Tai Cossich is a designer and researcher whose work focuses primarily on historiesof graphic design, particularly where it intersects with the publishing practicesof linguistic minorities, and on community-led digital archives.
Research interests
Design and Language Justice
Intersecting with indigeneity and language maintenance, literacy, and multilingualism. Informed by studies in Sociolinguistics and Political Ontologies.
Design and Digital Community Archives
Intersecting with digitisation and digital preservation, participatory practices, and digital culture. Informed by studies in Archival Practices and the Digital Humanities.
Markup Languages and Practices
Intersecting with graphic design, experimental data visualisation, and emerging methodologies. Informed by studies in Practice-led Research and Performativity.
Design and Language Justice
Intersecting with indigeneity and language maintenance, literacy, and multilingualism. Informed by studies in Sociolinguistics and Political Ontologies.
Design and Digital Community Archives
Intersecting with digitisation and digital preservation, participatory practices, and digital culture. Informed by studies in Archival Practices and the Digital Humanities.
Markup Languages and Practices
Intersecting with graphic design, experimental data visualisation, and emerging methodologies. Informed by studies in Practice-led Research and Performativity.
Studied at
PhD Visual Communication
Royal College of Art [2022]
Voiceless characters: A social approach to the practice of adding extra-alphabetic symbols to orthography ︎︎︎
MPhil Design History, Theory and Practice
University of São Paulo
BA (Hons) Graphic Design
University of Brasília
PhD Visual Communication
Royal College of Art [2022]
Voiceless characters: A social approach to the practice of adding extra-alphabetic symbols to orthography ︎︎︎
MPhil Design History, Theory and Practice
University of São Paulo
BA (Hons) Graphic Design
University of Brasília
Teaching with
Contextual and Theoretical Studies, Design School, London College of Communication, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2022–present]
MA Graphic Design Communication
Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2023–present]
Graduate Diploma Graphic Design, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2023–present]
BA Graphic Design Communication, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2023–present]
BA Graphic and Media Design, London College of Communication, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2022–present]
Taught with
BA Graphic Design and BA Illustration, University for the Creative Arts
Associate Lecturer in Contextual Studies
[2021–2023]
Arts University Bournemouth
Bath Spa University
University of São Paulo (Teaching Assistantship Scheme, CAPES)
Funding from
DHS—Design History Society (UK)
CAPES Foundation—Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. Ministry of Education (Brazil)
Fapesp—São Paulo Research Foundation (Brazil)
CNPq—Council for Scientific and Technological Development. Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Brazil)
BNDES—National Bank for Economic and Social Development (Brazil)
FUSP—Fundação Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil)
Contextual and Theoretical Studies, Design School, London College of Communication, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2022–present]
MA Graphic Design Communication
Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2023–present]
Graduate Diploma Graphic Design, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2023–present]
BA Graphic Design Communication, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2023–present]
BA Graphic and Media Design, London College of Communication, UAL
Associate Lecturer
[2022–present]
Taught with
BA Graphic Design and BA Illustration, University for the Creative Arts
Associate Lecturer in Contextual Studies
[2021–2023]
Arts University Bournemouth
Bath Spa University
University of São Paulo (Teaching Assistantship Scheme, CAPES)
Funding from
DHS—Design History Society (UK)
CAPES Foundation—Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. Ministry of Education (Brazil)
Fapesp—São Paulo Research Foundation (Brazil)
CNPq—Council for Scientific and Technological Development. Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Brazil)
BNDES—National Bank for Economic and Social Development (Brazil)
FUSP—Fundação Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil)
Spoken at
[2023]
Underserved by design: embedded colonialism at the intersections of spelling choices and typography
Multilingüe: Writing and Typography for Native Languages of Latin America
9–11 November 2023
Type Directors Club
Remembering ‘La Otra Grafika’: uses of Zapatista graphics in Brasília, Brazil (2006–2013)
DHS 2023: Displaying Design
7–9 September 2023
ESAD College of Art and Design, Matosinhos, Portugal
From positionality to situated ethics in design archives
Guest Lecture, MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures, University for the Arts London
[2022]
Underserved by design and
underservedness in design archives
Where Design Fails? Exploring Design Archives,
University of Brighton
Making room for Monga, the gorilla woman: from character re-appropriation to indie-publishing
Comics and the Global South,
CRASSH, University of Cambridge
Voiceless characters: methodological detours and undisciplined insights
Guest Lecture, PhD programme in Technology, Culture & Society,
New York University
[2019]
Typography and indigenous languages of America: the case of the glottal stop
DHS 2019: The Cost of Design
Northumbria University
[2015]
Challenges of printing books in the Guarani-Jesuit Reductions (1609-1768)
ATypI 2015: Challenges
FAAP, São Paulo
[2009]
Type and native languages in postcolonial America
ATypI 2009: The heart of the letter
MIDI, Mexico City
[2023]
Underserved by design: embedded colonialism at the intersections of spelling choices and typography
Multilingüe: Writing and Typography for Native Languages of Latin America
9–11 November 2023
Type Directors Club
Remembering ‘La Otra Grafika’: uses of Zapatista graphics in Brasília, Brazil (2006–2013)
DHS 2023: Displaying Design
7–9 September 2023
ESAD College of Art and Design, Matosinhos, Portugal
From positionality to situated ethics in design archives
Guest Lecture, MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures, University for the Arts London
[2022]
Underserved by design and
underservedness in design archives
Where Design Fails? Exploring Design Archives,
University of Brighton
Making room for Monga, the gorilla woman: from character re-appropriation to indie-publishing
Comics and the Global South,
CRASSH, University of Cambridge
Voiceless characters: methodological detours and undisciplined insights
Guest Lecture, PhD programme in Technology, Culture & Society,
New York University
[2019]
Typography and indigenous languages of America: the case of the glottal stop
DHS 2019: The Cost of Design
Northumbria University
[2015]
Challenges of printing books in the Guarani-Jesuit Reductions (1609-1768)
ATypI 2015: Challenges
FAAP, São Paulo
[2009]
Type and native languages in postcolonial America
ATypI 2009: The heart of the letter
MIDI, Mexico City
Writing and exhibiting at
[2020]
In correspondence with a living archive of indigenous languages
Exhibition
The Media Works, White City Place
Royal College of Art
Making room for Monga, the gorilla woman
Exhibition
The Media Works, White City Place
Royal College of Art
[2019]
The Monga Show: prototyping Amerindian Perspectivism through the girl-to-gorilla trick (2019). In Estudos em Design [Teal Triggs and Cristina Portugal (eds)] 27:2
Peer-reviewed article
doi.org/10.35522/eed.v27i2.737
[2020]
In correspondence with a living archive of indigenous languages
Exhibition
The Media Works, White City Place
Royal College of Art
Making room for Monga, the gorilla woman
Exhibition
The Media Works, White City Place
Royal College of Art
[2019]
The Monga Show: prototyping Amerindian Perspectivism through the girl-to-gorilla trick (2019). In Estudos em Design [Teal Triggs and Cristina Portugal (eds)] 27:2
Peer-reviewed article
doi.org/10.35522/eed.v27i2.737
Reviewing with
Scientific Committee
Pivot 2021: Dismantling/Reassembling
Pluriversal Design SIG,
Design Research Society
Scientific Committee
Memory Full? Reimagining the relations between design and history
DHS 2021 Annual Conference
Blind peer-review
CoDesign—International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts
Judging panel
Student Essay Prize
2020, 2021
Design History Society
Judging panel
Research Access Award
2020, 2021
Design History Society
Scientific Committee
Pivot 2021: Dismantling/Reassembling
Pluriversal Design SIG,
Design Research Society
Scientific Committee
Memory Full? Reimagining the relations between design and history
DHS 2021 Annual Conference
Blind peer-review
CoDesign—International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts
Judging panel
Student Essay Prize
2020, 2021
Design History Society
Judging panel
Research Access Award
2020, 2021
Design History Society