Hands On: Interactive design in print.
Print is not dead – its possibilities are just vastly overlooked. But thanks to a bunch of clever designers whose work is profiled in Hands On, we are shown the infinite and entertaining potential of the print medium. These designers invite us to play and interact with their printed creations. Whether it’s creating an origami fortune teller, paper jewellery or a Christmas bauble, this is design that communicates with us and seeks our help in creating the end product. This is not the clicking or dragging that comes with the digital realm – this is good old-fashioned colouring, tearing and glueing. Hands On shows us what designers can do after they’ve chosen the fonts, colours and compositions. They have taken their concept one step further and asked for the audience’s involvement. There’s a camping invitation in which trees can be pressed out of the invitation to create a tiny forest. There’s a product catalogue that requires you to scratch away at the foil to end the suspense and reveal the product. And there are wine bottle labels with find-a-words and connect-the-dots on them (though I do wonder how successful I’d be completing a find-a-word after a bottle of pinot noir). Even the book itself asks for your participation – stickers found at the back can be applied to the corresponding circled numbers stamped on each page. The stickers identify each project and by matching up the sticker with its project you are interacting and completing the book. So grab your scissors and glue, and get hands on.
(Victionary, 2012) 240 PP $60
