A palm-size book with a stark white cover; an orange sticker the size of a fingernail reads “AS IS.” The concept for As Is: A Collection of Visual and Literary Works by Vietnamese Americans does not delineate between design and content. Design is content. The spare cover acts as a fresh canvas for the Vietnamese-American artists inside, whose stories, poems and photographs are influenced by war, exile and resettlement. The simple sticker works as both title and first text, evoking a used or damaged good in a thrift store, and it declares a powerful message about art, identity and community. A grassroots publication, As Is was created by the Vietnamese Artists Collective, an all-volunteer gathering of writers and artists in the San Francisco-Bay Area. The laser-printed book had a print run of 500 and was funded by grants from the City of Oakland and the Puffin Foundation.

Witty, understated, familiar and surprising.