OffScript Workshop Vol. 1

Workshop for Creative Practice Against Big Tech, Vol.1 Subversion by Hannah Gmeiner and Luis Borchardt

The first edition of OffScript set out to explore subversion as a method, a position, and a form of protest and chance. Over two days, participants engaged in critical discussions, collaborative research, and hands-on design experiments that questioned the norms of practice under Big Tech conditions. The workshop was hosted by Hannah Gmeiner and Luis Borchardt

The opening evening focused on exchanging ideas and reflecting on personal positions within contemporary design. Together, we examined strategies for designing from the inside out, developing a shared vocabulary for thinking critically about technology and its infrastructures.

Day two shifted into making: participants experimented with layout and publication using an unconventional medium – Google Sheets. This playful constraint became a space for creative resistance, testing how a corporate productivity tool could be reimagined for visual expression.

The result was a collaboratively produced book containing seven chapters, each authored and designed by a different participant. These chapters offered diverse perspectives on subversion, from poetic interventions to system-level critiques. Designed entirely in Google Sheets, the zine pushes the limits of the platform’s visual capabilities and unfolds into a poster for OffScript Vol. 1.

The workshop combined research, dialogue, and making into a cohesive experiment in alternative publishing – and set the tone for future editions. Thank you to all contributors and participants – see you at OffScript Vol. 2!