Els Kuijpers (1958, the Hague, Netherlands) is a design critic, lecturer and curator in the field of culture and visual communication; and PhD candidate at ACPA, University of Leiden/NL, doing research into ‘The politics of design: the liberating potential of communication design in post/modern times – Towards a method in communication design.’

Kuijpers sees design as the production of values – a view that stems from the assumption that (visual, textual, spatial, etc.) language constructs meaning in dynamic social processes.

Kuijpers has written substantially for design magazines and weeklies; (co-)curated exhibitions for Kunsthal Rotterdam, and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven a.o.; lectured widely at art and design schools (most recently at School of architecture-KTH, Stockholm; Visual communication + Scenography depts.-HfG, Karlsruhe; PXL-Mad school of arts, Hasselt; LCC-UAL, London). Author of R.D.E.-Ootje- Oxenaar, designer and commissioner (010, 2011); And/or extended (nai010, 2013); Strategies in communication design (Vam, 2015); Mentalities in design is forthcoming.