Design Struggles

We are happy to announce that Design Struggles – Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies, and Perspectives is now available at Slanted Shop!

Design Struggles critically assesses the ways in which the design field is involved in creating, perpetuating, promoting, and reinforcing injustice and inequality in social, political, economic, cultural and ecological systems. This book shows how this entanglement arose from Eurocentric and neoliberal thinking. The voices and practices represented here propose to question and disrupt the discipline of design from within, by problematizing the very notions of design. They aim to do so by generating new, anti-racist, post-capitalist, queer-feminist, environmentally conscious and community-based ideas on how to transform design. In this way, Design Struggles strives to forge sustainable, new practices within the design field that challenge the status quo and amplify underrepresented voices, both in the world of design, as well as beyond.

In order to reimagine design as an unbound, ambiguous, and unfinished practice, this publication gathers a diverse array of perspectives, ranging from social and cultural theory, design history, design activism, sociology, anthropology, critical, and political studies, with a focus on looking at design through the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, class, and beyond. The book combines the latest comprehensive insights (rooted in design practices) with engaging and accessible storytelling. In doing so, Design Struggles brings together an urgent and expansive array of voices and views, representing those engaged in struggles with, against or around the design field.

Design Struggles is the third volume in the Valiz PLURAL series. This series focuses on how the intersections between identity, power, representation and emancipation play out in the arts and in cultural practices.

Design Struggles – Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies, and Perspectives

Publisher: Valiz
Editors: Claudia Mareis &
 Nina Paim
Designer: Lotte Lara Schröder
Volume: 416 pages
Format: 17 × 24 cm
Bookbinding: Paperback
Language: English

ISBN: 978-94-92095-88-6
Price: 27.50 
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CCFI

Centro de Capacitación de Fundación Itaú (CCFI) provides courses in the fields of cultural management, production and journalism from its campus in Montevideo. CCFI believes in the dissemination of art as a powerful tool for social transformation.

The visual language of the campaign is based around a collection of shapes and colours inspired by Uruguay’s constructivist movement. Each colour represents a different course when used individually and the programme as a whole when applied together.

Remembrance and Farewell

Recorded in his native Buenos Aires, “Remembrance and Farewell” marks the debut single of drummer and composer Alejandro Dixon as leader of his jazz quintet.

The cover artwork aims to capture the emotions of a purposefully personal recording inspired by the intangible passage of time and a deep yearning for the past.

PUKEKO edition

For the fictive publisher „Pukeko Edition“ I created a corporate design. The name is taken from the Pukeko bird and so the design is based on two stylised Ks, which reminds on the form of its feet. The colours reflects the asthonishing featerhs of the bird. Printed on letterhead and business cards, the logo creates the new visual identity of the publishing house.

The Great Escape

In these dark times of forced isolation and heavy limitations, a gloomy fear seems to accompany our lives. We with our bodies are physically unable to travel and meet our loved ones. But our thoughts are not. They are free to wander, explore, live new adventures. I imagined this as a metaphor, some weird hyper-colored butterflies make their way through the fences to break out from captivity and finally fly light in the world while the flowers are anchored to the ground. This is us, looking at ourselves in this fascinating process. This is us, hoping for a new beginning. This is us, dreaming of the impossible and beyond as in a magic spell that makes us alive and immortal in front of death.

48 exxperts

‘48 exxperts’ is a typographic-illustrative wall calendar for 2021. Each month four interesting female experts are presented. These women range from natural scientists to philosophers, astronauts or fighters. The elaborately produced calendar is perforated several times. Through the perforation the 4 motives on one page can be separated from each other and continue to exist as a single card.

13 Pages, Risography printing in 5 colours.

The Tolerance Poster Project

The Tolerance Poster Project by Mirko Ilić is now to be seen for the first time in Germany at Kunstareal München from March 30th to April 29th. Lars Harmsen, also Creative Director at Melville Brand Design, curated this show together with Caroline Fuchs (Curator for graphic design at Die Neue Sammlung).

At Slanted, we met Mirko back in 2015 while working on the Slanted #26—NY issue. He initiated the Tolerance Project in 2017. Since then, the exhibition has toured the world, but was never shown in Germany. Mirko invited the who’s who of graphic design to create a poster (Craig&Karl, KarlssonWilker, Ed Fella, Edel Rodriguez, Niklaus Troxler, Peter Bankov, Christoph Niemann, GunterRambow, Uwe Loesch, Art Chantry, Paula Scher, and Ariane Spanier …). Only rule: the poster should include the word Tolerance in the designers native language. Milton Glaser was the first to contribute, he also created the logo.

The show is now presented at over ten different institutions within Kunstareal, that all lend the special atmosphere and specific environment to the show. From Pinakothek der Moderne, home to Die Neue Sammlung, to the church of St. Mark that is even presenting one of four selected poster in the altar room at specific services, even in the tube of Munich … The Kunstareal München is located right at the heart of Munich and with its museums and colleges is one of Europe’s most important cultural hubs. Across an area of 500 × 500 meters it is the home of 18 museums and over 40 galleries as well as six international colleges.

The Tolerance Poster Project

When? 
March 30th to April 29th, 2021

Where? 
At over ten different institutions within Kunstareal München
All locations of the exhibition can be found here: KUNSTAREAL MAP

Find more information here

Announcement poster by #larsharmsen, animated by Johannes König @melvillebranddesign

St. Peter Ording

This short comic-story was published in Pure Fruit magazine #23. It praises the northern German federal state Schleswig-Holstein und says that you can do whatever you want in that region – unless everything that’s not legal.

Pure Fruit #15 Cover

This is the cover of the free German comic-magazine »Pure Fruit«, issue #15. The magazine contains comic-strips that lasted for only one episode. All artists who contributed a comic-strip invented their stip and characters and buried all of it after drawing one episode.

Pure Fruit #18: Hell int Finster

Cover for the free German comic-magazin »Pure Fruit«, issue #18 with the title »Hell int Finster« (»A Light in the Dark«). The magazine pays tribute to the northern German poet Klaus Groth. Various artists illustrated his poems which are all in low-german. 10.000 copies were given away for free to celebrate his 200th birthday.

Let’s talk about diversity

Equal rights, anti-discrimination and diversity are process-related issues that need to be discussed continuously. Not only but especially a common exchange and discussion about the main idea of the lecture series »Let’s talk about diversity« is essential at institutions to sensitize for diversity and to address individual thoughts and fears. The posters encourage to look behind the curtains of uncertainty and ignorance in order to see the colorful rainbow that represents peace, acceptance, tolerance and diversity.