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Li Yun-yun, National Taiwan University of Arts, TaiwanAbstract
This study examines how embodied engagement with letterpress printing deepens perceptual understanding of typography and visual culture among digital-native learners. Following the pandemic, in 2023, I collaborated with Tokyo-based letterpress studio Letterpress Letters to organize a cross-cultural workshop for Taiwanese high school students, providing direct experience with European typographic craftsmanship and printing techniques. Addressing a generation increasingly distanced from typography’s material and historical foundations, this research investigates how tactile printing practices can reconstruct students’ perceptual engagement with typographic forms and foster critical reflection on materiality within contemporary visual culture. Drawing on Tim Ingold’s material engagement theory, Karen Barad's concept of embodied intra-action, and sensory learning frameworks, this study employs qualitative methods including participant observation, artifact analysis, and reflective documentation. Through guided instruction in manual type selection, arrangement, and layout adjustment, students developed heightened aesthetic sensitivity and nuanced understanding of the relationship between traditional craft practices and digital technologies. Findings demonstrate that letterpress printing enhances students’ capacity for typographic discernment while fostering critical engagement with the visual structures and communicative logic underlying typographic forms. The research reveals how material engagement with printing processes enables students to perceive typography not merely as visual information but as culturally embedded practice. This study proposes a pedagogical framework integrating embodied perception, cultural awareness, and digital literacy as an effective approach to contemporary visual culture education.
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Conference: ACE2025Stream: Interdisciplinary
This paper is part of the ACE2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Yun-yun L. (2026) Letterpress, Perception, and the Screen Generation: Materiality as Pedagogical Insight in Cross-Cultural Design Education ISSN: 2186-5892 – The Asian Conference on Education 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 1645-1658) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.125
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.125
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