Writing
Writing
Brian LaRossa’s writing spans design criticism, fiction, and conceptual poetry.
SELECT ESSAYS
His essays explore how design shapes reading, how designers develop judgment, and how professional cultures impact the work that gets made. They connect his experience in book publishing with broader questions about literacy, ethics, and design education.
The essays collected here were originally published between 2016 and 2020, primarily via Design Observer. Their concerns also inform his teaching practice.
- The Role of Letterforms in Reading Instruction
- Reaching for Resilience in the Time of Covid-19
- Why It Matters to Me if Designers Read and Write
- The Tension Between Graphic and Type Design
- Undesigning Our Identity
- The Fear on Both Sides of a Design Pitch
- Questioning Graphic Design’s Ethicality
- The Wandering Center of Our Attention
- The Shape of a Design Mentorship
- The Architecture of Graphic Design’s Discourse
- Design as a Third Area of General Education
- Graphic Design Is a Literary Discipline
- How the Title “Art Director” Limits the Role of Design in Publishing
- The Tales Behind the Branding of 32 Storied Book Publishers
FICTION
He writes novels and short stories. His writing is represented by Liz Nealon, founder of Great Dog Literary.
Good Color, Scratching the Surface
Throwing Pencils, Scratching the Surface
CONCEPTUAL POETRY
Between 2012 and 2015, he created conceptual poetry through self-publishing and exchanges with other artists and writers. Much of the work appeared under the name The Post-Art Poets, an imaginary collective that he created. Invitations and responses brought other people’s contributions into the work, making participation part of the poetic form.
His poetry is included in the permanent collection of the MoMA Library through Paul Soulellis’s Library of the Printed Web. A detailed analysis of the work is available through the Library of Artistic Print on Demand.
Der Klaus, w/ Klaus Biesenbach
A Fair Warning, w/ Vanessa Place
Fungible Poetics, w/ Vanessa Place et al.
55 Faxes, w/ Chris Habib
Small Stack, w/ Derek Beaulieu (as Brian LaRossa)
