Teaching through the Lens of the Tool – with Prof. John Caserta

On a hot day in the summer of 2024, my friend Cem Eskinazi brought a stack of books to our shared office. These publications had been designed at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where Cem had studied.

What was really special about them was that none of these books had been designed using proprietary layout software like Adobe InDesign. Instead, they had been developed entirely using code: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and a framework called bindery.js. This was an epiphany moment for me. I could not believe it: The quality of the publications was almost identical to that of the books I had on my shelf.

The method is called WebToPrint, and it has many interesting features. John Caserta, Cem’s professor, introduced this way of working more than a decade ago at the RISD and guess what, I’ve had the opportunity to interview John about all of this. The conversation was incredibly inspiring to me. In him I’ve discovered a full-blooded and passionate design educator, whose teaching is rooted in values. I felt like John has a such a deep trust and admiration in design as a craft, for the process as a design subject itself. From that perspective, WebToPrint is an invitation to discover new pathways and processes, beyond proprietary software lock-ins and outrageously expensive subscription models.

Thank you so much Cem and of course John. I’ve learned a lot!

Links

• John’s Website
• John’s Profile at the RISD website
• Mentions
  • WebToPrint
    • paged.js
    • bindery.js
  • People
    • Cem Eskinazi