About a week ago several of us collaborated on ideas for an ad about our event to appear in the City Paper. In addition to the ad, we decided to print a number of promotional posters to hang up around the town. The four of us who had been involved were privileged to take a field trip to Stitch Design Co. on Friday afternoon to use their letterpress.
I was very excited about our venture into the world of graphic design, and also welcomed the reprise from the woodshop. Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a raised surface which is inked and then pressed onto a sheet of paper to obtain a positive image.
The tactile experience of turning the press, the sound of the gears and motor, the scent of the black ink, and the immediate gratification of the final product were all quite rewarding. In our current state of mind, we were all particularly aware of the design of the machine – its usability, aesthetic and mechanics.
We printed 150 posters on three different colors of heavy paper. Now they are hanging in windows, on announcement boards, and on the walls of retail establishments all over the city.
