The archive · Design & Visual · Strategic decision · 2022
LIE hand-prints every frame of KL Art Book Fair 2022's promo film
For KL Art Book Fair 2022, LIE built the identity on print marks and DIY aesthetics, then hand-painted all 123 animation frames with rollers and rubber stamps.
KL Art Book Fair · LIE Design
What it had to solve
KL Art Book Fair is an event about printed matter, so its 2022 identity had to feel like print rather than generic event graphics. LIE drew on print marks and DIY aesthetics, with book butterflies and flower motifs, and wanted the promotion to show the beauty of prints, not just describe it.
How it works
KL Art Book Fair is an event about printed matter, so its 2022 identity had to make the beauty of print tangible rather than merely announce it. LIE built the look on print marks and DIY aesthetics — book butterflies and flower motifs drawn from bookbinding and printmaking imagery.
The promotional film made the point literally. Instead of commissioning digital motion graphics, LIE painted all 123 frames by hand, using only printing rollers and rubber stamps, then scanned the frames and assembled them into the finished animation.
Every second of the film carries the texture and slight imperfection of real printmaking, so the medium demonstrates itself to the audience. The work was filed in the D&AD awards archive, where the entry explains the frame-by-frame hand-printing process.
Why it lands
- Hand-painting 123 frames with rollers and stamps gives the animation a texture no digital filter can reproduce.
- Using the fair's own medium to advertise it makes the case for print inside the film itself.
- Book butterflies and flower motifs tie the identity to bookbinding and printmaking rather than generic event graphics.
- The frame-by-frame process is visible craft, which lets audiences feel the labour that printed objects contain.
What it did
The film turned printmaking's physical labour into motion, giving the fair a handmade signature that digital animation could not copy, and the work was filed in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
When the product is print, show the process: a film made of 123 hand-printed frames lets audiences watch the craft happen, which argues for the medium better than any description.
Since then
KL Art Book Fair, founded in 2021 by Kuala Lumpur studio LIE Design, returned with new editions after the 2022 identity, including a December 2023 edition held in a heritage building. The 2022 identity and its hand-printed animation remain in the D&AD awards archive.
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