Collective Design Practices

By encouraging a critical evaluation of the contemporary processes of knowledge creation within design, Collective Design Practices aims to open perspectives and conversations on the immense possibilities thinking and acting collectively can have in work, education, culture, and life.

Through the observation of past and present collectives of varying scales and geographies, and reflections on the implications of dialogue, generosity, and participation in non-hierarchical structures, this concise book provides a condensed exploration of how our relationships with identity, authorship, context, and each other can shape the way we work and think together, ultimately influencing our approaches to solving the increasingly complex issues of our futures.

Bringing together reflection and critical discussion, and acknowledging the disconnection between design research and design practice, this short, accessible book provides both a point of contact to research and a point of access to practitioners interested in the possible trajectories of the extended design field.

Jaxon Pope (she/her) and Riccardo Centazzo (he/him), respectively Australian and Italian, are a design and research duo with focused interests in the trajectories of design education, transdisciplinary approaches to collective practices, and the constructs of identity and authorship in the extended field of design and beyond.

The two have been working together since 2014, through the formation of an independent design studio, selce studio, in 2015, and an international and transdisciplinary design collective, projektado, in 2020. Their work focuses on the intersection between design theory and practice, experimental forms of knowledge creation and sharing, and on the impact that design activity has on sociocultural, political, economic, and environmental contexts. They are currently active, collaboratively, as designers and researchers at selce studio, as editors and designers within projektado collective and projektado magazine, and at Lund University, Sweden.