Anti-Environments: On the Exploration of Unconventional Tools through Friction and Norm-Bending argues that the most interesting design happens when digital tools are pushed against their intended use.
About This Book
Berlin graphic designer and artist Luis Adrian Borchardt treats software not as a fixed workflow but as a pliable system—something to be repurposed, bent and deliberately misused. By working through the friction inside digital tools, he shows how unconventional processes can uncover new creative possibilities and give designers greater independence from the standard methods software imposes.
The book practises what it argues: it was designed entirely in Google Sheets rather than conventional layout software, a choice that also lets readers print and bind their own copies. It is a working model for a more open, accessible way of publishing.
Key Features
- Designed entirely in Google Sheets
- Explores repurposing, error and norm-bending as design methods
- Proposes an open publishing model readers can print and bind themselves
- Illustrated with 151 colour and 19 black-and-white images
What You'll Discover
- How friction within software can become a productive design tool
- Strategies for using digital tools against their intended purpose
- The relationship between digital processes and their social contexts
- Alternative models for making and distributing publications
About the Author
Luis Adrian Borchardt is a graphic designer and artist based in Berlin. His practice centres on experimental publishing and the relationship between digital processes and social context, using errors and subversive strategies as conceptual and political tools.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Dimensions: 148 × 210 mm
- Pages: 228
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783039423378
- Publisher: Scheidegger & Spiess
Perfect For: Graphic designers, design students, experimental publishers and anyone curious about the politics of the tools we design with.