The Sixteenth International Conference on Books, Publishing & Libraries

Abstract

This paper examines book design and production techniques used in traditional academic and university press publishing contexts, with design for contemporary academic micro-publishing. Micro-publishing is explored as a practice-based inquiry into publishing as critical graphic design. Print-on-demand technology allows academic micro-publishing practices to produce each copy of a book as an independent edition. Editorial and design changes can be, and often are, made between each printing. In this way, books become hybrid objects — simultaneously print-and-digital artifacts. Each book looks final, complete, and total, while remaining partial, contingent, and mutable. Special attention is paid to the collaborative nature of authorship, design, and design-as-authorship in academic micro-publishing.