#VALUE!
2026
Unknown Quantities
Publication \ Editorial \ Print
Editorial Team
Ant Beltrán, Eduardo Dias Loureiro, Samuel Christopher Ng, Neyomi Parikh, Wonjoo Gu, Harry He, Harriet Shepherd, Han Xu
With Thanks
Isabel Albiol Estrada, Matthew Chrislip, Jes Fernie, Rebecca Hiskey, Nick Kimberley, Cara Jaime Lloyd, Rosie Ram, Lee Weinberg
Printed by Central Saint Martins Publications Workshop#VALUE! is an error code, raising its voice in protest, signalling a conflict between expectation and delivery. This mismatch, between the data the function anticipates and that which it receives, may be understood more plainly, as the moment of failure. For the 13th issue of Unknown Quantities, we decide to pause at the error, prolonging the period of hesitation that precedes correction.(uqjournal.net/issues/uq-13)
Unknown Quantities (UQ) is an annual serial project from MA Culture, Criticism and Curation and MA Graphic Communication Design (MAGCD). Along with other colleagues, I was responsible mostly for its graphic design and art direction. I also contributed an article “Unprofessing Professionalism”, a take on the tension between profit-oriented toxic capitalism and risk-taking creative exploration.
The entire publication was made using Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets. The concept of subverting the sheets softwares was decided together after reflecting on the theme. Each of the designers were assigned three contributions to layout and generate the front artwork. I was mainly responsible for the journal’s cover design and articles “When Loneliness Breathes”, “FUCKSPOTIFY”, and my own “Unprofessing Professionalism”.
The project’s unique approach reflected the journal’s non-hierarchical appraoch.
The potential of Unknown Quantities as a creative experiment lies in its non-hierarchical approach to the relationship between design and intellectually driven approaches to publication.
Full Cover Design
Previous Iterations of the cover design
The entire publication was made using Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets. The concept of subverting the sheets softwares was decided together after reflecting on the theme. Each of the designers were assigned three contributions to layout and generate the front artwork. I was mainly responsible for the journal’s cover design and articles “When Loneliness Breathes”, “FUCKSPOTIFY”, and my own “Unprofessing Professionalism”.
The project’s unique approach reflected the journal’s non-hierarchical appraoch.
The potential of Unknown Quantities as a creative experiment lies in its non-hierarchical approach to the relationship between design and intellectually driven approaches to publication.
Selected spreads of the Journal. Visit the our page on the Unknown Quantities website for the full digital version. A physical copy can also be borrowed at the Central Saint Martins Library or the British Library.
Some more stuff