8vo

On the outside surveys 8vo's work from 1984-2001, including Octavo, the international journal of typography and its influence in the emergent typographically-led design movement in the UK and internationally during the late 1980s and through the 1990s. The emphasis is on process: trying to reveal how 8vo's design got made rather than simply showing finished jobs. A number of hand-made and computer generated stage by stage mock-ups are featured. Written and designed by Mark Holt and Hamish Muir, two of the founding principals of 8vo, the story's told it how it was – the everyday struggles of working with clients, typesetters, printers, and later on computers. Like many of their contemporaries, 8vo were working during a period of considerable change within the design industry – the book places 8vo's work within the context of this revolution; from paste-up to desktop.