Agora Design Grant

Biography

E+K – Élise Gay and Kévin Donnot is a graphic design studio specializing in printed and digital editorial projects. Founded in 2011, the studio primarily collaborates with cultural institutions, publishing houses, artists, and architects. Their practice combines visual creation, technical experimentation, and theoretical inquiry, articulating relationships between print and digital media. This approach extends across a wide range of editorial formats and critically examines the methods and processes of graphic design, with particular attention to the transformations brought about by the evolution of tools and technologies.

Research Project at Fondation Martell

Conducted as part of the 2023 Agora Design Grant, this project proposes a critical and exploratory investigation into image screening techniques, both historical and contemporary. Starting from the observation that printing screens and halftoning processes have rarely been studied through the lens of their technical apparatuses, formal structures, or histories, the project combines visual experimentation, software engineering, media archaeology, and industrial production techniques.

The duo develops open-access digital image-processing tools and tests them through a body of artistic and editorial production created specifically in Cognac.

Residency Outcomes

The residency unfolded over two separate two-week periods.

November 2024

In collaboration with Valadié PLV, the designers conceived and produced a standardized printing chart designed to evaluate the impact of different industrial printing techniques on the forms they generate, including digital printing, screen printing, offset printing, HP Indigo, and others.

They also developed a series of printed works depicting virtual texture spheres commonly used in 3D imaging software. These experiments aimed to demonstrate how different printing materials and techniques affect the appearance of volumes considered formally neutral.

April 2025

The duo designed and produced a publication presented in three distinct formats:

• A large-scale edition corresponding to the scale of the body
• A miniature edition corresponding to the scale of the hands
• A spatial installation

The publication materializes the various screening and halftoning algorithms they developed and offers a reflection on the representational conventions embedded within the images used to test and evaluate image reproduction systems.

Resources Mobilised

• Valadié PLV, industrial printing and display production company.