At the recent series of talks entitled It Takes Two to Boogie, which aimed to initiate a dialogue between the design world and the humanities, it became apparent just how hard it is for design experts to articulate a valid definition of design. They talk of styling, design thinking and of marketing logic.

Few illnesses gained as much media coverage in the 1980s as the acquired immune deficiency syndrome or Aids for short. In 2017, around 37 million people worldwide were HIV-positive. The following projects give an example how design is tackling these issues.

Since founding their design studio Astrom / Zimmer in Zurich in 2011, Anthon Astrom and Lukas Zimmer have been questioning established modes of interaction and helping to further the debate around today’s information landscape. In their work for a range of archives, for instance, the duo has developed alternative methods for curating and contextualising digital content.

When the preview of the book “Vom Bauhaus beflügelt” [Inspired by the Bauhaus] came out shortly before the Book Fair in Frankfurt/Main, this reviewer was moved to write a then unpublished commentary. By contrast, the book “Einfach komplex” [Simply Complex], about Max Bill’s Ulm School buildings, is a rather more heavyweight offering.