Design Reviewed. The Book

May 10, 2026

Studio Culture

Our Creative Director, Matt Lamont, is releasing a book documenting a century of graphic design history!

Alongside his work at Out of Place Studio, Matt is the founder of Design Reviewed, an independent graphic design archive dedicated to documenting, preserving and sharing graphic design history. Built through more than a decade of collecting and research, the archive now contains over 12,000 artefacts, including posters, magazines, books, exhibition catalogues and printed ephemera from around the world.

Now, in collaboration with Unit Editions, Matt has launched a campaign to publish a major 400-page book bringing together some of the most significant material from the Design Reviewed archive.

Design Reviewed. Graphic Design History. The Book

The collection includes complete runs of Idea magazine, Typographica’s New Series and Neue Grafik, an almost complete run of Gebrauchsgraphik from 1924 to 1990, and a collection of more than 250 posters by British designer Ken Briggs.

Organised chronologically, the book moves from Art Nouveau and Early Modernism through the major movements, ideas and developments that shaped twentieth-century graphic design, including Modernism, the International Typographic Style, Pop and Postmodernism.

The selection reflects the approach Matt has taken to building Design Reviewed. Rather than creating a collection based solely on personal preference or established names, the archive aims to provide an expansive and accessible account of graphic design history, using individual artefacts to reveal wider movements, ideas, technologies and approaches to visual communication.

“Through the website, content and social media, Design Reviewed aims to make design history more accessible, usable and relevant, encouraging designers, researchers and students to be inspired by the past to shape new work. The book is part of that mission. Whether it sits on a studio bookshelf, in a library or in someone’s hands on a train, it extends the reach of the archive and puts design history where it belongs: in everyday use.”
— Matt Lamont

As part of the campaign, supporters can secure a range of exclusive rewards, including an early supporter edition of the book at a discounted price, a limited collector’s edition presented in a shoulder-neck box, a set of postcards featuring lettering and typography from the archive, a specially designed A2 folded poster, a half-day workshop with access to 100 original artefacts, and a bespoke in-person lecture on a graphic design topic of the supporter’s choice.

Supporting the campaign will help bring more than a decade of collecting, research and documentation into print, creating a lasting historical and educational resource for designers, students, researchers and anyone interested in graphic design history.

Take part in the campaign and pledge for your copy today:

https://vol.co/collections/design-reviewed