Brent’s defense of gatekeeping is a defence of something larger: your toil. “The labour that goes into organising and maintaining a reference library is not to be discounted... it is work that you – as a designer – have done and you shouldn’t be giving that away.”

Cultural criticism matters because it does more than tell us what’s “good” or “bad.” It digs into the forces shaping life: art, media, fashion, politics and so much more, which seems like it should go without stating, but what is obvious anymore? Cultural critics expose power structures, assumptions and blind spots. That is important because analyz... See more