Over its 170 pages, the second edition of the annual Print Control presents a panorama of Polish print design. The bilingual edition, authored by Magdalena Heliasz, features examples of the most interesting design projects accompanied by interviews with some of the designers: Edgar Bąk, Ryszard Bienert, Jakub Jezierski, as well as with publishers: Jakub Banasiak, Jan Rogalo & Michał Siarek – the founders of the 8h books publishing house.
For foreign readers, the annual has become the crucial source of knowledge about the specifications of locally realised projects in terms of their conceptual and technical aspects. The diverse ways of employing printing forms and techniques indicate that designers are continuously seeking new solutions and frequently employ them for the first time – wrote Magdalena Heliasz in the preface.
The first part of the volume presents all sorts of typographic and technical graphic processes that are in use in Polish art publications, accompanied by analysis of some of the exemplary formats of publication – books, albums, catalogues, brochures and covers. The volume includes the first Polish edition of Le Corbusier. W stronę architektury (Le Corbusier. Toward an Architecture) published by the Centre for Architecture in 1923 and designed by Jakub Sowiński and Wojciech Kubien; Łukasz Baksik's album Macewy codziennego użytku (Matzevot for Everyday Use) published by Czarne and designed by Edgar Bąk; the packaging for Łęgajny – a garden company specialising in tomato cultivation, designed by Monika Ostaszewska-Olszewska, Zofia Konarska and Katarzyna Minasowicz; the cover for a music album commissioned by Konrad Smoleński’s and Daniel Szwed’s BNNT band for their Moonmadness project, produced by Pink Punk; and finally, the famous Maps, designed by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielińscy, founders of the Hipopotam Studio, published by Dwie Siostry publishing house.
Since the annual systematically documents everything that concerns design, it may be considered as a useful tool for following current developments in Polish design – said Magdalena Heliasz.
Along with the presentation of graphic projects from recent years, the second part of the volume is devoted to interviews with designers and publishers, which are very informative with regards to the current opinions and artistic stances of different creators working in the field of graphic design. The publication also contains a comprehensive index of graphic designers.
From the conversations one can learn that Jakub Banasiak, art critic and founder of 40 000 Malarzy publishing house, does not intend to create a new book series or even publish a higher quantity of books; that Ryszard Bienert attempts to limit the number of his design projects and choices of subject matter, although in the previous year, he published over 17 books; and that Jakub Jezierski, who is said to be one of a very few graphic designers who actually draws, recounts his experiences in the use of iPad aesthetics.
The Print Control is a continuation of the blog www.printcontrol.pl, which posts information about the most interesting Polish art - publishers, events that deal with graphic design, and places offering interesting books, albums and catalogues. The volume has been published in Polish and English in the form of an annual. There have been two volumes to date, both published by txt publishing and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Source: www.printcontrol.pl, Print Control no. 2, own materials, ed. Agnieszka Sural, 30.09.2013, trans.GS,22.05,2014