typohypergraphicobject

*p r o t a g o n i s t*

p r o t a g o n i s t

about the book

typohypergraphicobject is a teachable agenda for conscious graphic design.

Written, edited, designed, and published by James Langdon.

Contributions from
Brad Haylock
Bryony Quinn
Caleb Klaces and Daisy Hildyard
Gilbert Again with Michael Fowler
Karl Nawrot
Sam Rolfes
Susanne Kriemann

against economical thinking

revitalising arcane knowledge

enthralled by sublime digital graphics

its heart beating faster in the presence of commodity

on the cusp of poetry and wastefulness

admitting the conundrum of its own production

reconsidering technologically entrenched practices

when there are no innocent materials

and no more whitespace

The cover shows one of the book’s protagonists, the Banasura Chilappan, whose declining population is currently estimated to be as low as 530, endemic to southwest India. This number determines the edition size. Book: bird. Art by Sam Rolfes.

The cover shows one of the book’s protagonists, the Banasura Chilappan, whose declining population is currently estimated to be as low as 530, endemic to southwest India. This number determines the edition size. Book: bird. Art by Sam Rolfes.

The cover is overprinted onto sheets from a bootleg English translation of *Der Wert Eines Vogel* (what a bird is worth) by Frederic Vester, which was produced as a gift for presale buyers of *typohypergraphicobject*.

The cover is overprinted onto sheets from a bootleg English translation of Der Wert Eines Vogel (what a bird is worth) by Frederic Vester, which was produced as a gift for presale buyers of typohypergraphicobject.

content

A message from the last laughingthrush; a hallucinatory history of typography and the last empty page; a “facile leftist conspiracy” which self-respecting business-as-usual designers should certainly not read; a boyhood memoir consumed by graphic design’s sumptuous, foil-blocked, ultra-carcinogenic aesthetic allure; an essay about the utility of waste; and an afterword on the matter of this book’s near-futures.

Reclaimed paper for the book at die Keure. Photograph by Stuart Whipps.

Reclaimed paper for the book at die Keure. Photograph by Stuart Whipps.

design and production

typohypergraphicobject is approximately 32×24cm, 52 pages, printed and overprinted in multiple offset and silkscreen inks on make-ready sheets and leftovers from four other books.

Produced with the technical co-operation of die Keure, Bruges; Spreedruck, Berlin; DZA, Altenburg; Kajsa Ståhl, London; OK-RM, London; and Stina Gromark, Stinsensqueeze, Paris.

Sheets from *A Meaningful Order* by OK-RM overprinted in offset.

Sheets from A Meaningful Order by OK-RM overprinted in offset.

Further overprinting in offset and silkscreen.

Further overprinting in offset and silkscreen.

Print test sheets from *Undesigning the Bath* by Leonard Koren overprinted in offset and silkscreen.

Print test sheets from Undesigning the Bath by Leonard Koren overprinted in offset and silkscreen.

Overprinted pages from *A Meaningful Order* by OK-RM and *Keep Smiling! The Printed Universe of Pontus Hultén* by Stina Gromark.

Overprinted pages from A Meaningful Order by OK-RM and Keep Smiling! The Printed Universe of Pontus Hultén by Stina Gromark.

thank you

With artistic, editorial, and practical support from Vanessa Boni and Farrah Langdon, Andre Fuchs, Céline Condorelli, Geoffrey Mak, Johanna Schäfer, Laurent Benner, Na Kim, Rory McGrath, Simon Knebl, Stuart Whipps, Thomas Bossuyt, and Tim Bartel.

The cuckoo, from Thomas Bewick’s *A History of British Birds*, 1797.

The cuckoo, from Thomas Bewick’s A History of British Birds, 1797.