Writing identifies a civilisation. Identification does not suggest that in a mysterious way writing and civilisation should become identical, they are just inseparable, much like the fingerprint that identifies me. Western civilisation is not Western writing but the society that communicates by Western writing. Writing can reveal the expansion of a civilisation with remarkable precision. When Chinese authorities felt urged to prescribe the spelling of Chinese names in Western writing they gave way to the expansive Western civilisation by adopting its identifier; the writing system is not separately available. The expansion of writing may be irrelevant from a linguistic point of view. For civilisation the move is fateful.

What do you think 2021 will hold for graphic design? The fabric of the graphic design discipline has been undergoing rapid changes before and during 2020. We’ve been seeing that the discipline has been profoundly impacted by technology and is becoming more and more “applied” with very specific professionalized specialties, such as branding, or user experience and user interface. Yet the umbrella discipline of graphic design has morphed into a super broad creative industry, detached from history (at least in the public lexicon). In other words, the “graphic design” discipline is rapidly becoming a skill-based profession that hinges on the currents of market and technology evolutions. Going into 2021, with or without the recovery from Covid, is likely going to continue the trend. My hope is that when the world regains stability, we’d be able to engage with concerns around the evolving discipline with a healthier perspective.