O design editorial brasileiro no capitalismo cognitivo: a lógica do campo das publicações com design autoral

Abstract

This thesis seeks to analyze, discuss and understand the authorship manifestations in brazilian editorial design. When reflecting on the designer as author of the book, we realize that the authorship manifests differently according to the kind of publication. Thus, we try to determine in which publications the designer should be considered the author of the books he designs, and therefore having his rights assured. We consider that graphic authorship happens in books with authorial design, that is, in books in which graphic design also becomes a visual narrative in which form also becomes content. We perceive that in spite of all the argumentations regarding the designer as author of the book, still there is a difficulty in claiming such a position. We focused the research in the contemporary printed book and therefore in the current mode of cognitive capitalism production for believing that the historical nature of processes and social relations of production interferes with the creation and circulation of products in society. In this model, wealth production is generated by immaterial labor in which the production of goods breaks through the factory limits and happens in the downtime. Like every commodity, books also have a fetishistic nature that hides the social relations of production. Marx reminds us that "A commodity is therefore a mysterious thing, simply because in it the social character of men s labor appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of the labor" (81). Books with authorial design, which have a stylistic signature, capture the distinctive elements present in works of art's aura, authenticity and uniqueness, and so adding a symbolic value to the product. Throughout the research we realize that these publications constitute a specific field, with a working logic of its own . Therefore, books with authorial design are publishec by small publishers that, for having a different economic logic from the greater ones, seek a prestige by the cultural importance of the publications and invest in differentiated products. By publishing public domain texts or seeking support from incentive laws, publishers are able to invest more in the graphic aspects of the book. Another way of reducing production costs is by printing on demand or by pre sale. Being scarcity and originality mechanisms of maintenance of the aura, promoted by the industry, as Araújo (2010) pointed out, the limited editions end up reinforcing the auratic nature of these authorial design publications.