In Caps Lock , Dutch graphic designer Ruben Pater uses clear language and visual examples to show how graphic design and capitalism are inextricably linked. Capitalism could not exist without the countless banknotes, documents, infographics, interfaces, brands, and advertisements that graphic designers create. Even anti-consumerist strategies such as social and speculative design are appropriated to serve economic growth. Design, it seems, is locked in a cycle of exploitation and extraction that only worsens global inequality and environmental collapse. In this book, we introduce you to six radical design cooperatives that are resisting capitalist thinking, in the hopes of inspiring a more socially conscious practice.
