Graphic Design Is (…) Not Innocent—Scrutinizing Visual Communication Today

Graphic Design Is (…) Not Innocent questions ingrained approaches, values and assumptions of graphic design in globalized societies. The publication aims to initiate a dialogue between designers, scholars, critics and commissioners, who investigate responsibilities, potentials, politics, limits and risks of designing visual communication. How innocent is graphic design? Whom is it addressing, whom is it in/excluding? What does it bring about? When defining the role and impact of visual communication, what future questions lie ahead?
Graphic Design Is (…) Not Innocent combines case studies and academic reflections, trying to sketch a common ground for basic research into the parameters and value systems of graphic design. It is a road trip between various possible conceptual challenges and praxis. It is a temporal inventory, without the claim of completeness. It is a question mark, as well as an exclamation mark. And it wants to stimulate critical thinking in graphic design.
Contributors:
Designers: Karo Akpokiere, David Bennewith, Sandra Doeller, Markus Dreßen, FDSC, Matthias Görlich, Klasse Grafik, Anna Lena von Helldorff, Jianping He, Christop Knoth & Konrad Renner, Flávia Nalon (ps.2), Ingo Offermanns, Isabel Seiffert (Offshore), Astrid Stavro, Markus Weisbeck
Scholars: Christian Bauer, Friedrich von Borries, Clémentine Deliss, Li Degeng, Annette Geiger Daniel Martin Feige, Jun Kay, Anoushka Khandwala, Eva Linhart, Sophia Prinz, Markus Rautzenberg, Alice Rawthorne, Pierre Smolarski
Critics & Commissioners: Salem Faissal Al-Qassimi, Sabrina Handler, Martin Ludwig Hofmann, Francisco Laranjo, Madoka Nishi, Adam Szymczyk, Michael Zöllner