fb pixcode

My Cart
Gift Certificates

BOOKS ON DESIGN THEORY, AESTHETICS AND HISTORY

PUBLISHER
Set Margins' Publications

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 5 x 8 in. / 352 pgs / 75 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2024 p. 119   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9789083350134 TRADE
List Price: $25.00 CAD $37.50

AVAILABILITY
In stock

TERRITORY
NA LA ASIA AFR ME

THE FALL 2025 ARTBOOK | D.A.P. CATALOG

Artbook | D.A.P. Catalog Cover Link
Preview our FALL 2025 catalog, featuring more than 500 new books on art, photography, design, architecture, film, music and visual culture.
  

SET MARGINS' PUBLICATIONS

What Design Can’t Do

Essays on Design and Disillusion

By Silvio Lorusso.

What Design Can’t Do

A witty, tongue-in-cheek discussion of design’s potentials and pitfalls

In focusing on creating preferable conditions, the discipline of design is optimistic by default. And yet, vernacular manifestations of skepticism, dissatisfaction and even resentment toward design abound. Instead of systematically discarding them, can these "sad passions" shed a valuable light on the blind spots of the field? Can disillusion be something more than disillusionment? Can it become an emotional method to unveil design’s dysfunctions and contradictions?
Author Silvio Lorusso looks into historical and present manifestations of design disillusion to shorten the gap between expectations and reality when it comes to the everyday practice of designers. Using humorous and irreverent visuals, often containing jokes about design, Lorusso constructs thoughtful dichotomies on such topics as synthesis and autonomy, power and impotence, and aspirations and compromise. The result is an amusing yet academic consideration of the design profession and its future.
Silvio Lorusso (born 1985) is the author of Entreprecariat: Everyone Is an Entrepreneur. Nobody Is Safe. He holds a PhD in Design Sciences from the Iuav University of Venice, and is an assistant professor and vice-director of the Center for Other Worlds at the Lusófona University in Lisbon.


A spread from 'What Design Can’t Do.'

What Design Can’t Do

in stock  $25.00


Free Shipping

UPS GROUND IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S.
FOR CONSUMER ONLINE ORDERS

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/24/2024

Bungee Space presents Set Margins’ 6-Book Launch and Get Together

Bungee Space presents Set Margins’ 6-Book Launch and Get Together

Wednesday, April 24, from 6:30–8:30 PM, Lower East Side select shop Bungee Space hosts buoyantly critical Dutch publisher Set Margins’ for the group launch of six new titles. Join us for short author talks and a general celebration of like open minds!
continue to blog


FORTHCOMING AND NEW: DESIGN AND DECORATIVE ARTS

At Home in the 17th Century

AT HOME IN THE 17TH CENTURY

nai010 publishers

ISBN: 9789462089501
USD $45.00
| CAD $68

Pub Date: 12/9/2025
Active | In stock


More than Human

MORE THAN HUMAN

The Design Museum

ISBN: 9781872005867
USD $45.00
| CAD $68

Pub Date: 10/28/2025
Active | In stock


Becoming the Product

BECOMING THE PRODUCT

Set Margins’ publications

ISBN: 9789083532516
USD $28.00
| CAD $42

Pub Date: 11/25/2025
Active | In stock


Domestic Encyclopedia

DOMESTIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

Set Margins’ publications

ISBN: 9789083532561
USD $14.95
| CAD $21

Pub Date: 1/13/2026
Forthcoming


The Last Basket Makers from Risa

THE LAST BASKET MAKERS FROM RISA

Set Margins’ publications

ISBN: 9789083499307
USD $25.00
| CAD $35

Pub Date: 11/25/2025
Active | In stock


Visualization as Assemblage

VISUALIZATION AS ASSEMBLAGE

Set Margins’ publications

ISBN: 9789083499383
USD $27.00
| CAD $38

Pub Date: 1/13/2026
Forthcoming


The Design Comedy: The Descent through Inferno

THE DESIGN COMEDY: THE DESCENT THROUGH INFERNO

Set Margins’ publications

ISBN: 9789083499369
USD $20.00
| CAD $28

Pub Date: 11/25/2025
Active | In stock


Post-Digital Print

POST-DIGITAL PRINT

Set Margins’ publications

ISBN: 9789083499376
USD $28.00
| CAD $38

Pub Date: 6/24/2025
Active | In stock


Modern Americanness

MODERN AMERICANNESS

KANT

ISBN: 9788074374401
USD $75.00
| CAD $105

Pub Date: 11/11/2025
Active | In stock


Design and Visual Communication

DESIGN AND VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Inventory Press

ISBN: 9781941753712
USD $32.50
| CAD $45 UK £ 26

Pub Date: 12/2/2025
Active | In stock


Design Struggles

DESIGN STRUGGLES

Valiz

ISBN: 9789493246522
USD $35.00
| CAD $49

Pub Date: 9/30/2025
Active | In stock


Disarming Design

DISARMING DESIGN

Valiz

ISBN: 9789493246447
USD $32.50
| CAD $45

Pub Date: 1/1/2027
Forthcoming




data transfer pixel