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The Final Process Book fo Design Specifications
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Nuriman FarisDesign SpecificationsMatt White & John Kramer Spring 2013
Table of Contents
week
Letterpress
1During our first week, we were given the option to
list down the top five production groups were were
provided. My first choice was letterpress and I was
placed in the letterpress group. I was so excited
to get to experience the letterpress medium. I had
done printmaking before and could relate to letter-
press and its unique qualities, but little did I know
how much I still had to learn!
The assignment for the first week was to get to know our medium...
How does it work?
Letterpress printing is a tech-nique of relief printing using a printing press. A printer will use moveable type and lock it into place onto the bed of the press. He will then ink the plate and press paper against the ink, apply pressure, and transfer the ink from the type onto the paper.
What are its limitations?
the process is done by hand (time consuming, subject to human error, difficult to edit), small production use, intended for small amounts of copy, different size presses have limited document sizes, color and color details are difficult and time consuming (minimal color use if preferable)
What are the common uses
for letterpress?
Common uses for letterpress in the 20th century consist of invitations, stationary, business cards, enve-lopes, posters (for advertising and decorative purposes), announce-ments, packaging, embossing, etc.
What is the history of the letterpress?
Letterpress printing was the normal form of printing text from the mid-15th cen-tury until the 19th century. It was invent-ed by Johannes Gutenberg and was originally used to print the Holy Bible. It remained in wide use for books and other uses until the second half of the 20th century. Letterpress printing remained the primary way to print and distribute information until the twentieth centu-ry, when offset printing was developed, which largely supplanted its role in print-ing books and newspapers. More recently, letterpress printing has seen a revival in an artisanal form.
What are the attractive qualities about
letterpress?
letterpress is attractive for its hands on details, low number of editions (creates a value due to the uniqueness and rari-ty), process creates texture (raised ink, embossing, etc), forced minimalist style, vintage appeal, transparency, and color mixing qualities when you overlay inks.
week
2 ColorFor our second week of class, we focused on the
theme of color! How does letterpress affect color?
How can it be executed and to what extent? This
week was more about inspiration, gathering ideas,
and developing sketches for possible products we
could create with letterpress. w
Inspirational ideas for Color
These are some of the images I found on the
web of the use of letterpress and color. i really
liked all the different ways you could combine
colors with letterpress. Even the embossed
business card creates color with the use of tex-
ture and risen type.
My group and I also discussed the various
things we’d like to create using letterpress
with the theme of color. We came up with
books, pamphlets discussing spot color, post-
ers demonstrating color mixing, use of colored
stock paper, invitations for color based events,
and possibly a calendar using color to indicate
the various seasons.
As we continued gaining inspiration for a final
letterpress product, we got closer and closwer
to doing a calendar...
These are some of the images that inspired us!
SketchesThese are the concept
sketches I developed off
our idea to create a calen-
dar. I thought it would be
interesting to allow color
and imagery be the main
focus.
I also wanted to focuse some of my concepts and ideas on typography and how we might be able to incorporate some rich wood text from the letter-press to create a vintage piece!
At the time, we weren’t
sure where our group
was goin with the
idea, but we just kept
sketching until we
came up with some-
thing more concrete!
week3
3ResearchDuring week three, we fleshed out our ideas even
further. During this time, I spent most of my time
finding examples of relief prints for imagery and
ideas. Eventually we would be carving a linoleum
block for the image on our final product. Although
I had some experience carving linoleum, most
of my group mates did not and I spent this time
demonstrating all the different things you could do
with relief printing.
1. cut away what is white
2. reverse your image/drawing when transferring it onto your plate (it will print in the reverse of what is on your plate)
3. cut away from yourself, never cut towards you
4. use relief to create texture
ps. check out this url http://www.shouldiworkforfree.com it shows a really cool flow chart for graphic designers and might be a good idea for our poster!
* http://www.shouldiworkforfree.com* https://www.facebook.com/InkMonkeys
How to Carve a Linoleum Block
At this point in our developement of ideas, we prgressed from trying to produce a calendar to cre-ating a poster. We spoke to the vendor at Union Press in Somerville, MA and due to time contraints we chose to proceed with the poster instead.
Linoleum Carving Demonstration
I think we all got to experience something different
this day! We were all able to witness the relief process
and the kind of style, texture, and unique qualities
of relief and letterpress! It was a lot of fun getting to
teach everyone else about something I knew. It was
also nice to get people so interested. Everyone gave
feedback, asked questions, and liked the interactive
qualities of letterpress. print! Hope you enjoyed it!
Our group will also be sketching out ideas for our
poster production and we’d like to get your feed-
back… we aren’t 100% sure what we’re limited to, but
we’ll get more specifics next class.
week4
Week four was spend in group discussion. We discussed the
possibilities for our final project, what needed to be done,
when things needed to be accomplished, and I taught some
of our group members how to carve a linoleum block. It was
a good learning experience.
week
5Poster IdeasFor awhile, our group wasn’t sure what the end
product of the semester would be. We weren’t sure
how we could apply letterpress to various design
aspects. We originally started by coming up with
ideas of where letterpress was most used, then we
thought about what products we might want to
use letterpress to create, we went from calendars,
to stationary, and then to posters.
Typographic Based PostersDuring this week, I looked into different ways typography
has been used by letterpress in a poster format. I searched
for ideas and concepts on the web. Letterpress, as a medi-
um, is largely based on typography so I thought maybe our
poster should be based more on the typographic aspects
of letterpress.
week
6Start of ProductionAfter finding out our group was doing a post-
er, we proceeded with conceptual ideas of our
final products. I drew a few sketches on paper
and began to digitally reder it. However, typo-
graphic poster layouts proved to be time con-
suming and tedious.
So here is one of my poster concepts brought to life! I placed
photos of just about each step which included:
1. Tracing original sketch
2. Flipping tracing paper over (for reverse transfer)
3. Using Saral transfer paper on my plate, with the tracing paper
over it, and tracing the sketch in reverse with a pen to transfer it
onto the plate
4. Carving away the white (or whatever your paper color is)
5. Inking the plate
6. Printing!
I used three different types of paper. I used rice
paper, 100% cotton paper (printmaking paper),
and colored card stock. I noticed that with
the rice and cotton paper, the print was much
cleared. Part of that could also be that I used a
barren to print instead of a book press. I’m go-
ing to try it again on a book press and compare
the results. I’m thinking of adding another plate
with the logo SPEC on it in a different or/and
transparent color and laying it on top of this
print once it dries.
Union Press Trip
week
Final ConceptAfter our field trip to Union Press, we came up
with a different idea for our final concept. We
thought we would be creating a poster for our
class, but during the field trip, we saw how Eli
had used letterpress with a CD cover sleeve. So
we thought it might be nice by doing a col-
labrative project with some of the other groups.
So we decided that we would design a CD
sleeve, the silkscreen group could silkscreen la-
bels for the CDs that time base would burn the
movie onto, and the offset group would create
the booklet for the case. 7
week
Concept RealizationsThe previous week, our group did a skype chat to discuss
some of the ideas for the CD sleeve and divide the tasks
between the group members. We decided we could trans-
late the concept we had for the poster for the CD sleeve.
So we needed to conceptualize the class utensil lino plate
onto the CD Sleeve. I also spent some time looking on the
web for images of letterpress on chipboard CD sleeves. 9
Letterpress Schedule April 5th
Finalized concept
Group meeting/discussion
E-mail Eli with final concept & ask about linoleum
Make sure the design concept is in sync with style guidelines!
April 10th
Have the image cut and ready to print
April 11th
Send/Drop off cut image to Eli
week
10Specific DevelopmentsAfter our last class, discussing all the specifics of what our concept
needed, I worked on more decisive concept ideas. I didn’t have the
Gotham typeface so I used Cicle (which was generally close enough).
It will at least give the general idea of our concept and how we might
be able to play with it. Part of the concept was to add each class-
mate’s name on the back of the case. I needed to verify that I had
everyone’s name and that it was spelt correctly.
So Maria and I google chat together earlier this afternoon to discuss some of the more
developed concept ideas. These are the points we discussed:
1. we are pretty much set on the image, although we may want to change some of the
placement
2. we are going to play with the title and subtitle, its placement and spacing
3. we are replacing the alternate font with Gotham
4. we have to contact Eli about wether or not we should/could do a bleed with the
image
5. trying to invert color of text and image to vary our options
Our updated schedule is :
April 7th
1. upload new concept ideas by late afternoon
2. reconvene at night to discuss last changes
3. send Eli the finalized concept and questions
April 10th
1. review any proofing and complications that may arise
2. have the image cut and ready to print
April 11th
1. Send/Drop off cut image to Eli
week
11 RevisionsThis week, we made even more specific chang-
es to the design. I got the Gotham typeface
and was able to make the necessary changes to
the design. I also took the input our classmates
had and applied it to the design.
So here are some revisions to the concept of the CD sleeve
I did see some of the comments that were made on the
other posts and took heed! Here are some of the changes I
made:
1. I tried to account for the opacity that occurs with letter-
press and I think that’s why there was a funky blue color. I
changed it so the blue has no opacity.
2. I also tried to adjust the color of the chipboard to more
actual color, instead of the dark color that occurred when
we scanned it.
3. I also changed the alternative typeface with actual Go-
tham to keep it accurate.
4. I played with the placement of the title and subtitle.
5. We are keeping account for no bleed.
week
12 Pantone ColorSo our group ran into a few dilemmas in
regards to the colors we were using for
the CD sleeve. We checked the pantone
color swatches against the color of the
CD sleeve and most of the colors were
too close in value, except for the green.
First we tried the blue and the value was
too close to the CD sleeve.
John matched a lighter blue to the sleeve, but unfortunately it
was not a color in the Logo and we wanted to be as consistent as
we could in the colors we are using for brand identity. So then we
matched the other colors and the green was the one that looked
the best. John concurred with us and wants us to use the Green
Pantone color in the Logo design. He said it shouldn’t affect the
division of colors between the collaborating groups (Offset, Let-
terpress, and Silkscreen). John suggested that offset still use the
green and magenta, we use green and black, while silkscreen can
use the blue and/or orange.
week
13RevisionsAfter the last minute color change,
we revised our concept and design
layout with the new green pantone
color. We also looked into place-
ment of the text and which one
looked best.
We all drew up a few more sketches of possible
layouts and interchanged the colors that would be
printed. We tried demonstrating the black print-
ing over the green ink and vice versa. As a group,
we decided it would probably be smarter to print
the darker color over the lighter color, due to the
transparency of letterpress.
These were the two layouts that we had for the
back of the CD sleeve. We weren’t sure if we’d
be able to do either, depending on the avail-
ability of type that Eli had, but our goal was to
personalize the CD sleeve and put each class-
mate’s name on it.
week
14 ProcessDuring this time, I spend it working
on my process book and running
last minute errands with my group.
We made a print check at Union
Press and approved the CD sleeves.
week
SPEC EventThis was our last week of class!
We finally got to see the end result
of everyone’s hard work and how
it worked together as a cohesive
brand. It was so much fun to see
what everyone else had done and I
was so hapy to see all of the effort
we put into the class. 15