kateragostadesign.cargo.site / @kate_ragosta
Printed Ephemera Study No. 1, 2025. Silkscreen & Digital Printmaking, 18 × 24 in.
Mind the Form
Mind the Form¹ examines how printed ephemera shapes cultural
memory and identity, embedding itself in the urban landscape
through layers of history, protest, and promotion. Drawing from
my background as a printmaker, graphic designer, and art conser-
vator, I investigate the tensions between analog and digital de-
sign, emphasizing the tactile qualities of misprints, textures, and
materiality—elements digital tools struggle to replicate. Having
grown up immersed in analog design, from my mother’s darkroom
to my family’s ties to Kodak and printmaking, I developed a deep
appreciation for these practices. I argue that the “authenticity”
of analog design is not solely in the final product but in the labor
and human presence embedded in the process of making.
I position print as an evolving, participatory act. By docu-
menting printed ephemera including weathered ghost signs and
worn flyers, I examine how these materials accumulate meaning
through time, use, and decay. Through process-driven making,
I explore how hands-on production fosters connection, pre-
serves tradition, and reintroduces physicality into a field that’s
increasingly detached from its material roots. By centering my
work on accessible materials, such as 8.5 x 11” paper—a format
tied to industrialization, mass dissemination, and everyday use—
I embed the act of making into the work itself.
1. A form in letterpress is the assembly of movable type and oth-
er elements locked into a chase (a metal frame) for printing.