OSP makes graphic design using only free and open source software—pieces of software that invite their users to take part in their elaboration. Founded in 2006 in the context of Brussels art organisation Constant, the OSP caravan now comprises a group of individuals from different background and practices: typography, graphic design, cartography, programming, mathematics, writing, performance. Through a collaborative practice, they work on workshops, commissioned or self-commissioned projects, searching to redefine their playground, digging towards a more intimate relation with the tools.
OSP has worked with organisations both large and small, and collaborated with individual artists. They have organised workshops at many art schools (Royal College of Art, Merz Akademie, Piet Zwart Instituut) and festivals (Vietnam Open Design Week, Festival de Chaumont). Finally, in divided Belgium, they have won both the most beatiful book of Flanders and the most beatiful book of Brussels/Wallonia. For a complete list, see the Curriculum.
True to their name, OSP publishes all the the source files to their projects through their website http://osp.constantvzw.org. ^[1]
How do we work?
OSP is a collective—or more specifically, a caravan. When a new collaboration comes in (contact), we create in-between us a team to take it on: usually 2 to 4 designers. Two of the designers become “la conscience”, which means that they are responsible for communication with the client/collaborator.
During the job, we work together using a versioning system that houses all the files for the project. This system is accessible for the client, and also for the outside public. We are Open Source publishing, after all!
Source ^[2]
Site ^[3]