741.6092
Visualising the canon in Graphic Design
741.6092 is an ongoing project run with Graphic Design students. It explores sections of the UAL Library related to ‘Graphic Designers.’
When we look at a library collection we find more than books. We find a physical manifestation of the politics of knowledge. If we analyse the whole system, from the books on the shelves to the policies that secured the purchase of those books, we uncover multilayered processes of criteria, classification and therefore, power.
Many attempts to confront the politics of knowledge in our academic libraries have leveraged library catalogue data. However, these limited data can obscure more than they reveal. While they may be able to tell us who authored and published the books, they information they can offer us about the people, ideas and practices contained in books themselves is very limited.
In this project, I work with students to counter-map Graphic Design library collections. For five years we have focussed specifically on gender and place of birth of the designers represented in the books of these sections. Together we have constructed alternative datasets and wall-sized mappings, making the knowledge the collection represents visible and open to discussion.
This project has allowed different groups of students to interrogate the assumptions, privileges and knowledge that underpin disciplinary thinking in Graphic Design.
Workshop records
Chelsea College of Arts 2020
Read the workshop design notes
Read the original workshop facilitation notes
Read a walk-through visualisation of the results
research outputs
Knight, Laura, H (2021) 741.6092: Visualising the Canon in Graphic Design. In: CHASE Feminist Network Conference, 26-27 February 2021, University of East Anglia.
Central Saint Martins 2022-2024
Second year students map physical library cards of counter-mapped catalogue data from sections 741.6092 and 741.612.
Run this workshop
This workshop and its methodology is open to any design educator to run. It can be tailored to any discipline. If you’re interested in running it, please get in touch, I’d be happy to discuss it with you.
