Autumn 2011

Soft-edged memoir

How to disappear

By Duncan Fallowell<br>Ditto Press, &pound;14.99

Duncan Fallowell’s ‘memoir for misfits’ How to disappear (Ditto Press, £14.99) is possibly as interesting to Eye readers for its form as its content. Designed by Nazareno Crea, the book’s structure of five chapters is signalled by bold opening spreads, followed by text pages set in generously sized Plantin Rounded. But it is as a complete object that this book gets even more interesting. The publisher is also the printer, and Ditto Press is a pioneer of Risograph printing in the UK.

Taking a technology that is somewhere between an office stencil duplicator of the 1960s and screen-printing, Ditto has worked with artists and designers to explore the process’s unique aesthetic. In this book, the Risograph’s slightly soft-edge print and ability to use fluorescent colours is perfectly matched with Munken stock and properly crafted section-sewing and casebinding. A book to have and to hold.

First published in Eye no. 81 vol. 21 2011

EYE81

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions, back issues and single copies of the latest issue.