About
Work
Graphic Design
Brand Identity
Creative Direction
Logo Archive
Are.na
Email
Instagram
LinkedIn
©2025 Navya Sharma
LessHer?
Inferior: eight letters that can define, destroy or mend.
Inferior, a book published by Angela Saini in 2017 by 4th Estate Publishers as a revolt against the gender blind ostensible evolution of science. It is known to be a gateway to newer ideas that not only aim to reconstruct our opinion of gender but also of inferiority. A paperback book bound in with PUR binding and a matte print photographic image, "Inferior" challenges facts on the ideas of gender that have been sowed and nurtured within us by the patriarchy.
Is gender created, or were we born with it?
Or is it just a social construct that divides the human race?
Well, this divide goes beyond genetics. Diving into the book's physicality, on the cover, one can see how a deliberate emphasis has been laid on the word "Inferior" which very cleverly plays along with the concept and irony that it bears. The effective use of this diction also speaks of the language that demonstrates how the book's tone is a critique of modern society and its teachings. Arguably, red is a colour that denotes danger, a danger to the seen world that creates a collision of looking and being. The contrasting use of red with the greyscale and the word "Inferior" can be seen as a tool to leave an impact on the reader. It can be inferred that the roots of inspiration for the book cover lie within the realms of Barbara Kruger's infamous style of work. One could refer to her style of working as 'abstract expression', but it can be defined as 'extract expressionism' that defies people's perceptions. Her reuse of already existing images with externally placed words on a heavy red rectangle can be seen as a mixture of ironies embedded within cultural idioms and conventional wisdom that not only create a sense of controversy but also spark a fire of doubt and rethinking of ethics within the viewer's minds, much like Saini's work. Relevant to the present day and in consideration of the current happenings of the world within the consumerist culture and world news, Krueger's work publishes commentaries that are embraced by her target audiences of compulsive shoppers, creating an advertising line whilst at the same time inheriting a sense of a critique of the capitalists and their social vacuum.
Like Barbara Kruger, the cover of this book also uses a bold sans-serif font that connects both these works in terms of visual decisions taken in the making. The use of this sans-serif font also contributes to the contemporary nature of the book. A woman with a cropped head hidden under her hair alongside Kruger's poster with bold facial expressions and eye contact, one can compare and draw a contrast between the two works. How an existence of a face in a design is as effective as one with a lack of it, leaving different kinds of impact. While Kruger's eye shows a finger pointing at us demanding a change, the book's cover is something that can be reckoned as a taunt of our ignorance towards the actual truth. The cover promotes the idea of woman empowerment. The purpose is to create awareness about this issue whilst endorsing ideas of feminism amongst everyone. With Saini's book published in 2017, the same year as a Women's march on female body choices with one similar issue during the 1980s when Kruger's art came into the limelight- it could be called a coincidence. However, it's undoubtedly something to take into account. A wave of change that saw beyond an ordinary march of people flooded the streets of Washington; it marked a shapeshift. It's funny how Donald Trump was the president of the US at the time; the book can be seen as a taunt to such sexist narrow-minded people leading the world, who're carrying forward the teachings of toxic masculism and male superiority. Even though it represents the feminist communities of women sciences, female artists and authors, this book is for everyone. For men who need to understand, for women who need to be encouraged, for young minds that need to be taught, like the Guardian suggests, "An important and necessary book, its cumulative effect is to mate apparently the importance of diversifying the perspectives brought to a scientific research so that it might be strengthened and enriched".
As science suggests, men and women are theatrically different in their bodies, minds and behaviour, but have we been told the whole story? For as long as beliefs and inventions, and discoveries have occurred, the human race has relied on sciences as pillars of the unprejudiced truth of the world that surrounds us. However, Anglia argues that this idea of truth falls short when it comes to women. 'Inferior' paints an alarming image of how these sexist notions have been woven into the lines of science-based research and how even today, women are perceived through the lens of those centuries-old theories produced in a male-dominant society. "To be fair to Darwin, he was a man of his time. His ideas on evolution may have been revolutionary. However, his attitudes to women were solidly Victorian." this was Saini's response to Charles Darwin, apparently referred to as the "father of evolution", who stated in his memoirs how women "though generally superior to men [in] moral qualities are inferior intellectually." With this book, the authors aim to examine and question the existing research, studying everything right from what younger boys prefer: cars or dolls, to how the biological formation of men and women differs, all to answer and justify how most of society's time-honoured beliefs about women have been constructed on the rickety ground. The Science News supports Saini, saying, "by the end, it's clear that science doesn't divide men and women; we've done that to ourselves."
Even today, conceptions of a female being "inferior" to a male, both in intellect and physical abilities– have been preserved and carried forward by the predominantly male-oriented science community through the years since. All the way from intelligence to sentiments, times have passed, and we have fought through a pandemic, a financial crisis, economic slowdowns, and lockdowns, yet it's funny how little has changed in the world around us.
Is gender created, or were we born with it?
Or is it just a social construct that divides the human race?
Well, this divide goes beyond genetics. Diving into the book's physicality, on the cover, one can see how a deliberate emphasis has been laid on the word "Inferior" which very cleverly plays along with the concept and irony that it bears. The effective use of this diction also speaks of the language that demonstrates how the book's tone is a critique of modern society and its teachings. Arguably, red is a colour that denotes danger, a danger to the seen world that creates a collision of looking and being. The contrasting use of red with the greyscale and the word "Inferior" can be seen as a tool to leave an impact on the reader. It can be inferred that the roots of inspiration for the book cover lie within the realms of Barbara Kruger's infamous style of work. One could refer to her style of working as 'abstract expression', but it can be defined as 'extract expressionism' that defies people's perceptions. Her reuse of already existing images with externally placed words on a heavy red rectangle can be seen as a mixture of ironies embedded within cultural idioms and conventional wisdom that not only create a sense of controversy but also spark a fire of doubt and rethinking of ethics within the viewer's minds, much like Saini's work. Relevant to the present day and in consideration of the current happenings of the world within the consumerist culture and world news, Krueger's work publishes commentaries that are embraced by her target audiences of compulsive shoppers, creating an advertising line whilst at the same time inheriting a sense of a critique of the capitalists and their social vacuum.
Like Barbara Kruger, the cover of this book also uses a bold sans-serif font that connects both these works in terms of visual decisions taken in the making. The use of this sans-serif font also contributes to the contemporary nature of the book. A woman with a cropped head hidden under her hair alongside Kruger's poster with bold facial expressions and eye contact, one can compare and draw a contrast between the two works. How an existence of a face in a design is as effective as one with a lack of it, leaving different kinds of impact. While Kruger's eye shows a finger pointing at us demanding a change, the book's cover is something that can be reckoned as a taunt of our ignorance towards the actual truth. The cover promotes the idea of woman empowerment. The purpose is to create awareness about this issue whilst endorsing ideas of feminism amongst everyone. With Saini's book published in 2017, the same year as a Women's march on female body choices with one similar issue during the 1980s when Kruger's art came into the limelight- it could be called a coincidence. However, it's undoubtedly something to take into account. A wave of change that saw beyond an ordinary march of people flooded the streets of Washington; it marked a shapeshift. It's funny how Donald Trump was the president of the US at the time; the book can be seen as a taunt to such sexist narrow-minded people leading the world, who're carrying forward the teachings of toxic masculism and male superiority. Even though it represents the feminist communities of women sciences, female artists and authors, this book is for everyone. For men who need to understand, for women who need to be encouraged, for young minds that need to be taught, like the Guardian suggests, "An important and necessary book, its cumulative effect is to mate apparently the importance of diversifying the perspectives brought to a scientific research so that it might be strengthened and enriched".
As science suggests, men and women are theatrically different in their bodies, minds and behaviour, but have we been told the whole story? For as long as beliefs and inventions, and discoveries have occurred, the human race has relied on sciences as pillars of the unprejudiced truth of the world that surrounds us. However, Anglia argues that this idea of truth falls short when it comes to women. 'Inferior' paints an alarming image of how these sexist notions have been woven into the lines of science-based research and how even today, women are perceived through the lens of those centuries-old theories produced in a male-dominant society. "To be fair to Darwin, he was a man of his time. His ideas on evolution may have been revolutionary. However, his attitudes to women were solidly Victorian." this was Saini's response to Charles Darwin, apparently referred to as the "father of evolution", who stated in his memoirs how women "though generally superior to men [in] moral qualities are inferior intellectually." With this book, the authors aim to examine and question the existing research, studying everything right from what younger boys prefer: cars or dolls, to how the biological formation of men and women differs, all to answer and justify how most of society's time-honoured beliefs about women have been constructed on the rickety ground. The Science News supports Saini, saying, "by the end, it's clear that science doesn't divide men and women; we've done that to ourselves."
Even today, conceptions of a female being "inferior" to a male, both in intellect and physical abilities– have been preserved and carried forward by the predominantly male-oriented science community through the years since. All the way from intelligence to sentiments, times have passed, and we have fought through a pandemic, a financial crisis, economic slowdowns, and lockdowns, yet it's funny how little has changed in the world around us.