A massive amount of textual information is published during Dutch Design Week.

The Small Print examined the publication overload by making this phenomenon, and the entirety of published material, the subject of yet another publication. We asked: can we translate and transform this published information into poetic data?

We delight in the seemingly opposing forces of print publishing and digital publishing: speed, temporality, and accuracy of information are just a few areas in which ‘online’ and ‘offline’ publications differ greatly. In The Small Print project digital and print publishing become one: long-distance and on-the-spot printing come together. 

Every day, our editors and contributors tirelessly gathered information in various locations. The goal was playful data mining: our inquiries were strictly subjective and research methods varied. Which words were trending, how many abbreviations are used in design speak, which words grant value to design? Using a mobile phone app, findings were sent directly to the printer.

The Small Print was printed with a tiny thermal printer, welcoming impermanence as an integral aspect of this print publication. Although the scrolls of paper were bound into a book afterwards, their content will fade in time.