Design Against Design

Design Against Design argues for the urgent necessity of critical engagement and political resistance through graphic practice. It draws on insights from the practice of LOKI, a small graphic design studio committed to working with social movements towards radical political change. With conversational interviews, personal and critical essays, and a wide-ranging selection of graphic works, this book unravels the real-world relationships, motivations and contradictions involved in a socially engaged design practice.

Hi, my name is Kevin Yuen Kit Lo, a graphic designer, educator and community organizer based in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke. I've been working on my first book, Design Against Design, for the last five years (!!), writing and editing, conducting interviews, designing and documenting projects, and then writing and designing and editing some more... it's truly been a labour of love. I started this project in the after-hours of running my design studio, LOKI, where I've had the opportunity to work with so many amazing activists and artists over the years. These experiences have deepened my understanding of how design contributes to, and often works against, the hard work of social change. Design Against Design aims to be an original and provocative contribution to the current discussion of design's social and political role, a story from the margins of the discipline, but also one written for anyone who is interested in visual culture today. It will be a lovingly produced volume, meticulously designed by myself and richly illustrated with black and white reproductions of LOKI’s work and additional contextual photography.

The book is in the final stages of editing and design and is scheduled to be published in the fall of 2023 by Set Margins' Press, a small, independent publisher based in Eindhoven, NL. As Set Margins' is a new company just getting off the ground, we could use your support to raise the funds needed to bring the book to print.

I hope you'll consider supporting this campaign. All funds raised will go to cover a significant portion of the printing costs, with other costs and labour (text editing, design, production, promotion and distribution) being covered by myself and Freek Lomme of Set Margins’. If you pledge over $50, you’ll receive a personally-addressed advance copy of the book. If you can't support us with money, sharing this with anyone you think might be interested is also very helpful.

Thank you for your support! Thank you for your trust! It sincerely means so much to me.

Contents

Foreword: Debts by Ian Lynam

Fragments Towards a Whole

Introduction

— Critique

Design and Capitalism

1996: Design Criticism, Hipster Nostalgia and the End of the World

The Propaganda of Pantone: Colour and Subcultural Sublimation

All Cats Are Beautiful

— Practice

First Things Now: Socially Engaged Design Studios

Change! Change! Change!

Atelier Populaire: An Interview with Philippe and Nancy Vermes

Productive Misunderstandings: An Interview with Sandy Kaltenborn

Outside In: Designing Protests and Pedagogy

— Materiality

Orality and Textual Supremacy: An Interview with Kaie Kellough

Kanye West, Runaway, and the Aesthetics of Illegibility

Six Typefaces

You were a true poet / Down to your scarred knuckles

A Typographic Union

All Printing is Political: An Interview with Katasoho

— Autonomy

Design is a Thing: An Interview with Sarah Auches

Intimacy as Infrastructure: Anecdotes on Design and Friendship

By Us, For Us: An Interview with Jenn Clamen

Design in Anxious Times

Afterword by Oliver Vodeb