Publisher works to redefine graphic design along lines of inclusivity
Publishing & Media
Sold Out has launched a Kickstarter campaign to address diversity discrepancies within the industry
Spotted: The tagline of the company, “We’re sold out, but you can be too”, strikes at the heart of their aim — to provoke and challenge buyers to diversify the industry. The independent publishing imprint starts by acknowledging the Eurocentric, white, heteronormative average of graphic design. By asking who and what is excluded from the industry, they publish graphic design and visual communication by a wide range of people who have traditionally been excluded from the industry, bringing “together voices that diversify the realm of visual culture”.
According to founders Bakhtawer Haider and Betty Brunfaut “When we started to investigate, we found it was extremely challenging to find the references we were looking for (and wondered whether they sometimes even existed).” To rectify this, they are publishing toolkits, essays, manifestos, exercise books and more, in order to help others to address knowledge gaps and inequalities and to break these down from the bottom up.
Working with five diverse authors representing a range of voices, the main goal of Sold Out is to distribute as much work as possible. They strike at the heart of the issue, by going beyond simply placing minorities within white, heteronormative, able-bodied spaces, working with their artists side-by-side in a position of trust. They state that “Making their project (finally) happen is the core of our integrity.”
To encourage support, users are being offered a selection of rewards, such as limited edition prints, posts and more.
Written By: Holly Hamilton
Explore more: Publishing & Media Innovations | Architecture & Design Innovations
14th August 2020
Website: sold-out.net
