04 Editorial
Design
A Rubbish Issue: The True Cost of Fly-Tipping
This editorial spread uses the physical process of scanning litter to reflect the real-world experience of navigating a trash-filled urban space.
The visual approach embraces disorder, using real discarded paper, torn, scattered, and scanned to replicate the natural flow of trash, rather than artificially reconstructing it digitally.
Fly-tipping costs the UK government millions each year to clear illegally dumped waste. By design, the reading experience mirrors the challenge of navigating a littered city, with the text made slightly difficult to read—just as rubbish obstructs pavements and public spaces.
Process
The process involved dozens of analogue tests—crumpled scraps were scanned, cut, photocopied, and layered to create a sense of organic chaos. The colour palette reflects the streets themselves, pulling from black bin bags, green waste, and yellow hazard signage. The result is not just an observation but an obstruction—forcing the viewer to reckon with the overwhelming presence of waste on the streets.
This piece intended to play with legibility and obstruction. Sections of the text are deliberately harder to read, forcing the viewer to navigate the page as they would a littered street—stepping over, scanning for clarity, piecing together information. The scattered, layered, and torn typography mirrors the chaotic way waste accumulates, creating a textural, almost intrusive presence within the layout.
