Document: we interrupt the programme

We Interrupt the Programme is a designer’s equivalent of an artist’s book. It is focused on experimental works which put words and images together collaboratively in order to construct new narratives and meanings.

Together with a range of images which visualise a representative sample of the experimental work, the volume is also concerned with a critical discourse on the problems inherent in a ‘practice only’ approach to graphic design and advances instead the concept of the ‘reflective practitioner’. It specifically focuses on the responsibilities (political, social, cultural, professional and ethical) of the graphic designer and the relationships between graphic design and communication/language. It questions the way in which graphic design is thought to be reactive rather than pro-active and highlights the importance of graphic design transcending the definitions of craft, trade and profession.

The research methods comprised experimental collaborations with a number of institutions and forae in order to hold experimental workshops, work in progress exhibitions/symposia. These experimental collaborations included inviting participants involved in the events cited above to combine words with images to construct new narratives. The process undertaken framed the research and enabled it contribute to debates within the graphic design discipline.