Eva Gonçalves
Eva Gonçalves
Eva Gonçalves

WHAT IS IT

 

O.K. K.O. explores, through reading, writing, and publishing, the place of women’s voices in design criticism. Over the course of a year, approximately 10 participants (designers, educators, design students, critical thinkers, activists, and professionals in the broader field of communication) come together to read, debate, write, and ultimately publish a series of critical essays on design and its social, political, and cultural intersections.

The process unfolds in two phases: an initial phase of collective reading and discussion, and a second phase of essay writing and peer review.

WHY

 

Design criticism has a perspective problem. Very few voices get to shape the discourse and be taken seriously. Many are absent from it, historically, and still.

In Portugal specifically, the landscape of design criticism is limited and has been dominated by male voices. In conversations with colleagues, two things became consistently clear: the absence of female perspectives in design criticism, and the lack of time and space to develop and share critical thinking at all. O.K./K.O. was built to address both.

WHERE IT'S AT

 

The first edition is underway. Nine essays are currently in development, with contributors writing across questions including: anonymity versus invisibility and the freedom of rejecting individualism; designing for what cannot come to light; the radicality of slowness and the vernacularity of black ontologies; how software shapes what gets designed – access, accessibility, and the opacity of closed tools; criticality between professional practice and active citizenship.

A Berlin edition is taking place summer 2026.

WHO

 

Female* designers, educators, and researchers – those who make up the majority in universities, agencies, and studios, but remain a minority in public forums and critical writing.

* Female is defined here as anyone who identifies with the female gender: cisgender women, transgender women, and non-binary people who identify with feminine aspects of gender.

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Eva Gonçalves
Eva Gonçalves

WHAT IS IT

 

O.K. K.O. explores, through reading, writing, and publishing, the place of women’s voices in design criticism. Over the course of a year, approximately 10 participants (designers, educators, design students, critical thinkers, activists, and professionals in the broader field of communication) come together to read, debate, write, and ultimately publish a series of critical essays on design and its social, political, and cultural intersections.

The process unfolds in two phases: an initial phase of collective reading and discussion, and a second phase of essay writing and peer review.

WHY

 

Design criticism has a perspective problem. Very few voices get to shape the discourse and be taken seriously. Many are absent from it, historically, and still.

In Portugal specifically, the landscape of design criticism is limited and has been dominated by male voices. In conversations with colleagues, two things became consistently clear: the absence of female perspectives in design criticism, and the lack of time and space to develop and share critical thinking at all. O.K./K.O. was built to address both.

WHERE IT'S AT

 

The first edition is underway. Nine essays are currently in development, with contributors writing across questions including: anonymity versus invisibility and the freedom of rejecting individualism; designing for what cannot come to light; the radicality of slowness and the vernacularity of black ontologies; how software shapes what gets designed – access, accessibility, and the opacity of closed tools; criticality between professional practice and active citizenship.

A Berlin edition is taking place summer 2026.

WHO

 

Female* designers, educators, and researchers – those who make up the majority in universities, agencies, and studios, but remain a minority in public forums and critical writing.

* Female is defined here as anyone who identifies with the female gender: cisgender women, transgender women, and non-binary people who identify with feminine aspects of gender.

Previous project

Next project