I Take Full Responsibility

Scott Boms published a second expanded edition of I Take Full Responsibility, a small book produced and assembled by hand. From his description of the project:

I Take Full Responsibility collects fourteen of the most significant communications from technology company CEOs since November 2022, who, during that time, have reduced their employee bases by huge swathes. Accompanied by a personal introduction, photos, and artwork from more than ten years in tech, it’s intended to be a time capsule circumventing Silicon Valley’s short-term memory and a clear statement of fact that work will not love you back.

Risograph printed in black, bright red, sunflower, and metallic gold inks on 5 different paper stocks, its urgent message arrives enclosed within a redesigned and screen-printed closed-spine format along with laser-cut accessory prints delivered in a personalized Inter-office envelope.

Scott shared also some notes about the typography by email:

I chose Bennet Text 2 as the main typeface used throughout the book for practical reasons, such as its character set, which includes small caps and a solid range of figures. It’s also one I’ve used before with the Riso and has proven to work well with that process. As I started setting the text, I experimented with other options but kept coming back to Bennet because of its solid, authoritative feel and consistently even color. It’s made for editorial uses like this but also works well at larger sizes where its subtle details become more apparent.

Gridlite PE was originally only going to be used for the “Approved” stamp on the pink slip card because it could look authoritative while also solving a practical need when run on the laser cutter. As the design of the cover evolved and I added the original acetate layer in the first edition, it became an obvious choice as it worked really well against the other imagery and helped then connect the various pieces together.

When I was designing the pink slip and Tech CEO Bingo cards, Aglet Mono just felt right. I was going for something that wouldn’t feel out of place on a business form but could also hold its own visually and pair well with type used elsewhere in the book.

The monospace form of both Gridlite PE and Aglet just seemed to make sense. I believe an early version of the cover was set in Aglet which led to me to try Gridlite PE, which ultimately stuck in the end.

The book also includes appearances by Knockout, Champion Gothic, Fern Micro, Rhody, and San Francisco. The accompanying prints add to the eclectic mix with Displace Cut and an early use of Regrets.