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What Design Can’t Do
Essays on Design and Disillusion
978-9-0833-5013-4
2024
Cover image of design and disillusion what design cant do
Silvio Lorusso _ Author
designphilosophysocial theorytechnology + culturecultural criticismessayspolemic
Canonical Book Link https://www.setmargins.press/books/what-design-cant-do/
Design is broken. Young and not-so-young designers are becoming increasingly aware of this. Many feel impotent: they were told they had the tools to make the world a better place, but instead the world takes its toll on them. Beyond a haze of hype and bold claims lies a barren land of self-doubt and impostor syndrome. Although these feels might be the Millennial norm, design culture reinforces them. In conferences we learn that "with great power comes great responsibility" but, when it comes to real-life clients, all they ask is to "make the logo bigger."

This book probes the disillusionment that permeates design. It tackles the deskilling effects provoked by digital semi-automation, the instances of ornamental politics fashioned to please the museum-educational complex, the nebulous promises of design schools. While reviving historical expressions of disenchantment, Silvio Lorusso examines present-day memes and social media rants. To depict this disheartening crisis, he crafts a new critical vocabulary for readers to build upon. What this exposé reveals is both worrying and refreshing: rather than producing a meaningful order, design might be just about inhabiting chaos.

What was once a promising field rooted in problem-solving has become a problem in itself. The skill set of designers appears shaky and insubstantial - their expertise is received with indifference, their know-how is trivialised by online services, their work is compromised by a series of unruly external factors. If you see yourself as a designer without qualities; if you feel cheated, disappointed or betrayed by design, this book is for you.
Listen to Silvio discuss the book and more on Episode 089 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast.
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do
A photo Silvio Lorusso's book What Design Can’t Do

Contributors

Assistant Professor Silvio Lorusso, PhD
_ Author

Biography

Silvio Lorusso is a writer, artist and designer based in Lisbon, Portugal. He published Entreprecariat (Onomatopee) in 2019 and What Design Can’t Do (Set Margins’) in 2023. Lorusso is an assistant professor and co-director of the Center for Other Worlds at the Lusófona University in Lisbon and a tutor at the Information Design department of Design Academy Eindhoven. He holds a Ph.D. in Design Sciences from the Iuav University of Venice. https://silviolorusso.com

Publisher

Set Margins Press

Specifications

Cover Softcover
Printer Balto, Vilnius (LT)
Font HAL Timezone
Pages 352pp
Dimensions 130 x 200 mm / 5.11 x 7.87 inch (portrait)
Paper Holmen book cream 80gr, Munken print white 300gr
Edition 4000
Binding Sewn & Glued

Notes

  1. Episode 089 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast is a conversation I had with Silvio about the Design & Disillusionment
  2. Here's a Twitter thread Silvio indicates was a kind of start to the focus of the book.
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