Associate ProfessorLuke Wood

Luke's broader research interests and outcomes are motivated by a desire to interrogate the social, cultural, and political implications of design practices. His work moves between typography, publishing, music, writing, and pedagogy.

Luke is a founding editor of The National Grid, (thenationalgrid.net) Aotearoa's only critical journal for graphic/communication design. From 2006–2012 Luke Wood and Jonty Valentine edited and produced this journal with funding from Creative New Zealand. The National Grid won many awards and was distributed internationally. The project was 'paused' in 2012, but has been revived in 2025 with a new editorial team (Katie Kerr and Matthew Galloway), and an external editorial board. 

Luke is currently working on primary research for a new book, The Henchmens' Lense: The Photographs of John 'Woody' Woodhams (working title). This book documents the life of a young family inside one of New Zealand's most notorious motorcycle clubs between the years 1971–89, and is scheduled to be published in 2027. 

In 2024 Luke worked with Dr. Bruce Russell (The Dead C) to publish A Record Could be Your Whole World: Vinyl Records as the Total Artwork of the Late Twentieth Century (Ilam Press, 2024). In 2020 Luke was co-editor, with Brad Haylock (RMIT), of One And Many Mirrors: Perspectives on Graphic Design Education (Occasional Papers, London). In 2019/2020 Luke curated the touring exhibition A Short Run: A Selection of New Zealand Lathe Cut Records (Objectspace, The Dowse Art Museum, CoCA). From 2011–2016 Luke, in collaboration with Stuart Geddes (Melbourne), edited, designed, printed, and published the multi-award winning publication Head Full of Snakes. (headfullofsnakes.com)

Since 2017 Luke has run Ilam Press Records, a speculative record label, and subsidiary of the Ilam Press; an in-house publishing workshop at the School of Fine Arts which Luke runs in collaboration with colleague Aaron Beehre.