Blend: The new analogue toolbook for graphic designers

With his latest project, Blend, Stijn van Hapert wants to bring materiality back into the conversation: “design doesn’t just live in pixels”, he says. In an industry where digital processes dominate, his new publication is a multilayered sensory experience. It’s a library of materials not just to hold, but to physically trial in your work, or refer back to for inspiration. In many ways the book is a tool box, just one that’s made of paper and beautifully designed to sit on your shelf — pretty perfect for graphic design types.

The project was born out of the material-based interests Stijn has developed over the years in his own practice of art, design and creative direction. Originally from the Netherlands and currently based in LA, the designer started his career in the world of music creating album covers, artworks and visuals for artists. This followed a degree in Fine Art at University of the Arts Amsterdam, where materiality was his central focus. “For me, design is about communication: how it carries ideas, emotions, but also about a sense of materiality,” he says. Inclined to combine physical and digital media in his own work, Stijn has always been drawn to textures and materials for the same reason many of us find ourselves bringing the magic of the handmade back — to “add a depth that digital tools can’t replicate”.

The publication has been designed with a simple, catalogue-like structure to help its contents to have a long shelf life – it’s an object that’s utilitarian enough for creatives to use as often as a well loved recipe book. Whether you are incorporating textures in the catalogue into your design work, photographing them or just using them for inspiration, the publication aims to offer a way to “reconnect with the tactile elements of design that have been lost to digital processes”.

As for the textures themselves, these were documented and photographed in a host of different cities including London, Paris, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and some in Stijn’s studio. “I have an archive of textures that I find and capture, which I constantly draw from for my work,” says Stijn. “I layer them on printed photos or designs, then scan or photograph them; place them on top of computer screens and take photos; use an overhead projector to project them onto something; or even layer them on top of each other and frame them as artworks.” Collating these textures for Blend was then a way for the designer to share this part of his practice and encourage others to step back into the experimentation and playfulness of physical creation.

When speaking to how the publication might fit into the mechanics of making for other creatives, Stijn concludes: “Blend is about slowing down, moving beyond the instant gratification of screens, and re-engaging with our senses [...] I think this kind of material engagement is crucial for designers because it forces us to use our senses in ways that digital tools often don’t. It’s the small, accidental moments (like the texture of a surface or the way light hits a material) that spark new ideas.”