Colourful cut-out card illustrations by Eiko Ojala

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The debate in 1991: digital or hand-crafted type?

"Metal setting is practised today by only a handful of specialists, but it continues to provide the standards by which good typesetting is judged. Photosetting, and the computer setting which has largely displaced it, are criticised for being too perfect and lacking the character of hand-crafted type. Now, increasingly, designers are using desktop publishing systems such as the Macintosh to do their typesetting. The technology has matured considerably over the last two years and the time is ripe for a reassessment: is good typesetting possible on the Macintosh?"

(Andy Benedek, 1991)

Andy Benedek (1991). "The craft of digital type" Winter no. 2 vol. 1, Eye Magazine.

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Thomas Allen: whimsical pulp fiction cut-outs

"Playing the role of scientist, [Thomas] Allen enlists mid 20th-century books on the natural phenomenon of science(astronomy, physics, electricity, biology) and presents his research as if through the eyes of his 8-year old daughter. How would she understand and portray these theories and absolutes of science?

Allen's signature use of cutting and repurposing book illustrations has not vanished. Instead of the pulp fiction genre, Allen plays with 50's era versions of clean cut youths and domesticated moms. His unmistakable talent for creating the illusion of 3D in photography with his deft cuts and crimps, establishes a magical world in which a boy and girl play tag creating their own kind of electricity, a milkman makes a very special delivery in space, young toughs play marbles with the solar system and a mother busily sews her own version of 'string theory.'"

(Foley Gallery, 2012, New York NY)

Fig.1 Bearings, 2012. Fig.2 Eclipsed, 2012.

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Su Blackwell: paper craft dioramas of childhood wonder and anxiety

"I often work within the realm of fairy-tales and folk-lore. I began making a series of book-sculpture, cutting-out images from old books to create three-dimensional diorama's, and displaying them inside wooden boxes. ...

For the cut-out illustrations, I tend to lean towards young-girl characters, placing them in haunting, fragile settings, expressing the vulnerability of childhood, while also conveying a sense of childhood anxiety and wonder. There is a quiet melancholy in the work, depicted in the material used, and choice of subtle colour."

(Su Blackwell)

Fig.1 Su Blackwell (2008). "The Girl in the Wood" [http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/portfolio-book-cut-sculpture/]

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Traditional techniques provide an experimental space to explore ideas

Review of exhibition titled 'More is More' which opened 5 August 2012 in Gallery C3, Te Ara Hihiko, Massey University Campus, Wellington, New Zealand. The show was curated by Annette O’Sullivan, Matt Clapham and John Clemens.

"Typography forms a strong component of the Visual Communication Design programme and this existing knowledge is built upon in the Screen Printing for Design and Contemporary Letterpress papers. There was a celebration of disciplines on show, with students from many areas of the College of Creative Arts: Graphic Design, Textiles, Illustration, Fine Arts and Photography included. Many students are attracted to these papers as they provide an experimental space to explore ideas and techniques that can be applied at a later stage to other projects. Although based around traditional printmaking techniques students also employ digital technologies and equipment such as laser cutters to answer the project briefs."

(Nick Kapica, 20 August 2012, Design Assembly)

Fig.1 Hannah Milner "Our Darkest Day", wooden type printing, digital printing.

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