This issue of IDEA is a visual powerhouse examining the effects of the global pandemic on society and graphic design as an aspect of culture. This issue’s title is Alternative Reality: Design and imagination in dangerous times: where fantasy and reality intersect. It features Ghost Spoon, a section of the magazine printed in clear varnish on gloss white paper highlighting the scores of graphic design events, biennials, exhibitions, and book fairs that were mowed over by COVID-19, followed by a 2-color index to all of the events that never happened. The issue also features Data Journalism and Design, a look at data visualizations of the global pandemic; a beautifully printed silver + CMYK catalogue for the Melbourne edition of the exhibition “Which Mirror Do You Want To Lick?” curated by Abake and Radim Pesko, with text by Jon Sueda. This issue also features a paean to the recently deceased designer Toda Tsutomu, one of Japan’s leading Postmodernists, as well as an amazing essay by David Caterini on labor and visual abstraction in software.

Published October 2020