Study Task 9 Project Statement

Study Task 9 Project Statement

In this module I have learnt many things within the printing industry which became useful to me when actually printing in real life. During my first essay I learnt all about the facts and rules of print making in a multitude of different techniques. This did not only teach me where these techniques came from but also how to produce these printing methods on a physical scale. I may have already known about some of these facts included in the essay but almost all of them were new to me. Learning about when they were created and their original purposes was very interesting. For instance re-printing sheet music over and over for a whole orchestral performance was an interesting one. During my second essay I explored the reasons to why hand-made printing techniques were still embraced today. It was sort of like comparing the pros and cons of digital and hand rendered techniques but with the hand-made techniques being strongly supported in comparison to digital. This also taught me about a bunch of new techniques swell used mainly in the modern day compared to the previous essay which dealt with a lot of older techniques. Basically, hand-made printing techniques are still used today due to their unique effect, individuality and occasionally reliability. This has made me think more about my printing in other projects and the amount of care that I should put into it. 

During my practical work, a lot of the information from the essays took a role in the production and research of the brief. I managed to translate the meaning and point of the second essay into my practical work through the medium of one printing technique which was Lino print. I wanted to show how you could produce a multitude of different prints that were slightly different each time but also the same as they were all done using the same printing block. This was done in the form of Lino printing type onto membership cards for a pub. In my second essay it is stated that when using hand-made printing techniques you can receive a spontaneous but great effect with texture in each print that you just cannot achieve with digital printing methods. This is why hand-made techniques are better in some cases as they give a greater personal touch to some work compared to digital printing which would mass produce documents at a greater speed with one hundred percent accuracy across each print. I reckon I have proven quite a few points from my essays into my practical work backing up the points made in a physical format. 

My Brief

My Brief

Using hand-made print technique to personalise membership cards

This brief aims to use the letterpress format to personalise membership cards for an independent pub in the city called 'Hair of the Dog'. They want a membership card that is unique to each and every customer so they can feel apart of the pubs community. This membership card must have some form of hand-made print on that would be printed upon whenever a customer claims a membership card. This card would be kept by them to claim their deals and discounts at the pub. Must take into consideration the material of the card and also if its design matches the aesthetic of an independent pub in the city.

Must deliver a series of personalised membership cards, to show how each card could be made individual to different customers.

Must have used a hand-made print technique to produce part of this publication.

Must be practical pieces that fit in wallets
Must show how each membership card can be diverse and individual to each customer

Printing Lino

Printing Lino

After cutting the lino into a few different initials I thought I should try testing them out before printing on the membership cards. This would help me decide if any alteration would have to be made before printing onto my actual product. I used some black ink after my research into Hayley Wall and hoped that some form of texture would emerge from this. 

After a few test prints I realised that some prints specifically this one of the initials LT were quite unclear. The type didn't even look like the original type selected. This was a negative however the positive was that there was a decent texture emerging here. To get the full texturised effect I wanted I would have to perhaps have to use a bit less ink. After this mistake I went back to the link block and cut them a bit deeper to try and recover the blocks.

After cutting the lino blocks a bit deeper I re-printed them again and the results were far better. As you can see now the letters are completely clear and almost completely white with the paper stock behind. There is also a completely clear and obvious texture shown around the type. All I need to do now is print them onto the membership cards. The great thing about these textures emerging is that it is totally random and out of my control. If I did this fully digital it would be a lot harder to make each print individual but this format just does it all automatically. 

Lino Print Research

Lino Print Research

When researching lino print artists, I was trying to find something specific in this case prints that were only one colour and if possible typography as well. I wanted the prints to be really simplistic and also feature a bit of texture to give the whole print a bit of character. By remaining with one single colour as well I would be able to sustain an aesthetic that would hopefully make each print look like they were part of a collection. One artist I really liked was Hayley Wall. Her prints all followed a similar set of rules that completed her brand and when looking at her work you knew that it was all hers. There was also a slight texture left behind from her prints which I really liked. It kind of gives the prints a personal touch and an individual look to each one. This means whoever bought one of these prints would have an individual print that wouldn't look the same as any other print in that series. I know that these prints are made mainly for artistic purposes and not graphic design or branding so I wanted to take the simple style from this artist and also the individual textures for each print. This means that when I do my prints people will all have a completely different print to the next person. 

I managed to find an artist that used lino printing to print typography however, his printing style was the complete opposite of the previous artist I had researched. James Brown's work was very colourful and had many patterns woven within the type. I did like these prints but it isn't exactly what I was aiming for. These prints also have the textures left behind on them which is a key aspect of my research. Ideally I think I'd like to take the printing of the type from James Brown and the simple black and white style from Hayley Wall and combine them into one. The key feature here is to make sure every print created would be individual to each customer but also to have a similar style so that you could tell they were all apart of the same brand.

Cutting Lino

Cutting Lino

Today I cut the initials into the Lino that would be printed onto my chosen membership cards. First I had to decide on a typeface to base the initials upon. I decided to use the typeface 'Noe Display'. This was because I wanted to print some type that was different to the smaller type within the card. I needed a stylistic type that paired well with the simpler type inside. This type has serifs compared to the one on the inside which is sans serif. It has very sharp edges with some exaggerated weighty lines and some incredibly light. It's still sophisticated while also being stylistic and will hopefully suit the card perfectly when printed. 

By using tracing paper I carefully illustrated around my selected initials and transferred them to the lino, making sure they were backwards so when printed they would face the correct way. Given the fact this type had some quite jagged edges and thin strokes it proved a task to cut into the lino but I finally managed it to perfection. 

I made sure the lino was slightly larger then the card so the when printed the whole card would be covered in ink, except from the type. Initially I wanted to print in bright colours however I have changed my mind and reckon that perhaps just printing in black would be better suited. This is because the rest of the card is black and white and matching that aesthetic and branding seems like the most sensible idea. I may do some digital mock ups before hand however in different colours just to see how they would actually turn out. However, using black ink is my current main influence for the printing process.