Design Lab

Home of the RRK, and the home base for UT Design

The UT Design Lab—part of the School of Design & Creative Technologies—is a mixed-use fabrication space, with a primary focus on printmaking. The lab houses the Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection (the RRK), as well as a variety of antique printing presses, screen printing facilities, and various resources for 2D and 3D making. As a focal point of SDCT, the lab is a community space, in addition to being an energizing and accessible workspace with a vast assortment of tools and materials.

The lab offers a wide range of resources outside of printmaking, such as sewing facilities, photography equipment, digital scanning and printing, woodworking tools, and other resources for 3D fabrication. Trained students and faculty can access the space 24/7, though some resources are closed after staff hours.

For further information and inquiries, please contact Henry Smith, the Design Lab manager and custodian of the RRK, at henry.smith@austin.utexas.edu

The open doors of the Design Lab, looking down the entrance corridor. The wooden doors have large yellow and orange text that reads Design Lab.

The wooden work tables in the Design Lab, with tools and equipment seen behind on a pegboard and against the windows. Plants and natural light fill the space

The pegboard with rules and hand tools. A large signs above reads Tools

A closeup of a small tabletop bandsaw and drill press, with windows and a plant behind.

Looking across the shop at a row of various printing presses, made of painted gray metal.

The boxes of type containing typesets from the RRK Collection, stored in the Design Lab office. The boxes have different colored labels for the different style categories.

Students and staff working during the RRK summer residency in 2024. They are sorting and organizing stacks of prints.

a yellow line drawing of a Vandercook press, a green line drawing of a furniture cabinet and a blue line drawing of an ink knife

Presses & Equipment

Letterpress & Relief Printing

Vandercook #4 Proofing Press (two)
Vandercook #219
Vandercook SP15
Columbian Platen Handpress
8×10 C&P New Style Platen Press
5×8 Kelsey Excelsior Platen Press (tabletop)
Kwikprint Model 55 Hot Foil Stamper
Polymer Plate Maker

Screen Printing

Vastex 4-color Garment Printing Press
Vastex 1-color Garment Printing Press
Cincinnati Screen Printing Vacuum table
Screen Exposure Unit & Washout Facilities

Cutting, Binding, & Sewing

Q. Vaggeli 40” Board Shear
Challenge 26” Paper Guillotine
Sailrite Industrial Sewing Machine
Brother Serger
Tamerica Omega-4in1 Spiral Binder
Roland 24” Vinyl Cutter
Cricut Maker 3

A cylinder printing press made of painted gray steel. Behind the press is our furniture and leading cart for setting type. The press has a white name plaque mounted to the gray wall above it, reading Vinny.

Vinny, our trusty Vandercook No. 4, produced by Vandercook & Sons, Inc. in 1950. This was the first press in our shop.

A closeup of the Vandercook No. 4 crank and roller system attached to the cylinder. The rollers are made of both steel and rubber.

A closeup of Vinny’s rollers. Most Vandercook presses feature a mechanized ink system, which helps in producing uniform and consistent prints. This press is also equipped with a lockup bar on the press bed that slides up to secure the furniture and printing blocks in place.

The Vandercook 219 OS, the base is made of painted gray cast iron. It prints up to 18 by 24 inch images. The Columbian platen press is seen behind the 219, illuminated by windows further back. The press has a white name plaque mounted to the gray wall above it, reading Cranky.

Cranky, our Vandercook 219 Proving Machine. This is our largest, as well as our oldest cylinder press, which was made by Vandercook & Sons, Inc. in 1940. This the “old style” version of this press.

The press has a white name plaque mounted to the gray wall above it, reading Vinny.

“The Eagle” is our Columbian Press, and the oldest press in the shop. It functions differently from the cylinder presses, and involves a more manual process. The printing mechanism is quite similar to the Gutenberg press from the 1400’s.

A closeup of the Columbian press, the brass and gold paint catches the light from the windows beyond. The press has a white name plaque mounted to the gray wall above it, reading The Eagle.

A closeup of the Columbian press, featuring ornate floral details and animal imagery in the cast iron. On top is a gold-painted eagle, which lifts into the air when the level is pulled in the printing process. The brass maker’s plate in the center states that it was manufactured in 1858.

The Columbian press is seen at the front, with our Vandercook 219, Vandercook No. 4, and Asbern press seen beyond.

Looking across the shop at the row of various presses.

A closeup of the printing press, the crank arm is lifted vertically and the brass and steel components of the roller system are seen beyond. The cylinder has a steel nameplate, with the red Vandercook label and a serial number.

Our second Vandercook No. 4, Winnie was manufactured in 1954. The simplicity and reliability of the No. 4 makes it a workhorse of the print shop, and an excellent machine for learning the printing process.

A closeup of the Vandercook No. 4 pressbed, there’s colorful wood type setup on the press, secured with furniture and leading. The cylinder of the press rolls above the type.

A lockup on the pressbed, featuring a set of Cooper Black wood type, which is a new addition to the shop. We’re slowly adding new faces to our collection, which exists adjacent to the RRK.

The SP15 glistens in the sunlight next to the window. The Vandercook label is a large orange rectangle below the pressbed. Containers for oil and solvent sit on the window sill beyond.

Our SP15 is the youngest Vandercook in the shop, manufactured in 1970. Spanky operates much like a No. 4, with some upgraded features on the cylinder system for adjustments and cleaning.

A closeup of the SP15 press bed and crank. The polymer base on the bed has a grid for aligning the printing plates.

A closeup of the SP15, which is currently set up with a base for printing polymer plates. The polymer process allows one to generate printing plates through a photographic exposure process. It’s an ideal method for translating digital imagery into the format of letterpress.

The Asbern press sits with a Vandercook No. 4 behind it. At the end of the press is an ink-mixing surface, with some oil and solvent containers. The press has a white name plaque mounted to the gray wall above it, reading Bernie.

Back on the other side of the shop, our Asbern press Bernie is the first in the row. Asbern was a German pressmaker, who manufactured this machine in 1966. At the time of this photo, the press has fresh new blue rollers, which eventually darken with the various inks utilized.

A closeup of the crank and cylinder of the Asbern press. This press has many wood and brass features, along with an additional lever on the cylinder for adjusting pressure. The Asbern label has a red gear icon.

A closeup of Bernie. The Asbern has a unique adjustable cylinder feature, which allows a printer to quickly adjust the pressure being applied to the printing blocks.

The Student Residency Program

Since the summer of 2021, the Design Lab has hosted a student residency program for undergraduate Design students. This program provides students with paid opportunities to connect with professional projects, and to delve into explorations of the RRK collection and other printmaking resources.

The program thus far has primarily focused on an endeavor to print a new folio of the entire RRK collection [link to Folio Revisited section], a project that began in the summer of 2022, and is ongoing indefinitely.

A student cleaning the Vandercook No. 4 printing press, with a wood type lockup on the pressbed. The rollers have yellow ink on them. Another staff member stands in the foreground.

A student using a pencil to make annotations on a print, on the pressbed of the Vandercook 219

A student working on a lockup on Winnie, the Vandercook No. 4 printing press. Colorful prints hang on the wall behind

A student in the process of screen printing a poster, they hold a large squeegee and pull orange ink across the screen

A student in front of their project installed at the Visual Art Center. The project is titled The Fem Press, and features pink and black booklet publications pinned to a corkboard.

A student working on a lockup on the SP15 pressbed. Wood type is secured with custom furniture, and is coated with green ink.

A student organizing wood type on a tray sitting on the Vandercook 219 pressbed.

Throughout the school year, students also participate in semester-long opportunities to work with clients on UT campus. We continue ongoing work with the School of Design & Creative Technologies, alumni association Texas Exes, and local Austin NPR music station KUTX 98.9.

A main goal of this project has been to share the RRK collection with our community. Austin has an acclaimed history of live music posters and printmaking. Our hope is to participate in this continued legacy, by inspiring and enabling our students to embrace the power of the collection.

Residency Project Gallery

multicolored screen print and pop-up poster on dark blue paper featuring RRK wood type

Design Class of 2027 admitted students poster by Yuji Yasuda & Henry Smith
screen print, digitized wood type, 2023

multicolored screen print poster featuring RRK wood type

SXSW Radio Day Stage poster by Gabriela Rivera
screen print, digitized wood type, 2023

SXSW Radio Day Stage poster by Grace Kimball
screen print, digitized wood type, 2024

letterpress printed greeting card, red ink on tan paper featuring RRK wood type

Molly Burch Christmas card by Yuji Yasuda & Henry Smith
letterpress print, 2022

UT Design Class of 2028 admitted students poster by Grace Kimball
screen print, digitized wood type, 2023