“Our goal is to democratise design”: Deem Journal on how it’s tackling systems of oppression

For our penultimate talk at December’s Nicer Tuesdays we joined Nu Goteh, co-founder of the new publication Deem, over in LA. A magazine and platform dedicated to highlighting and dismantling systems of oppression, Deem investigates this notion just as much through its design as well as its content. As creative director of the magazine, Nu discussed the ins and outs of his curatorial vision for the magazine touching on the masthead, identity and print design.

Packed with content, the co-founder took us through the aesthetic decisions of the mag, then went on to discuss Deem’s ethos and why it exists in the first place. Highlighting how design can enact social change – design meant in the broadest of senses – Nu explained how “everyone has the ability to shape the environment around them.” Pinpointing a few must-read stories within Deem’s first issue, including a cover story by Adrienne Maree Brown and a farm shifting the power dynamic around food, Nu’s expansive Nicer Tuesdays talk amplifies grassroots organisations and how they are doing what the inaugural issue is centred around: designing for dignity. Fundamentally looking at the process of how designers can add value to the system, find out more about this boundary-pushing platform below.