March 2nd, 2020
Posted in Photos | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Thoughts on Designing with Photos
I was reminded this week while teaching an art therapy class that the principles of design are the same for fine arts and graphic design. We were making clocks by building up paper collages over Nordstrom shoe boxes with clock motors attached to the box tops. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Photos | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Thoughts on Designing with Photos
February 24th, 2020
Posted in Catalog Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Designing with Faces, Eyes, and Hands
My fiancee collects newspapers from friends and relatives for use in our art therapy work (i.e., to cover the tables and contain the mess). This week in the collection I found an Eileen Fisher catalog. Before returning it to my fiancee, I decided to use it as source material for this blog due to its masterful use of photos. And the reason I found the design masterful was that the graphic artist had used the models’ hands, faces (in general), eyes (more specifically), and postures and gestures to draw the reader into the catalog and to lead the reader’s eye through the page spreads. The models’ expressions, clothes, and demeanor, as well as the color usage, typefaces, and even the paper all contribute to an overall understanding of the Eileen Fisher brand. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Catalog Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Designing with Faces, Eyes, and Hands
February 9th, 2020
Posted in Fine Art Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Fish Printing for Art and Commerce
I’m always excited when the art therapy work my fiancee and I do with our autistic students overlaps with my work in the commercial printing industry. Recently, at my fiancee’s behest, we bought rubber fish to ink and then print, just as the Japanese fishermen did in the 1800s to record the fish they caught. What’s old is new again, so to speak. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Fine Art Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Fish Printing for Art and Commerce
February 6th, 2020
Posted in Digital Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Laser Branding Organic Fruits and Vegetables
Literally branding food. Not in the sense of creating brand associations between a product and the values it reflects, but branding like cowboys did with their cattle. Now you can brand fruits and vegetables with thick skins using lasers. Way cool. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Digital Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Laser Branding Organic Fruits and Vegetables
January 28th, 2020
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Commercial Printing: Developing a Letterhead Design
A book printing and design client of mine sent me a photo of a flower a few weeks ago when we were discussing her corporate identity. She wants to rebrand her writing business, and she has liked my designs for her poetry print books (and my feedback on her marketing initiatives) enough to ask for my logo-design help. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Commercial Printing: Developing a Letterhead Design
January 19th, 2020
Posted in Cards | 2 Comments »
A commercial printing supplier I work with producing jobs for a number of my clients sent me a unique holiday card recently. I was touched by the thought, but even more than that I was intrigued by the card’s production values. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Cards | 2 Comments »
January 13th, 2020
Posted in Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Two Cool Samples (and Why They’re Cool)
Every so often I receive a unique printed sample in the mail or pick one up in a mall. Sometimes it’s the folding technique that grabs my attention. Sometimes it’s a particular paper coating or even a unique custom printing technique or substrate material that piques my interest. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Two Cool Samples (and Why They’re Cool)
January 6th, 2020
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Book and Magazine Signature Work
If you’ve been in book or magazine printing for any length of time, the term “signature” is familiar to you. You probably think automatically about how your print book or magazine will break down into the most optimal press signatures to keep the printing cost down.
On the other hand, if you’re used to designing and printing flyers, large-format signage, and other products without multiple pages, then the term signature is probably new to you. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Book and Magazine Signature Work
December 30th, 2019
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: An Approach to Multiple-Signature Press Work
A print brokering client of mine will soon produce a set of print books that provide a good object lesson in both the differences between digital and offset printing and also in ways to save money by creating larger press signatures. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: An Approach to Multiple-Signature Press Work
December 16th, 2019
Posted in Inserts | Comments Off on Custom Printing: The Romance of Printed Tip-Ons
My fiancee recently found a print book at the thrift store replete with “tip-ons.” It was an art book with avant garde photos and such, but it also included maps, fold-out posters, and even envelopes with inserts attached to various pages. I found it rather intriguing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Inserts | Comments Off on Custom Printing: The Romance of Printed Tip-Ons