CHRISTMAS STATIONARY.
VISUAL RESEARCH.
To ensure that the christmas cards look consistent I want to produce them all using the same print techniques and if possible a small pallet of colours that can be used across all 3 cards. I knew that I wanted to create cards that used more hand rendered print processes that would allow for a more personal touch to a christmas card, over something that is digitally printed, and therefore feels quite mass produced.
I want to look into the different ways I could possibly print/ make the cards and what the limitations are for each process.
Screen printed cards:
Source
Printing cards via screen prints allows for the use of coloured card, over printing a backdrop shade onto light card. A coloured backdrop although as above provides a great background for black and white prints, It does provide problems when using coloured inks, as when printed on top of another colour, they loose the shade they are supposed to be.
Source
However all colours look great printed against a white background, including black paired with various other colours.
Source
Screen printing also provides a very personal effect, with natural flaws indicating that it is a process done by hand which with appear more special, and like much more of a gift to receivers.
Source
Screen printing also looks great when negative space is used effectively as shown in this design. Here the white card is not only used as a background colour, It as used as a colour in the design which provides the same amount of detail, and is just as important / a part as every other colour on the design.
Source
Again this is another screen printed card I liked that used the background colour as the backdrop and as negative space details in the design such as the rosy cheeks on the illustrations ect. I also like how the card looks very detailed and has a well themed colour pallet, whilst using only 2 shades of ink.
Source
The screen printing process becomes part of the aesthetic in christmas cards and so less detail and colour are needed. This is proved in the design above, where the simplicity of one colour ink and a simple type piece seems enough due to the process it has been printed in. If it were to be printed digitally I would think that this design might be too basic.
Source
Screen printed material looks better with a smaller pallet of colours. So although screenprinting can be limiting in terms of a large colour pallet, this con, provides a positive impact on screen print design.
Lasercut cards:
Although laser cutting is probably the most limiting in terms of colour pallet, depending on complexity, the ability to play around with negative space and layering is endless. Laser cutting is also a very intricate process and takes quite a lot of time. Therefore whatever the design, the end result always appears more luxurious than if something were to be simply digitally printed.
This design indicates how laser cutting can cleverly be used to add great detail to a piece that has been digitally printed. Laser cutting is great for adding detail to something in which you only want to use a small colour pallet. Or If there is a select couple of colours as above, yet you want to add more detail.
Above is an example of how the most basic visual ideas can come to life and appear special via laser cutting. Cut out are negative sections on a one colour background, details are added via small adhesive beads.
Source
The above design demonstrates how laser cutting can be used to create a more luxurious design, with a more complex cutting pattern and the layering of two colours/ illustrations in a corsertina formation.
Lino print:
Source
As shown above, Lino print gives the most hand rendered and organic outcomes out of the print processes I have looked at. This is mostly because the process almost totally depends on drawing the original design by hand rather than on screen. There is 9 times out of 10, no computer involved and so the cutting of the design is also completely fulfilled by hand.
Source
Lino print is very unpredictable and so there is no knowing how the print is going to turn out until the time of carving out of the design. If looking to create a very crafty design in which flaws are appreciated this can work as a positive, however can impact the design negatively if looking for something a little more crisp. For these reason I think it would probably be best to seek out an alternative process for printing as I don't want the cards to appear to crafty, as I don't think this would suit their locations of distribution.
Source
There are however a lot of limitations with lino cut design including colour pallet, which if printed via this process, could only be very little, unless a piece of the tile is cut away each time. Another limitation is the clarity of text, detailed type is very hard to carve out of a lino tile, and this also means that type will not be consistent, a particular typeface cannot be used.
Source
Letterpress:
Source
Letter press is a great idea if I were to do my design purely text based. Letter press would allow me to be experimental in terms of size of text, colour and layout, however if I were to use this process I would also be very limited.
Source
Unfortunately If I were to choose to use letter press as my print process I would be limited in terms of wanting to do illustrations. If I wanted to do these I would have to do them via screen print, or by experimenting with the emboss machine and laser cutting my own plates. However this brings extra complications and may add time which I don't have to spend on the project.
Source
However the beauty of letterpress shines when It is used in its simplest form, which is generally how I think the process looks best. Therefore this would be a great process to use if I end up going for simplicity. Another downside is that I am limited with typefaces and I am only able to pick from the selection that already exists at college.
No comments:
Post a Comment