Many people see an object of art once it is complete. Unless you are the artist, the mentor — or perhaps the student or the instructor — we don’t often see the hard work that goes into the creation of a sculpture, a painting, or an annual report. Feed Forward Feedback, the book that accompanied the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) 2009 MFA Thesis Exhibition, attempts to open this door.

Designed by RISD alum Lucas Roy, Studio Mercury, Feed Forward Feedback is a RISD 2009 Graduate Process publication and one of the finalists in the Mohawk Show 11. As a means of revealing the design process, the book showcases found objects, gathered quotes, images of the studios and conversational writing between Chris Rose, the RISD Dean of Graduate Studies, and the graduate body.

The examination of the creative process and the thoughts, questions, critiques, and actions that are a vital part of it, goes outside of the book as well. In a documentary that follows the creation of the 2009 MFA Thesis Exhibition, students discuss decisions that led to their theses as Chris Rose examines the idea of feedforward instead of feedback. “What we tend not to realize is this idea of feedforward. We have this anticipatory thing that’s moving forward in time, and as we move into our experiences, we actually move forward to meet what we have projected into the future, and these two things create a kind of balance,” says Rose. “The balance for us as artists, designers, and makers is found in the studio, in the way we work.”

Designer Lucas Roy asked printers Universal Millenium to print Feed Forward Feedback on 30% postconsumer waste Mohawk Options Vellum because, “The tactile quality of paper creates an unforgettable visceral experience. In creating a book about the creative process, the textural nature of Mohawk Options Vellum reminded us of the countless years of drawing, writing, and sketching.”

Client: Rhode Island School of Design
Design Firm: Studio Mercury
Designer: Lucas Roy
Printing: Universal Millenium
Paper: Mohawk Options Vellum, True White, 80 cover, 80 text

Look for feature stories about the Best of Show Winners on Felt & Wire. The Mohawk Show celebrates the beauty and brains of design and printing. Winners and finalists are chosen based on the following criteria: aesthetic value, content, paper usage, appropriateness, production quality and excellence of craft.

See a complete list of Mohawk Show 11 winners and finalists here.

Download a Mohawk Show 12 entry form here.

More about all of Mohawk’s environmental papers.

Download tips for specifying sustainable papers.