fb pixcode

GRAPHIC DESIGN

PUBLISHER
Valiz

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 4.25 x 7 in. / 528 pgs / 600 color / 100 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2021 p. 74   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9789492095817 TRADE
List Price: $27.50 CAD $37.50

AVAILABILITY
In stock

TERRITORY
NA LA 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.
  

VALIZ

CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It

By Ruben Pater.

CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It

On design’s complicity in systems of oppression: critique and exit strategies from the author of The Politics of Design

Our current economic system could not exist without the number systems, coins, banknotes, documents, advertisements, interfaces, typefaces and information graphics that graphic designers have helped to create. Even speculative design and social design play their part in fueling the economic system. Capitalism has brought tremendous wealth, but it has not done so evenly. Extreme income inequality and environmental destruction is the price future generations have to pay for unbridled economic growth. The question is whether ethical graphic design is even possible under such conditions.
CAPS LOCK uses clear language and visual examples to show how graphic design and capitalism are inextricably linked. By sharing examples of radical design practices that challenge the supremacy of the market, it hopes to inspire a different kind of graphic design.
Ruben Pater (born 1977) was trained as a graphic designer and works in journalism, activism, education and graphic design under the name Untold Stories. His work has received several international prizes and he has participated in many exhibitions worldwide. His first book, The Politics of Design (2016), has been an inspirational sourcebook for design students, artists and visual communicators in many different places and contexts; Eye on Design wrote: "It’s the kind of literature that should be handed out to all students on their first days at art school, along with all the Albers, Berger, Benjamin and Sontag that form the backbone of the design curriculum—an up-to-date assessment of the landscape through which all modern visual practitioners must navigate."


Featured image is reproduced from 'CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It'.

PRAISE AND REVIEWS

Eye on Design

Chris Westscott

At once a retelling of design history, an updated analysis of the field, and a crash course in political economy, Pater’s book draws on key insights and debates of the moment to give one of the first full-length accounts of the relationship between graphic design and capitalism.

The Daily Heller

Steven Heller

Will certainly change how you think about, and possibly practice, design.

CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It

in stock  $27.50


Free Shipping

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

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/16/2021

AIGA Presents 'CAPS LOCK' author Ruben Pater lecturing on Design and Capitalism

AIGA Presents 'CAPS LOCK' author Ruben Pater lecturing on Design and Capitalism

Tuesday, November 16 at 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST, the AIGA and Artbook | D.A.P. present Ruben Pater, author of CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It, published by Valiz. Click here to register for this Zoom webinar followed by a Q&A with Lee-Sean Huang. Scroll down to read more about the book!
continue to blog


FORTHCOMING AND NEW: DESIGN AND DECORATIVE ARTS

Love and Lightning

LOVE AND LIGHTNING

Valiz

ISBN: 9789493246478
USD $35.00
| CAD $49

Pub Date: 11/18/2025
Forthcoming


Serigrafistas Queer: Freedom for Sensibilities

SERIGRAFISTAS QUEER: FREEDOM FOR SENSIBILITIES

Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand/KMEC Books

ISBN: 9786557770788
USD $45.00
| CAD $64 UK £ 36

Pub Date: 11/18/2025
Forthcoming


Giovanni Pintori: Advertising as Art

GIOVANNI PINTORI: ADVERTISING AS ART

Silvana Editoriale

ISBN: 9788836657063
USD $45.00
| CAD $64

Pub Date: 10/28/2025
Forthcoming


Architecture Record Covers

ARCHITECTURE RECORD COVERS

nai010 Publishers

ISBN: 9789462089303
USD $39.95
| CAD $54.95

Pub Date: 9/30/2025
Forthcoming


Lettres Décoratives: A Century of French Sign Painters’ Alphabets

LETTRES DéCORATIVES: A CENTURY OF FRENCH SIGN PAINTERS’ ALPHABETS

Letterform Archive Books

ISBN: 9798989142392
USD $65.00
| CAD $90 UK £ 52

Pub Date: 10/28/2025
Forthcoming


Passenger Information System

PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEM

Lars Müller Publishers

ISBN: 9783037787847
USD $60.00
| CAD $85

Pub Date: 9/30/2025
Forthcoming


Alphabet in Motion

ALPHABET IN MOTION

Katherine Small Gallery

ISBN: 9780997175912
USD $85.00
| CAD $130 UK £ 70

Pub Date: 11/4/2025
Forthcoming


Clara Istlerová: A Life Among Letters

CLARA ISTLEROVá: A LIFE AMONG LETTERS

Inventory Press

ISBN: 9781941753804
USD $35.00
| CAD $53 UK £ 30

Pub Date: 9/16/2025
Forthcoming


A Queer Year of Love Letters

A QUEER YEAR OF LOVE LETTERS

Inventory Press

ISBN: 9781941753798
USD $24.95
| CAD $37.95 UK £ 21

Pub Date: 8/19/2025
Forthcoming


Fracture: Japanese Graphic Design 1875–1975

FRACTURE: JAPANESE GRAPHIC DESIGN 1875–1975

Set Margins’ publications

ISBN: 9789083449845
USD $38.00
| CAD $57

Pub Date: 2/11/2025
Active | In stock


Lucian Bernhard

LUCIAN BERNHARD

KANT

ISBN: 9788074374135
USD $75.00
| CAD $115

Pub Date: 11/12/2024
Active | In stock


NKF: Piet Zwart’s Avant-Garde Catalog for Standard Cables

NKF: PIET ZWART’S AVANT-GARDE CATALOG FOR STANDARD CABLES

Letterform Archive Books

ISBN: 9798989142316
USD $60.00
| CAD $87.5 UK £ 52

Pub Date: 11/12/2024
Active | In stock