Open Books: The Power of Print is a special afternoon of stories, ideas and insights into the enduring impact of printed matter. Hosted by AGDA VIC, this event brings together three influential figures in Australian design – Regine Abos, Stephen Banham and W.H. Chong – as they each share a project that has shaped their practice or community. From the intimacy of portraiture and the tactile richness of data to the cultural gravity of typography, these creatives reflect on the evolving landscape of design and publishing.
Discover how the printed page continues to influence, inspire and provoke in a digital age.
Participants
Regine Abos
Reg Abos is a Melbourne-based designer, researcher and educator. Over the past two decades, she has collaborated with publishers and social innovation organisations throughout Australia, Europe and the Asia Pacific and has won numerous awards for her publication design work. She lectures in data visualisation and publication design at RMIT University and is completing her PhD at Swinburne University of Technology. Her work explores the intersection of analogue objects and information design, examining how data visualisation perspectives can be reinterpreted through books and various aspects of physical production.
Stephen Banham
As a typographer, educator and writer centred on the cultural power of letterforms, Stephen Banham’s design work and writings from his studio, Letterbox, have appeared in countless international publications. He has spoken at international events from Barcelona to Beirut, New Zealand to New York. A board member of the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD), Banham is also a Senior Lecturer in Typography at the School of Design, RMIT University. He has appeared as a typographic expert witness in the Supreme and Federal Courts of Australia.
W.H. Chong
W.H. Chong has designed covers for Text Publishing since its inception. He is a founding member of ABDA, the Australian Book Designers Association. He was inducted into the Book Designers Hall of Fame in 2013. He is the author/artist of PORTRAITS (2023), featuring three hundred of his portraits of writers, artists and musicians. His painting of the novelist Michelle de Kretser is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.