In this visual talk at the international conference Design Thinkers 2021 arranged by the Canadian national association for graphic designers (RGD), design director Benedetta Crippa argues how the relation between graphic design and sustainability is one yet to be resolved beyond notions of reduction. As our understanding of visual culture’s role toward a more equitable world keeps on lingering at the margins of practice, Benedetta brings the relation between form and power at center stage, showing how visual practice has indeed the ability to radically transform relations with the living ecosystems we share – environmental, as well as social ones. In between growing calls in and around the field for designers to stop designing, or shift their focus to the sciences, Benedetta brings the strong proposition of a third way for visual practitioners to respond to sustainable aspirations: one where we fully own, and intentionally direct the power of our own craft.
