Baseline Shift

Baseline Shift captures the untold stories of women across time who used graphic design to earn a living while changing the world.

Baseline Shift centers diverse women across backgrounds whose work has shaped, shifted, and formed graphic design as we know it today. From an interdisciplinary book designer and calligrapher starting out in Harlem's Renaissance, to the invisible drafters of Monotype's drawing office, the women represented here include auteurs, advocates for social justice, and creators ahead of their time. The fifteen essays in this illustrated collection come from contributors with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. Baseline Shift is essential reading for students and practitioners of graphic design, as well as anyone with an interest in women's history.

Briar Levit is a designer and associate professor of graphic design at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. She conceived of, directed, and produced the feature-length documentary Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production.