Artis is a collection of zines about graphic techniques and processes. This was my undergraduate thesis project. 

It came about because during my time at the university I realized that more and more students were loosing touch with the manual side of design, with the techniques and processes that used to be such an integral part of designing in the past. Nowadays, with the advances in technologies these are being completely forgotten, not only in the schools, but also in the real world.

Whilst I appreciate all the possibilities that computers and their many tools give us in the design process, I also saw the importance of those old techniques, such as the letterpress, collage and woodcarving.

In my opinion, these techniques can help us learn so much more than the act of printing something, for example, they help us to think with our hands, to understand how things are created and developed. As David Jury said: “What I hear, I forget; What I see, I remember; What I do, I understand.”

My objectives were to reintroduce graphic techniques and processes to a public that has very little contact and knowledge of them; to demonstrate the importance and relevance of these techniques in design today; to bring the public closer to these processes; and to introduce their basic principles.

The proposal was to design a collection of zines which would introduce different graphic techniques and processes. The zines would not be a manual on how to practice on the techniques, only a brief introduction, to spark an interest for the readers. They would be distributed both online and in print.  Online the distribution would be free for anyone who wished to download the contents. Printed copies would be available as limited edition prints, with a poster on the other side of the zine, done in the technique being introduced on that edition of the zine.

Besides developing the layout of the zines, I also created a visual identity for the line of zines. I chose the name Artis, which in latin means technique, craft, art.