books editorial diploma rise multipart publication system developed as a diploma project at abk stuttgart in 2023 rise is a system of interconnected printed book objects a 304 page hand drawn risograph graphic novel two binding studies a speculative machine archive and two custom typefaces everything grows from a single drawn line the width of one nib becomes both the typeface and the shared layout grid the structural framework that ties together narrative production typography and world building seen as a whole the work moves in one continuous direction from the analog line to its digitization into print and finally to its deliberate breakdown in a machine readable typeface across these connected objects rise explores power future terrorism and information control

main publication
the main publication is a 304 page graphic novel hand drawn and fully risoprinted conceived as the beginning of a series rise follows nika a street orphan with a photographic memory who becomes the reluctant leader of a new mafia rising against a corrupt system cinematic storytelling meets a strong material concept double printed risograph pages unique covers the custom typeface and a folded stone lithography poster inlay the book works as both a narrative and a physical object

binding study one
the first binding study focuses on cover construction paper choice and how the risoprinted pages behave as a physical body it tests how the book can hold together as a dense printed object while keeping the rhythm and readability of the graphic novel intact

binding study two
the second binding study is a more accidental object untrimmed pages adhesive residue from technical papers an unplanned type area drifting to the centre of the page and an exposed none perfect binding give the prototype its own material presence it turned out to be as valuable as the deliberate tests proof that production errors can reveal new qualities in the book itself

typography system of rise
everything here grows out of a single line rise was drawn by hand with a nib and the width of that one stroke became the basic unit for the whole project the stroke was multiplied and translated into a digital typeface and the same nib width defined the design grid that holds both books together from there the work moves in one continuous direction from the analog line to its digitization into print and finally to its deliberate breakdown in the machinereadable typeface what follows traces that path from the first drawn line to its controlled destruction the rise typeface is the line made digital developed for the story text of the graphic novel and reused in the machine archive it holds futuristic technical precision against subtle handcrafted irregularities balancing clean readability with expressive tension geometric structures expanded styles and controlled fractures turn the dystopian world of rise into letterforms the conflict between system and rebellion made visible in the type itself

bots the machine archive
the machine archive is a companion publication drawn from the world of rise it gathers the machine collection of the main character an assemblage of devices fragments and constructions caught between functional object and speculative artifact drawings structures and technical forms expand the graphic novel into a visual archive positioned between documentation and fiction the book explores systems materiality and imagined engineering as an independent extension of rise

typography system of bots
a machine readable typeface for a fictional scanner system is the end of the chain the point where the system breaks itself down each character begins as an image deliberately corrupted in an ascii editor targeted errors are planted into the image code so that new structures can be extracted from the damage while the result stays readable to the machine what reads as image pattern and noise to the eye remains a recoverable code to the computer inside the machine archive it works as an identification system every page is numbered with it and each cover becomes a unique machine readable serial