“It is such a dubious assertion that Modernism presented a coherent ethic at all! Sure, there are some moments, movements, manifestos and particular works that sought to connect ethics with design, and those are worthy of our continuing admiration and study, but there are other aspects of Modernism that are ‘value-free’ (take, for instance, rationalism: both very good and very bad things emanated from that little corner of the canon!). This seems so basic that it’s almost embarrassing to write, but hey, this is the wonderful world of graphic design ‘criticism’ where mythology repeats and repeats itself with all of the energetic thoughtfulness of flying toasters on a screen-saver.”
— Lorraine Wild (via Emigre #34, 1995)