No. 026, in eight platesThe Risograph

A risograph prints one ink at a time, and the joy of it is the slightly imperfect overlap. These eight plates borrow that look: grainy red laid over deep teal, with the odd passage of bare paper showing through as snow. The palette never wavers, and neither does the cast. Every plate has a mountain at the bottom and a flock of birds streaming across the sky, and the variety comes from how the two inks are cut and stacked.

In Split Sky the frame is sliced into horizontal bands, so the flock flies out of teal into a slab of red and back again. Crimson Sky flips the colours: dark birds turn red as they cross a hard horizon line, above a white summit. Snowcap shows a white peak cropped off above a red band of rock, like a misregistered second pass. Red Sun puts a huge scarlet disc behind a teal mountain, with the birds caught in cream and red. The rest are variations on the classic: a red peak with one grey stony flank and a long diagonal of wings above.

On a phone the birds are the thing to watch. In most plates the flock crosses the upper half, which means some wings will pass behind the clock; the depth effect can even tuck the time behind a peak if you enable it. The mountains stay low, around the dock. On the Home Screen the teal is dark enough for white labels, and the red birds give the icons something to dance around.

These suit hikers, birdwatchers and fans of indie print studios. Split Sky and Crimson Sky come off the press free in full resolution; the other six prints are premium.