Explore the depth and character of the oldest printing process, still used today for distinctive pieces.
- [Narrator] Letterpress printing is a fairly ancient process but it has new life, it's really had a revival. The Origins of Letterpress go back to the 1400s. This was Gutenberg's transformative process, even though it's an ancient process, it has character and elegance. It was the predominant process in printing until the mid-20th century, that's how long it reined. It's created one color at a time. It's not high speed. It's not high volume. And now, it's used mainly for specialty pieces. In letterpress printing, a raised surface, wood, metal or even linoleum is inked and then pressed into the paper and that pressure can create an embossed effect adding dimension to the printed piece.
There's been a resurgence of letterpress printing as an artisan process and there are now even photopolymer plates that can be adhered to a base, giving designers the ability to use letterpress with digital artwork. Letterpress printing often uses exotic or handmade paper stocks to add to the personality of the piece, and it's often used for invitations such as this. While original old metal type components are highly prized, small niche foundries are now producing new metal type, some on refurbished antique type equipment. Think about it, a printing process that was created in the 1400s is still putting ink on paper today.
Isn't that wonderful?
Author
Released
10/25/2016- Communicating with your printer
- Understanding types of printing: letterpress, sheet-fed, and more
- Handling corrections and alterations
- Attending press checks
- Understanding how color space and paper stock affect printing
- Finishing: folding, trimming, die cutting, and embossing
- Working with fonts and graphics
- Editing resolution and color in Photoshop
- Laying out print pieces in Illustrator and InDesign
- Preflighting designs
- Generating PDFs
- Refining PDFs in Adobe Acrobat
- Submitting the job
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Related Courses
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Print Production: Spot Colors and Varnish
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Print Production: Prepress and Press Checks
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Acrobat: Preflight and Print Production
with Claudia McCue2h 38m Intermediate
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 30s
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1. Understanding Print Production
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What is print production?1m 21s
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2. The Life Cycle of a Print Job
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Attending press checks3m 13s
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3. Types of Printing
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The art of letterpress1m 18s
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4. Ink on Paper
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Understanding color space5m 17s
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What's a spot color?3m 29s
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5. The Mechanics of Finishing
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Building to the correct size1m 26s
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Folding and trimming4m 40s
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Setting up for die cutting1m 24s
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Embossing31s
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6. Fonts
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Understanding font formats1m 52s
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Using Open Type fonts4m 30s
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Font concerns2m 26s
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7. Graphics
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Examining graphic formats6m 34s
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8. Photoshop Basics
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Image resolution3m 56s
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Color space4m 47s
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9. Illustrator Layout Basics
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Illustrator layout tips9m 14s
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Using swatches6m 46s
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Working with effects5m 57s
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Importing images8m 21s
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Text basics1m 56s
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Saving as a PDF6m 27s
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Gathering up the pieces2m 17s
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10. InDesign Layout Basics
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Setting up InDesign5m 7s
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Working with color swatches6m 31s
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Creating gradients5m 11s
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Importing graphics7m 27s
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Copying and pasting graphics4m 58s
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Preflighting in InDesign6m 29s
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Packaging a print job6m 55s
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Generating PDFs7m 12s
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11. Acrobat
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Using Output Preview6m 27s
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Using touch-up tools6m 29s
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Converting colors4m 7s
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Using Preflight profiles3m 44s
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Conclusion
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Submitting the job7m 7s
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Next steps1m 14s
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Video: The art of letterpress