"Marcus Fairs was undoubtedly one of the design world's pre-eminent power brokers"
Marcus Fairs, who passed away late last month, changed the way we consume design news, writes Justin McGuirk in this obituary for Dezeen's founder and former editor-in-chief.
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"Mad Max cornered the market in a particular vision of the post-apocalyptic future"
Opinion: the first three Mad Max films established a retro-futuristic aesthetic that has been turned up to 11 in the latest iteration, says Justin McGuirk. But could Fury Road have also stumbled on something a bit more more pertinent? More
"Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk"
Opinion: unbridled materialism, technology and design combine to challenge the meaning of personhood in William Gibson's latest sci-fi novel. The foundations for this future are already being laid in real life, says Justin McGuirk. More
"No one will ever write a book called Zen and the Art of iPhone Maintenance"
Opinion: is the Internet of Broken Things the logical conclusion to the ever-escalating cycle of technological development and built-in obsolesce in our gadgets, asks Justin McGuirk. More
"Protest has been marginalised"
Opinion: the Turkish government's attempt to move protestors from Taksim Square to a new public space – nicknamed the "third testicle" – on a piece of reclaimed land at the edge of Istanbul was a failure from day one, says Justin McGuirk. More
"The perfect architectural symbol for an era obsessed with customisation and participation"
Opinion: a Le Corbusier design for a customisable house inspired by the devastation of Flanders during the First World War has haunted architecture ever since, says Justin McGuirk. More
"We are not in the midst of a revolution, we are between revolutions"
Opinion: Justin McGuirk argues that despite the furniture industry's decline in Italy, it's still the best place to buy a sofa until the digital manufacturing revolution delivers on its promises. More
"To stick it to The Man, first you have to let him trouser your money"
Opinion: now we buy everything from Amazon, where does that leave the counterculture? A new attempt to revive the spirit of the Whole Earth Catalog is "about as counter-cultural as a Happy Meal," argues Justin McGuirk. More
"Design is complicit in economic and political systems that are inherently violent"
Opinion: as MoMA launches an online exhibition investigating design's relationship with violence, Dezeen columnist Justin McGuirk looks beyond objects like 3D-printed guns and drones to ask "what do our weapons say about the systems they support?" More
"Design critics make an exception for certain technology products"
Opinion: following yesterday's column on how disruptive technology for emerging markets will affect the high-end tech giants, Justin McGuirk asks why contemporary design critics are obsessed with analysing technology. More
"Apple and Samsung will have to change their game"
Opinion: Justin McGuirk's inaugural Opinion column for Dezeen is in two parts - in this first instalment he examines what cheap tablet computers developed for emerging markets like India will mean for high-end tech giants like Apple and Samsung. Tomorrow he'll ask why design critics are writing about technology in the first place. More