I was invited to visit the Tandem Press where, by coincidence, Robert Cottingham's "American Alphabet" is being produced.

Here you can see a proof of the work ongoing on the "Y"

Below is a closeup, you can see how the artist uses a not uncommon technique in image manipulation, tiny slivers of color, to defocus background objects, giving them a feeling of atmospheric depth.

Let's just hope no one uses this technique on text type, eh!? ;)

Cheers!