wide spectrum of black experience. W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits collects the complete set of graphics in full color for the first time, making their insights and innovations available to a contemporary imagination. As Maria Popova wrote, these data portraits shaped how "Du Bois himself thought about sociology, informing the ideas with which he set the world ablaze three years later in The Souls of Black Folk."
