Brands aren’t just intruding on culture, they are our culture: they are the sponsored mechanisms for constructing and manipulating meaning and human identity. But should we cede such a fundamental human need to the market? If not, why not, and is there an alternative?

A compact pocketbook composed of four main sections, What Is Post Branding? is a work of "practical theory."

The first section, "DIS-BRANDED," consists of 20 short page-long chapters exposing the ideological underbelly and real-world impact of branding. The second, "Mixed Messages," is a provocative visual essay illuminating the texts’ main themes. The third section, "Manual," presents a framework for a critical alternative to corporate branding, humorously appropriating vintage instructional diagrams as a brand manual satire. This section also includes examples of contemporary projects that have implemented post-branding principles. The book concludes with "Context," which features a conversation with cultural theorist Brian Holmes and a discussion with design historian Steven Heller.

Part design experiment, part critical theory, and part how-to-manual, What is Post-Branding? introduces a creative counter to branding’s neoliberal orthodoxy.

Edited by Oliver Vodeb and Jason Grant

Designed by Inkahoots, Meanjin, and Oliver Vodeb

Published by Set Margins' Publications, 2023

Softcover, 264 pages, 39 b&w, 29 duotone and 138 color images, 9 × 11.75 inches

ISBN: 978-9-08-327067-8