The archive · Design & Visual · Product decision · 2020–2025
Split's Brico type system lets Bradford communities co-print giant letterpress murals
Design studio Split built Brico, a flexible letterpress type system so Bradford communities could print giant public murals with The People Powered Press.
Split · The People Powered Press
What it had to solve
The People Powered Press wanted giant, distinctive, hand-printed murals made with community members and displayed in public spaces around Bradford, on a shoestring budget that ruled out commissioned artwork at that scale.
How it works
The People Powered Press wanted giant, distinctive, hand-printed murals made with community members and displayed in public spaces around Bradford. The obstacle was economics: letterpress at that scale, done for and by one team, would break a shoestring budget.
Design studio Split answered not with finished murals but with Brico, a flexible letterpress type system that community groups themselves could set and print. Because the type did the heavy lifting, groups with no printing experience could put their own words on public walls cheaply.
The project grew across Bradford: 150+ community groups and 4,000+ individuals took part in murals and associated works, amplifying local voices through letterpress at a scale the medium had rarely reached. The work is archived in the D&AD awards archive.
Why it lands
- Brico lowered the skill and cost barriers so community members, not just printers, could set type and make murals.
- Working at mural scale gave letterpress a public footprint it rarely reaches, turning a workshop craft into town-wide statements.
- The system's flexibility let 150+ different groups each say their own words, so every mural stayed local rather than branded.
- The shoestring budget forced the design into the system itself, which is exactly what made the project repeatable at scale.
What it did
The murals expressed The People Powered Press's mission to amplify local voices through letterpress at an unprecedented scale: 150+ community groups and 4,000+ individuals made murals and associated works for public display, and the project is archived in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
When you cannot afford the manpower, design the tool that makes the audience the workforce: a flexible system the community can operate turns one studio's idea into thousands of local hands.
Since then
Brico became the engine of a multi-year run of community murals around Bradford; the work was gathered in the 2025 book 'Together' and the project entered the D&AD awards archive.
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