"They Refuse to Keep Quiet": Thirty years of the Women's Design + Research Unit

The Beatrice Warde Memorial Lecture, 2025 at St Bride Foundation, London.

With soundbite contributions from: Lorna Allan, Jonathan Barnbrook, Audrey Bennett, Rhona Breeze-Lawlor, Neville Brody, Chrissie Charlton, Tony Credland + Glenn Orton, Catherine Dixon, Steven Heller, Kali Nakitas, Amy Papaelis, Rick Poynor, Naomi Rado, Andrew Slatter, Elizabeth Resnick.

Within the contemporary context of social, political, and economic uncertainty the importance of having a voice for change is increasingly urgent and necessary. Thirty years ago, the Women’s Design + Research Unit (WD+RU) was formed in response to the male-dominated design and typographic industry. The voices of women working in the field were noticeably absent from the profession and in the emerging canons of graphic design history.

As educational activists, WD+RU sought to raise awareness of women working in visual communication through activist means such as posters, research projects, actions and events. WD+RU has never operated as a design studio; rather as a collective based on feminist principles (including care and collaboration, in tandem with undertaking projects that advocate for design and social responsibility). In their talk, Siân Cook and Teal Triggs, reflect critically upon their extensive archive of work from the 1990s to the present day, and ask the question: what comes next?