What Design Can’t Do, Essays On Design And Disillusion

What Design Can’t Do (Set Margins’, 2023) is a structured and theoretical – yet fascinating – volume that helps to think about the practice of Design, the role of the designer, and its broader context. The author, Silvio Lorusso, is a writer, artist, and designer based in Lisbon, Portugal, as well as a tutor at the Design Academy Eindhoven. The book’s design is by Federico Antonini. We mentioned the publication in our article on this year’s recommended ‘design gifts’, and today we will try to tell you what the essay is about.

It is not a handbook of criticism, but a straightforward and honest—yet never predictable and slightly unconventional (thanks to the presence of printed memes)—analysis that explores some of the questions that even designers, perhaps increasingly in recent years, ask themselves. The point of view is that of Graphic Design, but a lot of reasoning can equally be applied to the Design sector as a whole.

It all starts from the professionals' condition and the definition we assign to design: very often, design is presented as a way to give order to things to solve problems, but is that really the case? How can one generally contribute if all the designer does is move a line in AutoCAD or outline an image downloaded online in Photoshop? What Design Can’t Do attempts to analyze the contemporary context in which we operate: the role of industry, the political system of culture, and values related to design, designer identity, and education.

The text refers to what the author calls the ‘everyday designer,’ someone who designs in a world where everyone is a designer. A figure who constantly seeks to redefine himself/herself accepts types of projects he/she has never done to prove his/her qualities, who – quoting Agamben from the text – “confuses vocation with his role.” A professional who struggles with freelance service platforms, who devotes himself/herself to research, abstracting from reality to the point of not longer understanding its mechanisms. The stark truth is that design is closely linked to Capitalism - it was born with Industry, and the designer is a part of the chain.

In this ontological analysis of design and the disillusionment of those working in this sector, however, there is also light: that of compromise, of real work, and of contribution culture which opposes smart culture. What Design Can’t Do aims to trace “the shadows’ contour” of this smart culture, the result of this shaky modernity, “in the hope that other people, in other contexts, will dissipate it, together”.

An essay that helps us understand Design and its implications. The volume can be purchased on Set Margins’ website for € 22.

Don’t miss Silvio Lorusso’s publications and projects. Here you can find his website, and you can also follow him on Instagram!