UN/SEEN
Women in Graphic Design up to the Bauhaus
If we want to rewrite the history of design, we must take its beginnings into account. The period before the Bauhaus, the importance of “arts and crafts,” and, above all, the achievements of women in graphic design have long been neglected in the presentation of German design history.
UN/SEEN brings together previously unknown material and sheds light on the lives and work of female designers in the fields of book design, poster design, typography, illustration, and packaging. In ten chapters, UN/SEEN documents the latest research findings and uses numerous examples to show how successful and self-confident the first generation of female graphic designers was and which discourses from that time still shape the discipline today.
UN/SEEN questions traditional narratives and contributes to the discussion about design and gender with new role models. The book is accompanied by the project platform ↗ www.unseen-women.design.
The publication is available in both an English and a German edition.
UN/SEEN
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Editors: Petra Eisele, Isabel Naegele
Foreword: Ellen Lupton
Authors: Brigitte Baumstark, Friederike Berger, Julia Blume, Gerda Breuer, Petra Eisele, Aliena Guggenberger, Jana Haase, Antje Kalcher, Julia Meer, Julia Mummenhoff, Isabel Naegele, Julia Neller, Antje Neumann, Bettina Richter, Julia Rinck, Kerstin Stöver, Ute Thomas, Christina Thomson, Sabine Wieber
Design: Julia Neller
Release: June 2026
Format: 18.4 × 26 cm
Volume: 422 pages
Language: English, German
Printing: full color offset printing
Paper: Arena Rough 120 g/sm, Fedrigoni
Bookbinding: Hardcover with lenticular foil, thread stitching
ISBN: 978-3-69202-002-0 (EN), 978-3-69202-001-3 (DE)
Price: €48.– (DE)
Join us for the launch of the UN/SEEN publications as part of the WDC Campus Dialogue Workshop and the lecture series Falling in Love with all Genders.
The UN/SEEN team — Petra Eisele, Isabel Naegele, Aliena Guggenberger, and Julia Neller — will present the research project and the new publications.
When? 10 June 2026, 1:00 PM
Where? WDC-HUB, iGDN × WDC 2026, MAK Museum of Applied Arts, Frankfurt
Free admission (registration required via WDC)
