This weeks Postal Ephemera is Pick Me Up inspired bumper edition.

I got the chance to have a look round Pick Me Up before it closed and I must say it was a cracking showcase of image making talent that brought a lot of publicity to those artists exhibiting and the graphic design industry.

To coincide with the show lots of printed materials were created including this sweet, lo-fi curation booklet documenting the artists exhibited as well as providing some background context to the show. In the spirit of what felt like a degree show like exhibition the booklets dainty A6 size is printed on a variety of coloured stocks in single colour prints. This really helped to create a hand made low tech feel that mirrored the essence of what Pick Me Up and a lot of it’s artists work was about.

Fitting in with Pick Me Up and Landfill Editions who were exhibiting along with their beloved Riso machine, I thought it’d be a good chance to show off this print method that’s growing with popularity. I managed to get some samples from Landfill Editions and they’re very good. Riso printers are somewhere in-between litho printers and photocopiers—if you’re interested in finding out more I suggest you read this article. They’re aimed at projects with relatively short runs but at an affordable price. Their low-tech nature is making them a big hit with indie publishers and zine makers and it’s no surprise as the single colour aesthetic that retains the litho halftone look is very appealing. It’s a process I’ve marked up for using in the near future on some new projects.

My copy of We Are Friction by Sing Statistics arrived in the post yesterday. The info-graphics inspired cover is really catchy and the content — collaborations between writers and illustrators — looks very intriguing.

Looking forward to reading through some of the short stories over the coming week and a pat on the back to Jez Burrows and Lizzy Stewart for all their efforts that went into We Are Friction.