My essay, “Safe Words,” was posted in April 2024 on Jarrett Fuller’s Scratching the Surface web site of podcast and publishing. The article considers the ways that typographic innovation has supported and represented criticality—and, more recently—served as a way to elude critcal design thought.
My first article since 2019 has been published on the “Scratch/Stories” section of the Scratching the Surface web site. The essay answers my question, “Was the birth cry of graphic design a commercial jingle?” with a hard no, arguing that graphic design as we know it grew our of progressive, political speech.
I’m the interviewee of the latest edition of Jarrett Fuller’s Scratching the Surface. “Scratching the Surface is a design podcast about the intersection of criticism and practice hosted by Jarrett Fuller. Each week, Jarrett interviews designers, writers, critics, educators and those that operate between these fields about how writing, criticism, and theory informs individual practice and the graphic design profession at large. Previous guests have included Michael Beirut, Jessica Helfand, Michael Rock, Steven Heller, and Alexandra Lange.” Thanks to Jarrett for inviting me to participate and massaging my words into broadcast.