Werkman was a member of the artists' group "De Ploeg" ("The Plough"), for whom he printed posters, invitations and catalogues. From 1923 to 1926, he produced his own English-named avant-garde magazine "The Next Call", which, like other works of the period, included collage-like experimentation with typefaces, printing blocks and other printers' materials. He would distribute the magazine by exchanging it for works by other avant-garde artists and designers abroad and so kept in touch with progressive trends in European art. Among the most fruitful contacts were with Theo van Doesburg, Kurt Schwitters, El Lissitzky and Michel Seuphor, the last of whom exhibited a print of his in Paris. This exchange would prove very fruitful, as foreign magazines served as a source of inspiration for Werkman - as he himself admitted, even though he did not always understand the contents, Werkman searched for new ideas on the pages of the magazines he received.