PLATES is an editorial and curatorial response to contemporary design practice and criticism. Each issue dives into a specific topic that is pertinent to the design reality we live in, presented and archived in a series of image and textual plates in an organic, iterative and evolving format.

In this first issue, PLATES presents and juxtaposes the voices of international practitioners, spotlighting overlaps or cracks between disciplines as contributors consider the subject “Manifesto vs. Manifest” in relation to their practice. 

The manifesto as a category of writing feels fixed and loaded, while contemporary design operates on the intersection of many manifestos, sensationalism in media, technological hype, identity, geopolitics, social activism, inclusivity and misalignment, alt texts, screenshots, fragmented truth, psychic readings on TikTok, and endless advertisements everyday everywhere.

PLATES #1 manifests works that reflect each contributor and/or their practice within a serialized and loosely linear context, which unbound, can be reshaped for any now or sequenced for any future.

Includes 18 individual plates—writings, diagrams, photographs, posters, and typographic specimens—by contributors Can Yang; Catherine Griffiths; Dinamo Typeface; Draw Down Books; Gabriel Melcher; Lamm & Kirch; Lukas Eigler-Harding; Hezin O; Jack Self; John Provencher; Nat Pyper; Related Department; Secret Riso Club; Sulki & Min; Tetsuya Goto; Toru Kase; Velvetyne; and Vrints-Kolsteren.

Creative direction and design: Related Department and Gabriel Melcher

Published by Page Bureau, 2024

Neon green rubber band binding (removable), [46 pages], b&w and multi-color, 8.4 × 11.25 inches (individual pieces with varying dimensions)