Studio

Rectangle is a graphic and interaction design studio based in Glasgow, Scotland and founded by Daniel Powers and Lizzie Malcolm in 2017. We work with information and technology and content and form to develop projects in various media.

Work

We write software, build tools, create archives, design interfaces and explore technologies. Our work is focused on building tools to structure stores of information, and interfaces to access them.

Clients

We work with journalists, human rights organisations, cultural organisations, artists, curators, workspaces, publishers, researchers and educational institutions.

Contact

studio@rectangle.design
9 May Terrace
G42 9XF Glasgow

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A resource for researchers, journalists and practitioners to learn about munitions and their use and impact in conflicts
An identity and 12 language website for the Global Investigative Journalism Network
Arika website home page
Website and archive for the political arts organisation
A redesign of the website for the Berwick Film Festival for their 2020 online festival, updated in 2023 for the return to in-person viewings
Pause For Thought website homepage
A website of written commissions reflecting on a shifting media landscape
Scotland and Venice website showing the exhibition archive
An archive of Scotland’s contributions to the Venice Biennale in both art and architecture
A series of graduate exhibition sites for the Glasgow School of Art.
A redesign of the website and update to the identity of the Centre for Investigative Journalism.
A memorial for civilian casualties of the war on ISIS in Iraq & Syria.
An identity and website for a research project exploring the intersection between the arts, society, and technology.
A identity and website for the Critical Making research consortium.
A tool to explore facts and statistics on the benefits of cultural investment.
A poster with an identity crisis for the Center for Interdiciplinary Methodologies at Warwick University
A website chronologising the work and process of the Dutch artist Myung Feyen
A twitter visualisation of the conversation surrounding the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014
An online platform that serves as a digital extension to the CCA’s physical galleries
Website and identity for a cultural association and space based in Ennenda Switzerland
A multilingual visualisation of Israeli court cases, demonstrating how the Israeli justice system shields from accountability for civilian harm
On the Loss of Energy: an online sound work for Helsinki Biennial 2023
Open weather ebook interior page showing several ground station recordings of the earth
Projects and artworks with open-weather, a feminist experiment in imaging and reimagining the planet in an era of climate crisis
A lexicon of words and ideas – part of Scotland’s contribution to the Venice Biennale Architettura 2023
A tool to hire creative work and event spaces at Civic House and Glue Factory in Glasgow
Revolutionary Papers home page showing a grid of journals in the main column, and announcements and teaching tools in a secondary column
An archive and collection of teaching tools for 20th century periodicals of Left, anti-imperial and anti-colonial critical production.
A website for the the Glasgow-based music festival
An illustrated map of Scotland with markers plotting Map of Stories entries
A collection of 77 stories to explore, celebrate, and promote oral storytelling traditions in Scotland
Xinjiang report introduction title and illustration
A microsite detailing the systematic abusing being carried out against Muslims living in Xinjiang
A website for the Non-Linear Narrative project Who Speaks? Artificial Intelligence, Language, and Democracy.
A library of graphics and animations for the Centre for Investigative Journalism website.
A website for the civilian casualty monitor.
A website for an Israeli artist and choreographer, exploring information density in web design
A series of infographics on the 2019 protests and internet shutdown in Iran in which security forces killed at least 304 people.
Digital publication and newspaper for a bi-lingual journal
Map and document database of timber regulation resources for lawyers and environmental activists
An identity and poster series for an annual theme at the Center for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at Warwick University
A subversive browser extension that suggests alternative methods to manufacture, repair, or replace items as you shop on IKEA.com
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Workshops

  • NLN Tech Week, January 2024, KABK, The Hague
  • Test Unit, 10–16 June 2019, Glasgow
    A project concerned with debunking the myth of seamlessness or immateriality around data and technology. By exposing or visualising the seams between systems we can reassert our understanding of, and agency within, the technological landscape.

    image: Jassy Earl

  • Archives, March 2019, CCS Detroit
    Over two days we worked with students to create digital archives using WordPress and custom fields.
  • Participatory Web, October 2018, Goldsmiths University
    An exploration of online participation, collaboration, and competition.
  • Greenpeace @ KABK, September 2018
    Again with the NLN Master, we directed a workshop to kick off a year long collaboration project with Greenpeace.
  • Psychographics, April 2018
    A week long workshop at the KABK’s Non Linear Narrative Master. Following the recent investigations into the practices of Cambridge Analytica, we asked students to download their entire Facebook archive. Using a combination of text and image analysis, they designed an interfaces to their dataset, confronting the quantity and intimacy of the information.
  • Command & Control, Tech Week, January 2018
    A workshop examining the proliferation of dashboards and control rooms outwith their traditional domains, and into our everyday lives. In collaboration with Thomas Boland.

Talks + Lectures

  • Disentangling Conflict Data at Scale, London, 20 February 2020
  • Templeton on the Green, Glasgow, 3 September 2019
  • The Whisky Bond, Glasgow, 12 June 2019
  • College for Creative Studies, Detroit, 20 March 2019
  • Design Theory, GSA, 16 October 2018
  • Rectangle & Make Works, Mozilla Festival, London, 29 October 2017

Teaching

Both Lizzie and Dan taught Interaction Design and Coding in the Non Linear Narrative masters programme at the KABK in The Hague.

Dan previously taught in the Interaction Design department at ArtEZ in Arnhem for 8 years and Lizzie in the bachelor programme for Graphic Design at the KABK for 4 years, as well as the the Communication Design department at the Glasgow School of Art for 2 years.

Interns

We’ve been lucky to have Samuel Rynearson (2018) and Josh Krauth-Harding (2020) as student interns.