OUGD402 Context of Practice Brief 02 Research into Modern Print Work

Because one of the angles I am considering with my publication is along the lines of print as almost a craft production method, I thought it worthwhile to research what some people are up to in the discipline of print. Because the focus of my essay was the way the arts and crafts movement was a reaction against the social change and mechanisation of the time, I wanted to bring this around to graphic design and expand on the idea in the present, in the way that there has been a renaissance of the more practical and physical forms of graphic design. I will take the angle that a return to print in particular is a reaction to  the increase in digital media platforms.

A workshop famous for making use exclusively of monotype printing methods is Whittington Press. Their process is fascinating and from a a number of short films I have been able to piece together the way they create their printed works.

http://www.centerforbookarts.org/video/

They use their traditional tools to create both very traditional pieces and more inventive ones, experimenting with text as image and strangely eclectic illustrations. It strikes me that these processes provide something that digital processes would not be able to create. More than anything however, what is most wonderful is the highly involved way that these are produced. This imbues the products with a level of worth that something digital cannot manage. In a way it is design for designers. It shows a reverence for the content that puts creatives on a pedestal and clearly suggests that what they are doing is worth while taking a long time to produce. It speaks of a longing for a time when creativity and the craft of creating was held in higher regard.

http://www.whittingtonpress.com/index.html

A branch off from this collectives the Nomad press run by the second generation of the Randle family who started the whittington press. Pat Randle, is slightly more experimental and has a fantastic blog with all of this documented.

http://nomadletterpress.blogspot.co.uk