SYDNEY BEAUMONT VISIT 2

After my first visit to sydney beaumont I saw a lot of stocks I wanted to experiment with. I couldn't find any coated card that have a really shiny finish or was wipe proof. So I made the conscious decision to buy some vinyl and apply to some card for cover stock.

I brought 3 and a half meter rolls in red, orange and yellow for each publication. 

All together the stock cost me £5 which I think was quite reasonable for what I needed.

LEEDS GALLERY VISIT

Through my Visit to Colours May Vary I also came across Leeds Gallery, that was holding a light exhibition. 

I wasn't able to take a lot of photo's inside the gallery but I spoke to one of the workers who recommended I should come back in January for the Print Festival which takes place on the 14th. This is something I could also include in my book for my audience to attend to in the visit's chapter.

COLOURS MAY VARY VISIT

Today I visited the shop Colours May Vary. Which is a small shop located in Munro House in Leeds that specialise in selling print posters, books and things associated with graphic design. The shop is really clean and minimal and was a good visit.

The Shop

I spoke to the manager Becky of the store and asked her about were she sources her prints from, and if there any designers that I should look at that are Leeds based. She recommended again to look at The Print Project by Nick and Lucy Ketchin.

DOTS PRINTHAUS VISIT

Today I went on a visit to dot's printhaus in leeds as a part of my facilities and visit's section of my book. I came across the studio when I visited the Off The Wall gallery and some of their work was being sold there. I emailed them and invited me to come down and have a look around. The studio and staff were really friendly and were happy to answer all my questions

Outside view

What is dot's printhause and when did it start? 

dots printhaus was formed roughly 2 years ago after a chance meeting between its two co founders Joe Duffield and Jonny Akers. Originally based at Factory4 a Centre for creatives in the city of Leeds, we started out with nothing more than unbridled enthusiasm and a very basic carousel to produce small runs of t-shirts for ourselves and other occupants of the Centre.

Having recognised the potential to turn what started as a fleeting interest into a viable business, we worked tirelessly to increase our knowledge of techniques used in the screen-printing process to improve the quality of work we produced.

With several other creative outfits on the complex, Byron Street Mills has proved to be a fitting environment for us to continue our development. An alliance with the team of illustrators Stuff & Things provided us with the perfect opportunity to expand our skillset and spend more time working on paper prints which has led us to printing gig posters for emerging and established bands.

Whilst we’re happy to have worked with larger organisations such as the Princes Trust, Mansfield College and the Beacons Festival we’re also proud to have maintained good relationships with a number of independent clothing brands and illustrators.

Our enthusiasm for creating a printed piece by hand is always growing and as a result our will to improve from day to day will continue to be a driving force behind our work.

What do they do?

Dots printhaus doesn't just offer screen printed items like posters and t.shirts, they also have their own jewellery maker and fashion designer who has been working for 8 years and travelling from leeds to beijing with a group of seamstresses from the royal college of art in london.

Are their facilities open to the public?

The facilities are not open to the public, however they do run some screen printing sessions that run from £95 and are very happy for people to visit and ask questions.

The studio

One of the printers matt took me on a tour of the studio and everything has been made by hand which I thought was really cool and innovative. They had found most of their accessories in the street or had been given them from old colleges which gave the studio a organic and creative feel.

They had handmade things from there own exposure unit, to a screen washing station.

I really enjoyed this visit and seeing how an independent studio was run. It had a really fun and creative vibe and everyone was really friendly. They suggested that I look at The Print Project and the work that Mike does.

ON THE WALL: VISIT

For my 'for the love of design' book I wanted to include local places in Leeds that people could visit and experience real life prints from local and big designers. On my travels I came across a shop called on the wall which specialised in screen printed and digitally printed designs

The shop is really quirky and had a lot of variations of printed material which I though would be really useful to other students when they come to Leeds and is good free visit. The shop had a variety of comic books, t.shirts, art nevou, and film / music prints.

I spoke to one of the workers in the shop and asked if there were any local studio's he could recommend to visit in Leeds and he told me about an independent printing company called dots print house. I decided in my spare time to research the place for a potential visit.

Overall I really enjoyed this short visit of the store, it's a good place to find inspiration for design as they stock work from a numerous amount of artists.

www.onthewall.co.uk

DESIGN FOR PRINT: CONTACTS

For my 3rd publication I am having a page dedicated to influential printers, artists and places. I decided to do this in the form of websites, agencies, studios + books. To collect these sources I decided to go  on visits to theses places and look at primary and secondary resources to do this which is detailed in further posts. 

Websites

For Print Only: www.underconsideration.com/fpo/
New Grids: www.newgrids.fr
The Print Studio: www.theprintstudio.tumblr.com
Leeds Print Festival: www.leedsprintfestival.com
Made Thought: www.madethought.com

Shops / Studios
From my crit my peers suggested that I use places based in Leeds so it's more relatable.

Dots Print Haus: www.dotsprint.co.uk

- 6 Byron St Mills
Millwright Street
Leeds
United Kingdom
LS2 7QG
Monday to Friday 10am-5:30pm

0113 345 0080
hello@dotsprint.co.uk

On The Wall: www.onthewall.co.uk/ref=sample_one

12 Boar Lane
Leeds

LS1 6EN

Pressision: www.pressision.co.uk

Leeds (Head Office)
Units 2/3 Kingsmark Court
Intercity Way, Stanningley,
Leeds LS13 4LY 

T 0113 239 3939
E info@pressision.co.uk

Colours May Vary: www.colours-may-vary.com

Munro House, Duke St,
Leeds, LS9 8AG
0113 2442704

Books

Print & Finish by Ambrose / Harris

The All New Print Production Handbook by David Bann

Production for print by Mark Gatter

extra: Encyclopaedia of Experimental Print Finishing by Franziska Morlok

Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing by Mike Perry

Print and Production Finishes for Promotional Items by Scott Witham

Materials, Process, Print: Creative Solutions for Graphic Design by Daniel Mason

Artists

Lucy Ketchin: www.lucyketchin.tumblr.com
Anthony Burrill: www.anthonyburrill.com

EVOLUTION PRINT SEMINAR

Commercial printers
Sending art work through to printers
Lithography print - aluminium plates
CTP - computer plate system

Run paper sizes from SRA2 to B3 
Don't print anything less than 70 grams.
Paper weights from 70 - 450 grams

Gloss
Silk
Uncoated

When using uncoated stocks the ink hits the paper it spreads to lower the quality of the image, looks organic.

Their presses run 15,000 sheets an hour.

The difference between lithography and digital print.

Litho

• Better quality
• Expensive
• Vegetable based inks
• Can use spot colour effectively
• Charged on make readies - colours, levelling of ink ready for print.
• Charged on plates
• £60 - £100

Digital

• SRA3 is the maximum size that can be used
• Limited
• Inks are powder based and just sit on the paper
• Uses full colour
• Costed out on a click charge - per sheet 
• Differs depending on colours. 60p per sheets
• No set up charge

Basic mistakes of sorting out artwork

Things designers get wrong

• Bleed has to be 3mm around the artwork, including ticks and crop marks.
• Brochures + booklets need to send as single pages not spreads.
• Send the cover over separately.
• Send original formats and pdf files.
• If spot colours are not need change them to CMYK or overprint.
• Any perforations, foils, ect. The need to be transferred to separations in a separate file.
• Consider image size, if an image is too big it slows down the process
• Try to keep the image size at roughly the size its being used at 
• 300 dpi resolution for images.

In litho a lot of the work is set out in sections and pagination

16 pages to an SRA2 sheet, try and work in 8's, 16's and 24's to save money.

32 page self cover booklet is cheaper than a 28 page booklet.

Consider the benefit of the stock when it's covered in ink, when your working with clients.

The covers can be expensive and the inside stock can be cheaper,

Working turn: turns the work over to create a double sided work. Working turn is good for front covers.

Sheet turn: two different images on work, more expensive

Perforated edges on work books to let out the air. 

Don't spot varnish or laminate.

Full colour fluorescent ink plus stock, looks nice but is expensive.

Locally sourced stuff such at inks and plates

Artists / Clients

Judge Gill

TVR

Made Book

Pete McKee

Manchester City

Lee Goat

Gold Smiths

Camberwell Press

Mixed Special

North Sea

Craig Oldham

Design Republic

A Bunch of Fives

Craven College

Misc

Creative Arthur

Passport

Drop Dead Clothing

PRINT CLUB LONDON

Whilst researching some design for print subjects I came across a company called Print Club London. I really liked the prints they sold and the workshops they offered and if I had the time and money to visit them I would really like to.

FORMAT: NEWSPAPER

Newspapers are printed in a variety of sizes, with the most common sizes being Broadsheet + Tabloid.

Broadsheet Size
Dimensions: 750 x 600 mm (29.5" x 23.5")

Background

The term broadsheet derives from single sheets of political satire and ballads sold on the streets, which became popular after the British placed a tax on newspapers by the number of pages in 1712.

The broadsheet size for newspapers is becoming less popular and many titles are switching from broadsheet to tabloid.

Tabloid Size
Dimensions: 430 x 280 mm (16.9" x 11.0")

Background

The tabloid size is often referred to as being 'half the size of a broadsheet' however this is not strictly true as broadsheet is 750 x 600 mm (29.5" x 23.5")

Tabloid size is actually not very different from A3 and thus a transition to printing tabloids on an A2 sheet (remember that newspaper sizes are the size of the folded pages) would be sensible in the longer term.

FORMAT: C SIZE

The C series is used for folders, postcards and envelopes.

C envelope sizes are defined as the geometric mean of the A and B sizes with the same number i.e. C4 dimensions are the geometric mean of A4 and B4. This produces a size between the two that makes an envelope that will neatly hold the A series paper of the same size, thus a C4 envelope is perfect for an A4 sheet of paper unfolded.

Again with the A - B sizes the paper is measured by mm and inches and a visual variation of how the sizes fit together are displayed below.

DL Envelope Size - The Business Envelope Extension

One of the most widely used business envelopes, the DL format does not fall under the C series sizes as it has a different aspect ratio. This envelope originated in Germany in the 1920's and was known as DIN Lang, but DL is now more commonly expanded to 'Dimension Lengthwise'. This size is defined in the ISO standards for envelope sizes, as the standard would have been remiss in omitting the most commonly used business envelope size.

Why are they needed?

To create a perfect size envelop to fit A size formats. 

FORMAT: B SIZE

The B series paper sizes were created in order to provide paper sizes that weren't covered by the A series. 

It is used for a variety of special situations. Many posters use B-series paper or is a relatively common choice for books. The B series is also used for envelopes and passports. It is widely used in the printing industry to describe both paper sizes and printing press sizes, including digital presses.

Just like the A series it is measured in mm and inches and the image below shows a visual example of how the sizes fit in with one another.

Why is it used?

This system gives a useful property for enlarging and reducing documents.

FORMAT: A SIZE

The A series size format is the most commonly used in design. ISO 216 is a metric format and has been adopted by all countries in the world, except the United States and Canada. 

The A Series paper size chart is commonly used and gives a visual explanation of how the sizes relate to each other - for example A5 is half of A4 size paper and A2 is half of A1 size paper.

The dimensions of the paper can be calculated through millimetres or inches.

Why are they used?

In Europe the A paper sizes were adopted as the formal standard in the mid 20th century and from there they spread across the globe.

The paper sizes affect writing paper, stationery, cards, and some printed documents.

DESIGN FOR PRINT: FORMAT

Format is the way in which something is arranged or set out.

I decided to make this one of my headings for my books as this is something I have had difficulty in knowing and remembering. 

I decided to focus on

• A formats
• B formats
• C formats
• Newspaper sizes

__Useful Sources

designers toolbox

paper sizes

PRINTING: OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY

Offset lithography is a process used for printing on a flat surface, using printing plates. An image is transferred to a printing plate, which can be made of a variety of materials such as metal or paper. The plate is then chemically treated so that only image areas (such as type, colors, shapes and other elements) will accept ink. Water and ink is applied to the plate. Because of the chemical treatment, ink only "sticks" to the image areas, which reject the water. Areas without images reject the ink. The plate is then rolled onto a rubber cylinder applying the inked area, and in turn the rubber cylinder (or "blanket") applies the image to the paper. The system is "offset" because the plate does not come in direct contact with the paper, which preserves the quality of the plate.

This is the predominant process used in printing today, being used for a wide range of items from letterhead to packaging, books and magazines. However, the use of digital printing is increasingly rapidly and this process is likely to gain shorter run work from offset lithography.

PRINTING: DIGITAL PRINTING

Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates.

This method of printing is ideal for shorter runs of colour and black and white work.

PRINTING: LETTER PRESS

Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing using a printing press. A worker composes and locks movable type into the bed of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type.

Letterpress was the first form of commercial printing, and much print-specific terminology derives from it. The raised surface that makes the impression is typically made from pieces of type, but photo-engraved plates can also be used. Letterpress printing can often be identified by the slight indentation made into the substrate.

Letterpress printing was the normal form of printing text from its invention by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century until the 19th century and remained in wide use for books and other uses until the second half of the 20th century.

Letterpress printing can be performed using woodblock type and metal type depending on the aesthetic you are going for.

The arrangement of type for this process to work is to put the letters in spelling the words backwards due to the way it enters the press.

PRINTING: SILK - SCREEN PRINT

Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh screen to support an ink-blocking stencil, that can create a image or design. 

The process is caried out through exposing the design or image to a screen which attached forms open areas of mesh so that the ink or other printable materials can be pressed through onto a substrate. 

A fill blade or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink into the mesh openings for transfer during the squeegee stroke. This process can apply ink onto a substrate, whether it be t-shirts, posters, stickers, vinyl, wood, or other material.

There are two types of screens that can be used depending on the substrate that is being put onto.

Fabric Screens: material, cotton substrates.

Mesh Screens: paper substrates.

printing with one colour

printing wih two colours

FORMAT + FINISHING: TASK

With a focus on stock, substrates and special print finishes. Find as many variants as possible for each of the following designs. You should consider production values, scale and functionality in relation to appropriate contexts and target audiences and evaluate their impact on the design decisions that have been made.

For this task I looked at primary resources I had collected and were sen via printing companies to analyse. I chose to analyse 5 examples for each category

Branding + Identity

Packaging + Promotion

Publishing + Editorial

Information + Way finding