edited by Anja Lutz
548 pages, softcover, $39.95
Published by Set Margins
setmargins.press

From the birth of Bauhaus to the rise of rave culture, Berlin has always been at the vanguard of contemporary aesthetics. The city’s design culture remains buoyant, in no small part aided by the boundary-breaking work of organizations such as A–Z Presents, the Mitte-based space for experimental graphic design founded by Anja Lutz in 2019. Lutz—who is also a book designer, publisher and curator—authored this striking two-part book that celebrates the past, present and future of graphic design while highlighting A–Z’s portfolio in the seven years since its launch.

In part one, we’re taken on a tour of the practice’s category-defying work: a span of street communication and typeface design to floral exhibitions and interdisciplinary installations that epitomize A–Z’s experimental vision. “In an increasingly corporate and technological world, it is essential to keep the space ‘between,’ a space in the margins for unusual practices, for works with lower visibility, subtler nuances, and of course their human and interpersonal dimensions,” offers Lutz in the preface, in conversation with Set Margins’s publisher and curator Freek Lomme.

Later, Lutz invites 36 international graphic designers of various stripes to share their vision for the future of their profession, reacting to prompts that range from reimagining the role of the designer to designing genuine connection in an increasingly digital world. A convincing survey of current and future directions in graphic design, On the Edges of Graphic Design from A–Z–∞ serves as a clarion call for creativity that’s sure to resonate with aesthetes of all backgrounds. —Ben Olsen ca