Routes to Design History: Episode 10 - Rick Poynor

16 March, 2026

In the next episode of our new podcast series: Routes to Design History, we speak with Rick Poynor, one of the most influential voices in the study and critique of graphic design and visual culture. A writer, editor, curator, and academic, he has shaped design discourse for more than three decades. He is the founding editor of Eye magazine, co-founder of Design Observer. His books, including No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism (2003), Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties (2004), and David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian (2020), have become key references for understanding how design communicates cultural and political values. Until 2023, he served as Professor of Design and Visual Culture at the University of Reading.

Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/

Developed by our Teaching and Learning Officer Deepika Srivastava, our Student Officer Alex Todd, and former Ambassadors Dan Mu and Pippy Stephenson, the Routes to Design History podcast series explores diverse ways of practising the field. Join us as we uncover the many routes to shaping a career in design history.