Freigeist Issue 2 documents an unscripted and unplanned Zoom call on design and making

Freigeist, a concept initially developed by German philosopher and poet Friedrich Nietzsche in the 1800s, describes those who believe that thinking shouldn’t be constrained by certain fundamental and non-contestable values, traditional ideas and established channels of distribution. To Nietzsche, this concept of free-thinking was more than a call for individuality but the search for and liberation of a spirit. Richard Baird, the founder of BP&O and LogoArchive, picks up where Nietzsche left off with the second issue of Freigeist. The first issue was an experiment, a ‘zine within a zine’ hidden inside issue four of LogoArchive as a collection of proposals that are far from the assertive opinions of industry ‘leaders’. Issue 2 develops this theme but moves away from the abstract, partial ideas of Issue 1 and instead, is presented as an unedited transcript of a Zoom call. The unscripted and largely unplanned event, labelled as ‘Freigeist Live’, saw Baird and Design Calender’s Anton Wade invite others to join them in a discussion on design and making. There were no microphones, slideshow clickers or moderators, just a simple conversation between a group of free-thinking individuals. The zine is once again an experiment, exploring the “liminal space between visual and auditory performance, material form, written word and distribution”.