I engaged in studio practices at the London Center for Book Arts in order to develop skills needed in order to create artist books. Partaking in workshops and studio sessions encouraged me to consider the LCBA as a facilitator for practical and social exchanges. The space is a community of makers and highlights the authenticity of printed text and the interactions that happen surrounding it.  While linocut, monoprint and risography all lend themselves to the reproduction of images, riso is arguably the most condensed of these mediums in the reduction of tactile information into a two dimensional form. The ‘master’ is the template picked up by the ink cartridges and rolled onto the inserted paper. This process initiates a transfer of authority from the computer to the printer as a separate entity. Settings as follows: duotone (fluoro pink, teal) / grain touch; tritone (yellow, fluoro pink, teal) / halftone. By layering various methods of printmaking allows for the evidence of printing processes to become a visual language. Along with emulated printer smudges, experimental layouts distill information to visual codes, and typography and white space are utilized to create tension. Traditional formatting and layouts in books are streamlined and allow for relatively little effort for the reader while stripping the reader of agency in their navigation of the text. If a layout is designed to allow for the reader to make decisions regarding chronology, the designer must set other parameters, such as color. Working with a single color print eliminates variation of information by hue, leaving value to determine a print’s legibility. Image clarity is dependent on the grain and thickness of paper, the sequence of colors, and alignment of the cartridges. The cartridges themselves must be inserted in the correct order of operations dependent on the content, allowing for an exchange between the printer and the operator. Print materials can be utilized as a means of reclaiming information, in the way it is presented and in terms of where printed materials are distributed, whereas online there is a broader audience and it can be amended and commented on in ways that devalue the content. Designers can still encourage a tactile contribution of the reader to the physical text through annotation by way of crossing out words, jotting down questions or sketching, as well as by providing additional materials such as stickers or a writing utensil. Engagement with print materials in the LCBA shop as references, including NO MAGIC IN RISO, a visual reference including color charts for varying inputs, as well as a new edition of Some Notes on Books and Printing. Created in house, this double bound A6 book details the formal properties and historical conventions printing process. 

Jacobi, C.T. (2018) Some notes on books and printing: A guide for authors and others. London: A6 Books.

Wang, V. (2020) No magic in Riso. Taipei: O.OO Design & Risograph room.