Description
Caps Lock – How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and how to Escape from it
Ruben Pater
English
2021
Published by Valiz
Printed by Veldhuis Media bv (Raalte)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
18 x 11 cm, 432 pages, color, offset, glue bound, softcover
In this book, Dutch graphic designer Ruben Pater uses clear language and visual examples to show how graphic design and capitalism are inextricably linked. Capitalism could not exist without the myriad banknotes, documents, infographics, interfaces, branding, and advertisements created by graphic designers. Even anti-consumerist strategies such as social and speculative design are appropriated to serve economic growth. Design, it seems, is locked in a cycle of exploitation and extraction, furthering global inequality and environmental collapse. Featured are six radical design cooperatives that resist capitalist thinking, hoping to inspire a more socially aware practice.