Book Review: Design as an Attitude by Alice Rawsthorn

Design writer and critic Alice Rawsthorn’s latest book Design as an Attitude is a collection of her By Design columns written for frieze magazine from 2014 to 2017. Composed of twelve chapters, each chapter tackles an area of design she argues are transforming and impacting the world today. The Prologue defines what the author means by “attitudinal design”. Opening with László Moholy-Nagy’s famous quote from his book Vision in Motion “Designing is not a profession but an attitude”, Rawsthorn writes a touching tribute to Moholy-Nagy. She attempts to demonstrate how she draws inspiration from his ideas in the argument for attitudinal design through the projects she discusses; projects that demonstrate resourcefulness and inventiveness to social, political and economic challenges of our time