Artifactastyle
Artifactastyle is a design and editorial aesthetic that foregrounds the material traces of artifacts within contemporary media. It treats aging paper, manufacturing marks, patina, and other signs of production as intentional design elements rather than background texture. The approach seeks to create a sense of authenticity, historical context, and tactility in graphic composition, typography, and interface design while remaining legible and purposeful.
Coined by design critics and curators in the early 2010s, artifactastyle emerged from practices in material
Common techniques include layering scanned textures over digital type, reproducing misalignment and ink bleed, incorporating physical
In practice, artifactastyle appears in print catalogs, branding for heritage brands, museum catalogs, indie video and
Notable practitioners and collectives include the Archivist Collective and Studio Scriptor, who publish guidelines and case