6x6: Collaborative Letterpress Dialogues

6x6: Collaborative Letterpress Project unites six leading UK design schools with active letterpress workshops; University of Brighton, Camberwell College of Arts, London College of Communication, Central Saint Martins, Lincoln School of Art and Glasgow School of Art. It aims to establish a critical dialogue between the colleges and stimulate debate in the broader typographic community. Students and staff from the participating colleges respond to a brief by producing letterpress printed material for a collaborative publication. The project encourages the sharing of best practice within a specialist subject area. Participants were invited to link their practice to critical writing in relation to the historical and contemporary use of letterpress within their design school. The benefits of teaching letterpress to graphic design students as a means of improving their understanding of typography are well documented.

This presentation seeks to build upon these debates, examining the intersection between practice and theory. The project has positioned students at the centre of the process, encouraging them to form a perspective on the discipline. Through reflecting upon the nature of letterpress practice it is possible to provoke the question, why we are doing something; as opposed to receiving instruction on how it is done.