At the Visual Arts Center in Austin, a curated collection of 46 projects by 16 designers and studios welcomes visitors to view graphic design in a new way. Two cities in the global south, Cairo and São Paulo, and two in the north, Austin and Helsinki, come together to showcase a breadth of practice that explores the influence geography, history, and community have on visual and material manifestations in design. Exhibiting the work in this format not only allows visitors to experience design firsthand from international markets but also positions Austin as a global voice in design. Internationally, New York City and Los Angeles are seen as dominating forces for American design and culture; however, Hundred Points: Graphic Design from Austin, São Paulo, Cairo, and Helsinki speaks to a subtle shift of Austin as the third American city with a distinct design voice. Lope Gutiérrez‑Ruiz, the exhibition curator, said when he first proposed the show he was told the scope was “psychotic.” Ultimately, the exhibition’s international scale and scope is what shows Austin design holds its own on the world stage.
The show is organized by city; visitors can travel from table to table experiencing a slice of the most skilled designers and work of the highest craft from various markets. The gallery is arranged where visitors weave through the works, with each pass representing a different geographic market. The projects and cities’ placements reflect how global design is either infused or challenged. Each project has their respective spaces within the gallery, but are ultimately contextualized against each other to further a conversation around what global design is or could be.
Lauren Dickens’ Wagonmaster logo, featured on a repurposed Jeep door, greets visitors at the entry of the gallery. Sprawled out around the main gallery are white horizontal displays bringing graphic design off of the walls and into the visitors’ space. Wayfinding signage, rare books, packaging, and branding are all thoughtfully arranged in squares along the tabletops, setting a pace for visitors to navigate their way through. These horizontal displays are juxtaposed with soaring vertical lines along the gallery walls creating a dynamic and lively space to be explored.
Graphic design is often thought of as two dimensional or flat in nature, but Hundred Points questions this notion and, ultimately, proves otherwise. The large gallery is full of tactile objects and even allows visitors to touch and flip through designated books; a larger reading room is tucked beyond the gallery corner. Screens loop moving type and video footage of the designers while large-scale installations, such as an airy curtain bringing typography off the page and a stack of silkscreen printed cardboard boxes, create pockets of space and interaction within a structured system.
Among the many objects displayed, Canales & Co, an Austin founded studio, showcases several projects with a distinct Texan attitude. Some of their showcased works include cups from Austin’s beloved sports bar Chalmers, and Cape May Brewing Co cans, which rest atop a pile of sand calling attention to how present design is in everyday moments. The spatial and material considerations surrounding each project successfully present work of varying tones in a manner that makes each piece feel like a puzzle that just fits together.
Featured works — like Karl Marx’s Kapital Trilogy redesigned by Brazilian Designer Elaine Ramos, dynamic Arabic type by Cairo-based studio 40Mustaqel, PechaKucha posters from Austin’s Pentagram, and branding for the City of Helsinki by Werklig, among others — not only reflect technological advancements and cultural exchange in design but also the vast tactile output that exists within graphic design. At a time where artificial intelligence is largely shaping the future of the field, Hundred Points pushes back to show practical, real world projects by real designers. Design is not replicated by computers but a result of the exchange of people, language, and history.
The reading room, tucked away in a compressed space, allows for an intimate moment with an impressive array of hard-to-find books selected by the designers showcased in the exhibition. Nestled next to the reading space is a dim projection room spotlighting the faces and voices of the designers through video. The video prompts playful questions such as “How clean and organized are your design files?” Spatially and figuratively pulling back the curtain to reveal behind the scenes, these small considerations provide the designers with a voice and narrative that accompanies the show. Hundred Points goes beyond a display of work by designers, revealing the culture within design across the globe.
In addition to bringing together unique culturally rich materials and identity systems, through Hundred Points, Gutiérrez‑Ruiz has positioned Austin as a third city for culture and design in the United States while also welcoming and exposing Austin, and Texas as a whole, to a diverse assortment of international work. Contextualizing graphic design from opposite sides of the globe in one space provokes how place shapes visual language but also the qualities of design that supersede location. The careful selection of designers and cities has made this exhibition a love letter to design inside and outside the states.
Hundred Points: Graphic Design from Austin, São Paulo, Cairo, and Helsinki is on view through January 1, 2026, at the Visual Arts Center in Austin.
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