Deviant Design: The Ad Hoc, the Illicit, the Controversial

Craig Martin's book "Deviant Design" explores the transgressive or deviant aspects of design, arguing that it is not necessarily for the social good but is immersed in the social realm with contradictions and confusions. It explores various social practices that employ illicit forms of design thinking, such as early computer hacking, hacker culture, reproduction, counterfeit, and pirated designs, and the use of material practices by smugglers to conceal drugs. It challenges the normative idea of the professional designer or maker and displays forms of innovative design knowledge in understanding how artefacts have an inherent potential to be misused or repurposed.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 14 July 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Craig Martin explores the transgressive or deviant aspects of design, which straddle the divide between the licit and illicit, the legal and illegal, in various ways. He argues that design is not necessarily for the social good but is immersed in the social realm with its contradictions and confusions. Martin explores a wide range of social practices that employ illicit forms of design thinking, including early computer hacking, present-day hacker culture, reproduction, counterfeit, and pirated versions of classic and luxury designs, and the use of material practices by smugglers to conceal drugs within consumer goods and luggage. Deviant Design contends that these amateur and illicit practices challenge the normative idea of the professional designer or maker, as the adhocist practitioner displays forms of innovative design knowledge in understanding how artefacts have an inherent potential to be misused or repurposed.

Weight: 436g
Dimension: 233 x 156 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350035331