I received a great care package of books from a friend Adri Cowan who works with (MBP) Mark Batty Publishing. I was really impressed with the imprints that I am compelled to not just promote them but make a case for the value of tangible books, printed matter. I have a great affinity for books and reading I have learned to value them both in content and aesthetic so when I received these books I was excited to claw through them. Print does what the web cant do well and that is evoke a sensory emotion by virtue of holding an artifact in hand, this was an experience I had with some of these books, I was able to leaf back and forth, inspect the images closer and read text that mattered to me. I knew very little of Mexican Blackletter and viewed the typography as all the same until closer inspection and having read its historical relevance in the culture and in design my opinion changed. Same for the Made with FontFont book, it offered be an in depth look at historical and contemporary use of fonts, this is the type of book that should be in the education system for up and coming designers. Sure some of this reference can be found online but to me the fact that it still has its root in hard format appeals to me more and makes the most sense for the study of the subject.
These new books are well produced and include several people on the 12oz blog it was a nice surprise to see Greg Lamarche and Grotesk in the New Skateboard Graphics book, which incidentally has given me a new found appreciation for the art of the boards, something I had discounted in the past. The Japan Graffiti book and Protest Graffiti Mexico are good reads, I have to tell you as a veteran to the ‘graffiti’ culture I sometimes forget how this art transcends our earlier cause for expression on trains, these are good examples of how and why these cultures adapted it and made it their own.
There have been a good amount of books of recent about Graffiti and Street Art, and we here at 12oz are good at supporting these books, as well we should because they are so relevant to us and about us, we need to keep supporting this effort as the sound bites of web and video do not and could not fulfill the pleasure of holding a well produced book.
