2019
Transfers are not stickers
How did designers work before digital tools transformed the profession? And how much did the tools themselves shape the work they produced?
Transfers are not stickers investigates the history of Letraset dry-transfer lettering through archival research and firsthand fieldwork. By interviewing designers in their own studios and documenting original transfer sheets, sketches, artwork, and production materials preserved in their personal archives, the publication reconstructs a chapter of graphic design history through the voices of those who experienced it directly.
The research explores how limitations, manual processes, and material constraints influenced creative decisions in ways that remain relevant today. It reveals how every technological shift changes not only how designers work, but also how they think.
Through interviews with designers Francesco Messina and Gianluigi Pescolderung, the research documents the everyday reality of working with Letraset. Their firsthand experiences reveal how technical limitations fostered careful planning and a remarkable sensitivity to spacing, hierarchy, and composition.
Studying Letraset became a way to better understand the relationship between technology and creativity. Looking beyond the visual outcome, the research explores how every generation of tools leaves its mark on the designer's mindset. The transition from manual production to digital workflows did more than accelerate execution; it fundamentally transformed the way ideas are conceived, developed, and refined.
