The boom in the number of small, independent publishing houses over the past 15 years has led to a revival of risography. Artists and designers from all over the world have installed a Riso in their studios to produce small print runs inexpensively and independently of large printing houses. Smaller publishers in Latin America still print exclusively on the Risograph, on grounds of cost. Risography’s simple stencil printing process can print a huge color spectrum and create interesting optical effects through spot colors and coarse screening, and its homemade look has become a recognizable signifier of independent publishing.

In this volume, part of Spector Books’ Discovered Series, German designer Sven Tillack (born 1986) approaches risography as a technical process and a specific aesthetic, considering how factors like color, paper, file preparation, printing and processing contribute to risography’s distinct look and recent revival.