CENSOR THIS!
Designing a creative protest against censorship
The PROVOCATION
Censorship in America is no longer subtle. Books are being banned, words policed, and communities silenced. For creatives and designers, people whose work centers on language, visibility, and truth, this moment demands more than commentary. It demands action.
With censorship on the rise, and a major design festival in our city declaring that “Design is for Everyone,” we asked: Is it? What does creative resistance look like today? And how can design, not just critique culture, confront erasure in real time?
SOLUTION
On May 20, 2025, as part of the NYCxDESIGN Festival, we transformed our Flatiron studio into a rallying ground for banned ideas; equal parts installation, rally, and call to resist. From the moment guests entered the building and received a postcard depicting a dead canary stamped over the word CENSORSHIP, they were asked to confront the stakes. Inside the event, over 200 artists, designers, and cultural agitators navigated an immersive, tactile experience where participation was the point.
Guests gathered around a screen printing demo by Bushwick Print Lab, where pulled poster templates became the foundations for protest. Participants filled in the blanks on these prints, alongside an additional design donated by Kayrock Screenprinting. In a separate room, The Dead Library stood in solemn contrast: an enclosure of an urn surrounded by wilted flowers and torn book pages stood guard, memorializing renowned authors, titles, and stories currently facing the threat of erasure by local and national bans. At the center of the space stood the Riot Wall: a sea of typographic posters that transformed erased language into graphic confrontation.
The INSTALLATIONS
In a soundproof vault, guests recorded themselves saying blocklisted or “controversial” words, intended to be preserved in a protected archive. At a communal table, letters were crafted to leaders and lawmakers, calling on them to reject complacency in the fight against censorship. Along the bookshelves, titles deemed “inappropriate” were proudly on display. A curated collection from Rizzoli Bookstore reminded guests that the most “controversial” ideas often say more about power than the books themselves. Every interaction was designed not just to make guests feel, but to make them remember that silence is surrender.
IMPACT
CENSOR THIS! became Thought Matter's most attended event to date, calling the creative community to recognize and resist the insidious nature of censorship. Guests didn’t just leave with tote bags or merch, but with tools: posters, language, and new resolve. Letters were written and mailed. Banned books were held and shared. Conversations sparked in the room spilled into other design studios and onto screens. CENSOR THIS! was a reminder that silence is not neutral, and that choosing to speak, to design, to act is how we hold the line.
