Exploring the archetype of the intimate ballad singer, Crooner was published by Reaktion Books in 2023.
Developing an analysis of the twisted love song, Tainted Love: From Nina Simone to Kendrick Lamar (Sternberg Press, 2023) followed and was launched with a roundtable debate at the Whitechapel Gallery and featured on Chris Hawkins' BBC6 breakfast show.
DesignArt (Tate Publishing, 2005) triggered a debate about the interface between the two disciplines, while the edited anthology Design and Art (MIT Press/Whitechapel Publications, 2007) contextualised responses to it.
Essays were commissioned for the following exhibition catalogues and monographs: Konstantin Grcic: Champions (Flammarion, 2011); Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec: Bivouac (Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2012); Olafur Eliasson: Unspoken Spaces (Thames & Hudson, 2016); and Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design (Vitra Design Museum, 2019).
Between 2011-2023 Coles was Professor of Transdisciplinary Studies, School of Arts & Humanities, University of Huddersfield.