‘It's All Graphic’ is a series of events on graphic design, addressing its cultural and social impact. It is co-produced between the Wim Crouwel Institute and Pakhuis de Zwijger, and supported by NADD (Netwerk Archieven Design en Digitale Cultuur). The Wim Crouwel Institute investigates the heritage, current and future position of Dutch graphic design. The Wim Crouwel Institute is supported by Pictoright Fonds, Cultuurfonds, Allard Pierson, and the Amsterdam University Fund.
IT'S ALL GRAPHIC #14
Between archive and urgency
Wednesday 10-09-2025 @Pakhuis de Zwijger
20:00 - 22:00 hrs
Admission is free, but please register
In recent years, we have seen a striking increase in the number of designers working with archival material, particularly the documentation of protest movements. They not only work with existing archives, but also establish new, alternative archives—often with a distinct editorial and activist approach. In addition, designers are beginning to organize themselves into collectives and rediscovering the power of direct, visual imagery: a form of design that takes a loud and clear stance.
This fascination with activist heritage seems to stem from a mix of social, cultural, and strategic motives. In this edition of 'It’s All Graphic', we explore the relationship between archives and the contemporary visual language of solidarity and activism. How do graphic designers engage with archiving and counter-archiving when addressing current issues? Are we witnessing the emergence of a new, visually rich language of protest, or are we stuck in the language of social unrest that preceded us?
These subjects will take to the stage and insights shared from:
. Marius Schwarz is an independent graphic designer. His approach is characterised by a strong integration of text, image, film, audio, and often working with archival material – with the aim of telling stories that challenge conventions and forge new connections. While seeking ways in which historical material can be brought back to life through design he was responsible for designing the ‘Open Archief’: a project promoting the accessibility of online collections and stimulating the creative reuse of our collective heritage.
. Farida Sedoc is a visual artist whose activist practice is rooted in community, resistance, and collective action. Inspired by punk, reggae, and hip hop—from which she learned the importance of solidarity—she uses textiles, screen printing, collages, and streetwear as tools to unravel social narratives. While investigating textiles as an archive of colonial history, she continuously seeks out new forms of empowerment, inclusivity and political engagement.
. Studio Pinopotato is the creative practice of Pauline Wiersema, a social artist and sociologist. Her work is bold, colorful, and thought-provoking—designed to make an impact within seconds. Developing accessible strategies her work results in political campaigns, interactive installations, and visual translations of urgent social issues. While working across disciplines she often collaborates with other makers and experts, aiming to disrupt deep-rooted assumptions and to make way for a fairer and more inclusive future.
. Geke Zaal is an Amsterdam based graphic designer, working independently and in collaboration with artists and culturally involved initiatives. Her work is intrinsically typographic; by treating text as an image she investigates both the legibility and the playfulness of language. She graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2019.
Moderators
. Richard Niessen is a graphic designer known for his colourful posters and expressive typography, and fellow of the Wim Crouwel Instituut in Amsterdam (NL). He initiated The Palace of Typographic Masonry, a collaborative project inviting other designers to celebrate the splendour and variety of visual languages. While conducting workshops and lectures around the world, he teaches at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague.
. Kylièn Sarino Bergh is a researcher, writer and practitioner in the field of graphic design. He is a fellow of the Wim Crouwel Instituut in Amsterdam (NL), board member of Zefir7 and lecturer histories and theories of graphic design at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam.
On the organisers
It's all Graphic is a series of events on graphic design, addressing its cultural and social impact. It is co-produced between the Wim Crouwel Instituut and Pakhuis de Zwijger, and supported by the NADD (Netwerk Archieven Design en Digitale Cultuur). The Wim Crouwel Institute investigates the heritage, current and future position of Dutch graphic design. The Wim Crouwel Institute is supported by Pictoright Fonds, Cultuurfonds, Allard Pierson, and the Amsterdam University Fund.
Graphic design: Angèle Jaspers
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Tuesday 03-06-2025
Other Typographies: Reshaping language from distinct perspectives
Tuesday 03-06-2025
This iteration of ‘It's All Graphic’ aims to aims to explore conditions surrounding the typographic reproduction of language through different perspectives.
On the 3rd of June 2025 the Wim Crouwel Institute will host a discussion inviting designers to talk about their practices, expanding the field of typography and type design. While sharing insight from their practices the panellists focus on ways of typography and distributing type design as much as disseminating their work.
The discussions will depart from positions of countering dominant norms of design, working against typographical hegemonies and practicing design rooted in identities and positions. If conformity may come with concerns of homogeneity and exclusion, how can practices of typography play a key role in social change?
Speakers:
. Céline Hurka is an independent type designer based in The Hague, NL. In her practice, she aims to play with, question, and break prevailing conventions. She is a member of the Zefir7 collective, organising talks at Stroom Den Haag, and has been lecturing at various institutions internationally, including the MA program Type and Media (Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague), and the MA Art Direction program of LABASAD (Barcelona). In 2023 she launched her foundry and has been expanding her catalogue ever since.
. Xiaoyuan Gao is a Rotterdam-based freelance graphic designer, image-maker, type designer and the initiator of “notyourtype foundry”. While experimenting with unconventional approaches to type design and typesetting, she sees type design as a tool making process. The foundry is dedicated to showcasing and supporting experimental type design works of BIPOC and FLINTA* designers and assists people by offering technical support and publishing plans for their type design works.
. Johanna Ehde & Elisabeth Rafstedt are graphic designers and founders of the Amsterdam (NL) based design collective Rietlanden Women’s Office (RWO). Their practice is interested in current and historical issues connected to the role of women in (reproductive) work and collaborative graphic design. The basis of their work is a printed publication series called MsHeresies — an inquiry into collaborative graphic design practices and the ornament as a form of work critique.
MODERATORS
Elisabeth Klement is an Estonian graphic designer, educator, and organiser living and working in Amsterdam. Elisabeth teaches in the Graphic Design department at Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Together with Pieter Verbeke founded San Serriffe(2011), an art and design book shop, exhibition space, workshop and performance venue in Amsterdam. Since 2022 Elisabeth is the art director of Metropolis M magazine. As a graphic designer, Elisabeth leads a practice rooted in design justice and collectivity.
Kylièn Sarino Bergh is a researcher, writer and practitioner in the field of graphic design. He is a fellow of the Wim Crouwel Institute in Amsterdam (NL), board member of Zefir7 and lecturer histories and theories of graphic design at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam.
Photographer: Jordi de Vetten
Graphic design: Elisabeth Klement
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January 2025
DOUBLE ROLE, TRIPLE BOND Designing and Publishing
During this edition of ‘It's All Graphic’, the four invited speakers discuss connecting (and conflicting?) roles in their hybrid practices as graphic designers, publishers, writers, researchers and activists.
On 20 January 2025 the Wim Crouwel Institute kicks off the year again with a new ‘It's All Graphic’, about hybrid graphic design practices, on the connecting roles of the publisher and graphic designer. For this edition we have invited internationally operating publishers/designers, who not only combine the roles of publisher and designer in their singular way, but also write, research, and initiate activism and wider debate on graphic design and its possible role and impact.
More and more, we see designers’ practices becoming mixed and interdisciplinary: designers can also be organizers, activists, gardeners, writers, mediators, artists, editors, teachers (and many more roles than this). If this is a useful way of moving forward, what can this galvanize, how can we specifically be inspired by this? Or does this bandwidth of activities ‘dilute’ the fundamentals and specific expertise of the graphic design practice?
Find out for yourself on January 20, and listen to, and exchange with:
• Sara de Bondt has been a designer for and with many cultural organizations in both the UK and Belgium. Together with Antony Hudek she set up Occasional Papers in 2008, which publishes on design history and writing (e.g. an anthology of texts by Rick Poynor), and addresses other visual disciplines. Sarah has just finished her PhD, Off the Grid, on the histories of Belgian graphic design.
• Nina Paim is a Brazilian graphic designer, who co-initiated Futuress, an online research and publishing community, ‘where feminism, design and politics meet’. She was co-editor and author of Design Struggles (on de-colonial perspectives on design, with Claudia Mareis) and in 2023 has started her own publishing house, based in Porto, called Bikini Books, issuing paper books with a focus on design and feminist practices.
• Sacha Léopold & François Havegeer have a ‘triple practice’, all activities stemming from graphic design. With their interdisciplinary design studio Syndicat they have set up Empire Books and Revue faire. The latter dives into specific topics and histories of graphic design, with special issues on Wim Crouwel, Jan van Toorn, and much more.
With moderators Simone Trum and Astrid Vorstermans these designers engage in a conversation about what they do, how they understand ‘publishing’ and ‘designing’ (with many examples from their side), how this combination feeds into to their research, activism, writing (and vice versa), and how they see the future of graphic design.
MODERATORS
Designer Simone Trum (www.teamthursday.com) and publisher Astrid Vorstermans (www.valiz.nl) are both board members of the Wim Crouwel Institute, which explores how the heritage of Dutch graphic design can be activated and expanded for the present and future.
Photographer: Simon Pillaud
Graphic design: Simone Trum
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Previous editions of It's All Graphic
IT'S ALL GRAPHIC#13 OTHER TYPOGRAPHIES: Reshaping language from distinct perspectives
IT'S ALL GRAPHIC #12 DOUBLE ROLE, TRIPLE BOND | Designing and Publishing
IT'S ALL GRAPHIC #11 DUBBELROL EN MEERVOUDSSPEL | Ontwerpen en uitgeven Michiel Terpelle, Rob van Hoesel, Nienke Terpsma, 11-01-2024
IT'S ALL GRAPHIC #10 Out of Context? Curating and Exhibiting Graphic Design Mariina Backic, Elisabeth Klement, Maureen Mooren, Peter Bil’ak, Ali As’Ad, 29-06-2023
IT'S ALL GRAPHIC #9 Critical Interventions in the (Graphic Design) Archive Basma Hamdy, Nusantara, Hala al Afsaa, Sally Alassafen, Kinda Ghannoum, Tabea Nixdorff, Remco can Bladel, Alice Wong, 01-12-2022
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #8 Craft 2.0: new imaginations of the graphic design practice Chris Kore, Gilles de Brock, Mitch Paone (Dia Studio), Our Polite Society, Vera van de Seyp
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #7 Vital Design: An homage to the design of organisations that play vital roles in today's society With Roel Stavorinus, Jaco Emmen, Tom Dorresteijn en Archie Lyons, 07-05-2020
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #6 Data visualization: Looking into the past and future of data and design. A co-podruction with Graphic Matters. With Dennis Elbers, Gert Franke, Paul Mijksenaar, Suze Swarte, Ben Prins (NOS op 3), 01-10-2019
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #5 About Illustration: An evening about illustrators and their field of work. With Rogier Trompert, Talitha Snel, Kim Raad, Helen van Vliet, Gert Gerrits, Markus Praat, 23-04-2019
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #4 Logo x Logo Visual identity development: where did we start out and where are we heading? With Roel Stavorinus. Met Claire Parker, Erik de haas, Smack, Henk Haaima, Dennis Flinterman, Roel Stavorinus, 15-11-2018
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #3 The graphic revolution: What skills are needed to prepare designers for the future? With Sherida Kuffour, Silvio Lorusso, Erwin Slegers, Hanneke Metselaar, Frederike Huygen, 17-04-2018
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #2 Activism and graphic design: How can graphic design be activist? With Lies Ros, Roosje Klap, Yuri Veerman, Ruben Pater, Raul Balai, Chris Vermaas, 16-11-2017
IT’S ALL GRAPHIC #1 Culture of Dutch design agencies (around Total Design) With Paul Mijksenaar, Arlette Brouwers, Joost Klinkenberg, Graham Sturt, Anne Miltenburg and Oygar Erdal, 24-05-2017