Today’s visual culture is shaped by a vast wealth of influences from a diverse range of styles, cultures, and eras. Handcrafts including crochet, papercraft, and the design of costumes and masks are being melded with the techniques of more traditional art forms such as installation, sculpture, collage, photography, and illustration.

This new visual language is currently being formed out of the skillful and unusual combination of creative styles, as well as the use of an expanded range of materials and techniques. One of the most striking aspects of today’s visual culture is its intricate, handcrafted quality.

The term “high touch” is used in design theory to describe an accessible, human visuality. High Touch the book is a compilation of current work that is broadening and enriching this definition in a contemporary way.

Presenting a rich selection of innovative, often handmade design created with the full spectrum of materials and stylistic devices in existence today, the book explores all of the many ways artists are expanding this palette of visual possibilities. We’re excited to see so many of the fantastic design and art projects we’ve documented here on Pattern Pulp in the pages of this eye-catching book.