The achievements of women in graphic design have long been neglected in the presentation of German design history. The driving idea behind UN/SEEN – Women in Graphic Design up to the Bauhaus is thinking about how we might we rewrite or better represent the history of design, an undertaking they say requires us to take beginnings into account – the period before the Bauhaus, say, and the importance of “arts and crafts.
This volume brings together previously unknown material and sheds light on the lives and work of female designers in the fields of book design, poster design, typography, illustration, and packaging. Its ten chapter document the latest research findings and uses numerous examples to show how successful and self-confident the first generation of female graphic designers was and which discourses from that time still shape the discipline today. UN/SEEN questions traditional narratives and contributes to the discussion about design and gender with new role models.
Slanted, 422pp, 18cm x 26cm, illustrated paperback, 2026
