Zuzana Licko and the Introduction of a Digital Form of Craft

April Krause

September 2006

The decorative and computer generated patterns of Zuzana Licko will be the focus of

discussion for today’s talk. Licko and her partner Rudy VanderLans began a graphic

design based publication, in 1984, called Émigré which had a focus towards computer

drawn designs. Licko’s main interest is font design and her experiments using font

design technology have also resulted in the creation of two series of patterned

illustrations. The illustrations have varying applications and can be referenced to the

visual values of Arts and Craft designs. This raises questions about the process of

using the computer as a creative medium and the aesthetic quality in creating a digital

form of craft.

The personal attraction of these designs is the ability to begin with a small and

uncomplicated form, such as a line, arc, circle or square, which expands to become a

decorative element, that continues to multiply, forming new relationships and

different patterns. On first observation these patterns seem to be a complex web of

varying spatially defining structures. Licko acknowledges that these relatively simple

elements support each other and are formed through a process of scaling, reversing,

rotating and using multiple repetitions in order to compose these macro patterns. 1 She

describes the design process as the evolution of a single element that grows into an

intricate structure and forms a dialogue between a viewer and image. Similar to that

1
Z. Licko, “Whirligig”,
www.emigre.com

1
of the world being projected through a microscope, telescope or kaleidoscope.2 Using

the computer as a drawing tool has made it possible, or easier, to achieve these levels

of complexity and high quality reproductions.

In 1993 Licko designed a series of patterned forms titled Whirligig, a descriptive word

for anything that whirls about, spins or moves in a circular or giddy way.3 The choice

of name directly reflects the dynamic forms of the singular motif elements. These

elements are a composite arrangement of geometric and organic forms, which are

adjusted through rotation and scaling methods in order to achieve a harmonious

balance between the positive and negative spaces. The arrangement of the internalised

negative space becomes a vortex of hypnotic motion that captures the viewer’s gaze

and causes an illusion of depth. Combining a number of these motifs together creates

new spatial relationships between the elements and presents a reconfigured visual

arrangement through interlocking forms.

Zuzana Licko, Whirligig, Computer Generated Images, 1993.

Investigations into spatial relationships, geometric constructions and abstract elements

continued in Licko’s computer generated patterns of the 2005 series called Puzzler.

2
Ibid.
3
Collins English Dictionary, edited by G.A Wilkes, (Sydney: Collins Publishers Pty. Ltd., 1985), 1652.

2
The patterns and forms found in blown-up, halftone photographs and the relationship

between casted shadows of tree leaves on the footpath were the foundation for the

Puzzler illustrations.4 This series reduces the repeated form to a singular element,

often a circle or a line. Through the use of precise scaling and exact positioning,

various tonal definitions are achieved. Similar to the Whirligig series, the Puzzler

patterns create an uneasy tension between the positive and negative spaces, though the

viewer’s gaze is not enticed into the works by a defined focal point, but rather is

challenged. An uncomfortable dialogue is created. One’s eyes skims across the

surface unable to fully engage with the design, in a manner reminiscent to the

exploration of optical effects in the work of Bridget Riley.

Zuzana Licko, Puzzler, Computer Generated Images, 2005.

Both series rely on the interweaving of spaces and forms to create the decorative

kaleidoscope of repetitive sequences. The idea of mass repetition of one simple

element allows a considerable amount of variation with the possibilities of new

arrangements and relationships between spaces and forms to occur. This is evident in

Licko’s wrapping paper range, comprising of both Whirligig and Puzzler illustrations.

The level of detail and use of attractive colours achieves an ornamental quality and

4
Z. Licko, “Puzzler”,
www.emigre.com

3
accentuates the precise shapes and placements within the patterns. There is almost an

obsessional, perhaps compulsive, quality to the repetitive nature, accurate positioning

and level of detail in the patterns.

Zuzana Licko, Wrapping Paper series, Computer Generated Images.

The Whirligig illustrations have also been used as a decorative design feature in an

edition of Émigré magazine. The front of the magazine has a printed block of a

complex pattern system which covers the title of the publication enhancing the

solidness of the block. Pages to follow consist of varying geometric arrangement of

the illustrations. The contrast between the elements and colours and the clean forms

create a harlequin effect similar to the patterns used on wallpaper and fabrics in the

1950s.5 Printed in red and black ink, the patterns become bold illustrations, as well as

ornamental frames supporting the text. The negative space between the forms, again

becomes a dominate element in the patterns, creating an intensity to the work.

5
L. Jackson, ‘Contemporary’: Architecture and Interiors of the 1950s, (London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1994), 133.

4
 Zuzana Licko, Émigré magazine design, Computer Generated Images.

The use of illustrations in the Émigré magazine has similarities to the ornate book

designs of the Arts and Craft movement. The Arts and Craft movement was a reaction

against the emergence of industrial production in Britain in the 19th Century and the

over decoration of the Victorian period.6 A return to the hand-made craftsmanship of

the Middle Ages was encouraged by William Morris. He argued that the machine

would not encourage people to think and work creatively and generate a lack of

individuality to products.7 Morris’ book designs returned to the ideas of the hand-

crafted decorations that were popular in Gothic manuscripts in the 16th Century.8 For

Morris, the decoration should consist of a well-drawn line, be crisp and clean and

have a balance of simplicity and beauty. The illustrations should form part of the page

and be in harmony with the type on the page.9 The illustrations in Morris’ book

designs are slightly more organic than Licko’s patterns, but there are similarities in
6
Art, “Arts an Craft Movement”,
www.encyclopedian.com/ar/Arts-and-Crafts-Movement.html
7
Peter Hughes,, FST200 Art and Design Theory 2/3 Lecture, Howard Becker: The Arts and Craft, University of Tasmania,
2006.
8
Susan Thompson, American Book Design and William Morris, (New York: R.R Bowker Company, 1977), 221.
9
Ibid., 227.

5
the process and ideas behind both of the works. There is a cleanliness to the

decoration in the Émigré publication, in both the lines of the shapes and the strong

arrangement of the forms. The decoration is confidant, but yet frames and

compliments the text in a harmonious balance.

Christopher Plantin, William Morris, The Story of the Glittering Plain,

Hadrianus Junius: Emblemata, Kelmscott Press, London, 1891, Woodcut Print.

Antwerp, 1565.

The decorative designs of books had an emergence in the late 1950s with the covers

for a series of poetry books produced by Penguin Books redesigned by Hans

Schmoller. The covers are heavily boarded to the edge of the paper, while neatly

containing space for the details of the book. The covers use single elements such as

lines and circles, which are copied and rotated creating a strong and geometric

patterning system similar to the Émigré publication. The strong use of shapes and

colours and the neat composition of the forms in Licko’s magazine illustrations can be

referenced back to the Penguin Book designs.

6
 Hans Schmoller, The Penguin Book of Spanish Verse, Penguin Books, London, 1960.

The ability to achieve the careful precision and perfectly formed shapes of Licko’s

patterns can perhaps be attributed to the use of the computer as the drawing tool. The

illustrations are constructed using programs designs to create fonts. Each element is

designed separately and given a ‘letter’ reference allowing a letter key on the

keyboard, when pressed, to produce the element.10 The shapes are effectively a new

system of lettering. The font design programs generate vector forms, which unlike

pixel based shapes that are constructed using small squares; these forms are made

using lines that at each scale produce a clean and pure finish.

The use of the computer as a drawing tool allows the maker to achieve a greater level

of control in all aspects of the creation and production of the design.11 The computer

becomes more than a tool and perhaps can be referred to as an extension of the body.

10
Z. Licko, “Puzzler”,
www.emigre.com
11
Z. Licko, R. VanderLans, “Ambition/Fear”
www.emigre.com

7
In Ellen Lupton’s essay, Body of the Book, she refers to Laszlo Moholy-Lagy ideas of

the camera being an instrument that allows the eye to capture a frozen moment in

time, magnify landscapes and cross extreme distances.12 The computer also becomes

the eye, allowing one to draw and view in extreme levels of detail, as well as an

extension of the mind and the hand. This does allow the opportunity to see and create

in ways that the human body is unable to do. It can be argued that the computer can

restrain one’s expressiveness, because of the lack of physical contact between the

maker and the medium. It also demands a lesser level of understanding in the crafting

of the materials due to the computers ability to edit, undo and delete.13

Designing the patterns with the computer as the medium, Licko has produced ornately

detailed forms with perfectly smooth lines and precise compositions which are able to

be reproduced efficiently. These illustrations are perhaps too crisp and clean and have

a rather restrained aesthetic quality to them. The patterns when printed on paper, or

even more so on screen, reduces the relationship between the surface and the image

and lacks the texture and the hand-made quality seen in the woodcut prints from the

Arts and Craft movement. The lack of the direct contact between the hand and

material, in Licko’s illustrations, contradicts the ideology of the Arts and Craft

movement of returning back to hand-made practises instead of using technological

production methods. There is a sense of spirituality and character lost with machine-

made objects. With the practise of digital craft steadily increasing, will the ‘bits’ that

make up the structure of computer produced work ever have the same aura to that of

the physical atoms?

12
Ellen Lupton, J. Abbott Miller, Design, Writing, Research: Writing on Graphic Design, (New York: Kiosk Ltd., 1996), 50.
13
Malcolm McCullough, Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996), 213.

8
Bibliography

1. Art, “Arts and Craft Movement”,

Encyclopedian,

www.encyclopedian.com/ar/Arts-and-Crafts-Movement.html

(Accessed on 05.06.06 at 16.46)

2. Baines, Phil, Penguin by Design: A cover story 1935-2005, London: Penguin

Books, 2005.

3. Bartram, Alan, Five Hundred Years of Book Design, London: The British

Library, 2001.

4. Blumenthal, Joseph, The Art of the Printed Book 1455-1955, London: The

Bodley Head Ltd., 1973.

5. Collins English Dictionary, edited by G.A Wilkes, Sydney: Collins Publishers

Pty. Ltd., 1985.

6. Émigré Design Company,

www.emigre.com

(Accessed 30.07.06 at 19.00)

7. Gere, Charlie, Digital Culture, London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2002.

9
8. Hughes, Peter, FST200 Art and Design Theory 2/3 Lecture, Howard Becker:

The Arts and Craft, University of Tasmania, 2006.

9. Jackson, Lesley, ‘Contemporary’: Architecture and Interiors of the 1950s,

London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1994.

10. Lupton, Ellen, Abbott Miller, J., Design, Writing, Research: Writing on

Graphic Design, New York: Kiosk Ltd., 1996.

11. McCullough, Malcolm, Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand,

Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996.

12. Thompson, Susan, American Book Design and William Morris, New York:

R.R Bowker Company, 1977.

10