Reading in the Bathroom | The Politics of Design

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When I decided to redesign my website to include a blog, it was to get a few things off my chest. One of them was that, yes, diversity can happen without selling the audience short on character, quality, and design. The other was to write book reviews with my distinct point of view as a young African American woman designer. And the other was to write about the good, bad, and ugly of #TravelingWhileBlack (hint: it’s not all bad).

Much of blog writing is like shouting out to the abyss of the internet, hoping to get a signal. I wanted to know if anyone else shared this yearning to articulate the socio-political contexts to design, and take to the internet to express it. Sometimes you’ll get a response. Often, it can feel like no one is listening. But sometimes you get a signal back. That signal is The Politics of Design.

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More of us are waking up to the reality that graphic design is not this abstraction divorced of race, gender, language, accuracy, and authenticity. But this realization takes a willingness to care.

AIGA Eye On Design featured it in their weekly newsletter, so I bought a copy right away. I expected some large, 18-inch tome. Instead I got an easy, handheld book, easy for travel. Therefore I had no excuse not to carry it around everywhere I went. The animated gif above shows places I observed how politics, culture, commerce, art, personal expression, language, and history intersect.

Politics — broken down in main sections of Language and Typography, Colour and Contrast, Image and Photography, Symbols and Icons, Information Graphics — asks us to think beyond the surface — the fetishization — that love of graphic design affords. We’re allowed to gush over Helvetica, but never ask ourselves if doing so is deeply racist and Westernized. We’re allowed to love a Bauhaus layout, but never ask ourselves if their ideals toward universality exclude other cultures. I also appreciate that the authors have enough self-awareness to point out their country of origin on a map; telegraphing that they too are just as complicit.

This book feels like a cousin to one of my other favorites, ego trip’s Big Book of Racism! A close-to-comprehensive encyclopedia on all the ways racism pervades our popular culture. Though Racism! is more snarky (and frankly very sexist) than the other, both books have ‘zine-like layouts. And both have a blunt, example-driven narrative.

My only issue with this book is that it doesn’t embrace social media as much as I would like to see. The site doesn’t appear to have a social media platform to refer to. This does matter, as these platforms afford an unprecedented amount of socio-political connections.

There is a shift happening in our industry. More of us are waking up to the reality that graphic design is not this abstraction divorced of race, gender, language, accuracy, and authenticity. But this realization takes a willingness to care. Pick up this book, read it, keep it on hand — hell, challenge it! — if you care as well.

Reading in the Bathroom is a book review series by IDSL. Reading is obviously not done in the bathroom exclusively. Sometimes it’s at a park bench, outdoor cafe, or on the train. But the best reading is done in the bathroom. A. Beauty and design collage I created, using the RGB color spectrum. B. Printed bus schedule in the city. C. Luis Vuitton window display featuring ’90s streetwear. D. Signage using the English and Chinese language E. A Metro station, nonexistent until 16 years ago. F. Artwork of a figure pointing their camera back at the viewer on a covered walkway at the construction site of new condos. G. The woman in front of me is wearing a hair style I used to wear when I was younger. Yet, both of us continue to be policed by our hair. H. Hand-painted English language giving brief history of local African American artists.