Modes of Criticism is a design criticism journal based in Porto, Portugal. It was created in the context of Francisco Laranjo’s research at the London College of Communication, which sought to develop design methods for a critical practice with attention to the emergence of recent terminology such as critical design, design fiction and speculative design within graphic design. Modes of Criticism addresses a gap in design discourse in relation to these terms, their history, methods and criticism. It examines what is meant by ‘criticality’ in design, and works towards the politicisation of its discourse and practice—challenging dominant ways of seeing, thinking about and practicing design—and promoting intersections with multiple disciplines. Since 2017, it is published and distributed worldwide by Onomatopee.
Modes of Criticism 1 – Critical, Uncritical, Post-critical (2015), with contributions by Ian Lynam, Randy Nakamura, Brave New Alps, Luiza Prado and Pedro Oliveira, Cameron Tonkinwise, James Langdon, Kenneth FitzGerald and Francisco Laranjo.
Modes of Criticism 2 – Critique of Method (2016), with contributions by Anne Bush, Peter Buwert, Jan van Toorn, Noel Waite, Ahmed Ansari and Matthew Kiem.
Modes of Criticism 3 – Design and Democracy (2017), with contributions by Els Kuijpers, Angela Mitropoulos, Laura Gordon, Decolonising Design Group, Silvio Lorusso, Luke Pendrell and James Trafford.
Modes of Criticism 4 – Radical Pedagogy (2019), with contributions by Danah Abdulla, Anne-Marie Willis, Tanveer Ahmed, Kenneth FitzGerald, depatriarchise design, Anja Groten and Hannah Ellis.
Modes of Criticism 5 – Design Systems (2019), with contributions by Ruben Pater, Shannon Mattern, Ian Lynam, Brave New Alps, Georgina Voss, Francisco Laranjo, and documenting the work done by Luiza Prado & Pedro Oliveira, ACED, Ruben Pater and Demystification Committee for the Porto Design Biennale.
Modes of Criticism 6 – Other Worlds (2022), Forthcoming.
Collections (Selection)
United Kingdom
London College of Communication
Central Saint Martins
University for the Creative Arts
Leeds College of Art
Chelsea College of Arts
London College of Fashion
University of Reading
Camberwell College of Arts
United States
CalArts
George Mason University
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Getty Research Institute
Princeton University
Yale University
Ohio State University
University of Arkansas
Iowa State University
Biola University
Emory University
Minneapolis College of Art & Design
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Virginia Commonwealth University
RIT Rochester Institute of Technology
University of Washington
University of Michigan
Carnegie Mellon University
Cleveland Public Library
RISD Rhode Island School of Design
Australia
RMIT University
University of Sidney
Monash University
The Netherlands
ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten
Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library
Vrije Universiteit
Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Portugal
University of Porto
University of Lisbon
Serralves Foundation
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
University of Coimbra
Switzerland
HEAD – Haute École d’Arts Appliqués
ZHdK – Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Medien und Informationszentrum
University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland
Bern University of Applied Sciences
Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz
France
PARIS-ENSBA – Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Germany
Universitätsbibliothek Kassel
Sächsische Landesbibliothek
Hochschule Darmstadt
Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen
Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte München
Denmark
Odense University
Danish National Library
Spain
BAU
Sweden
Libris, National Library
Belgium
Karel De Grote Hogeschool