Their work defies easy characterization. Most of their work starts from extensive research, but they do not seem to follow any predetermined methodology. Often they take specific formats, conventions or artifacts as inspiration, but the references are rarely made direct or explicit. The typography is skillfully controlled and structured, but there is always a certain eccentricity to the choice of typeface, the spacing and alignment of elements. The images are carefully trimmed, sequenced and positioned, but not to any “spectacular” effect. The choice of material and production technique is considered and inventive, but in a subtle way that might embarrass a fetish display of exaggerated “materiality” of print. In short, their work is full of gentle contradictions, which make it hard to locate, giving it a sense of anonymity—then again, not exactly the kind advocated by classical book designers. It is anonymity with the presence of designers, not the absence.

Both titles were resulted from the IICD Reading Groups’ activities, which include communally reading and the discussion of select texts. Each book reprints the texts along with introductions and related essays. In both books, the texts are presented as directly scanned images of the source publications’ pages. The reproductions are noticeably grainy, revealing the texts as artifacts. Irrelevant parts are concealed by graphic gestures in a way that acknowledges their existence, rather than erased from the pictures. The cover of (Mis)Reading Masquerades shows the logo of IICD repeated and combined into a geometric shape reminiscent of the theoretical publications from the 1960–70s. With the shape printed on the back cover as well, the book becomes a mask, a performative device.