Letterpress.

Flatbed Cylinder Press: The type or plate is locked in a chase which is then mounted on the flatbed of the press. Grippers on a rotating impression cylinder pick up a sheet of paper and as the cylinder revolves, the paper is pulled around it. The inked flatbed containing the letterpress plate then moves under the impression cylinder. The squeeze between the impression cylinder and the flatbed creates the printed impression on the paper. When the impression is complete, the flatbed returns to its original position and is inked for the next impression.

The letterpress process is referred to as a "relief" process because the printed image is produced from a plate in which the image area is slightly raised above the non-image surface of the plate. It is a direct printing method in that the inked plate applies the image directly to the substrate. Letterpress is one of the oldest printing processes and was the most widely used process until the middle of the 20th century when advances in other printing processes made it obsolete. Flexography, which is an updated version of letterpress, is now the dominate relief printing process.

The letterpress process utilizes an ink that is thick in consistency and is well suited for relief printing. A set of rollers deposits the ink on the raised image area of the type or plate, but ink is not deposited on the non-image areas. For this reason, letterpress plates do not require any dampening in order to keep the non-image areas free of ink. This makes the process a simple one and allows for consistent results, but the process still cannot match the quality of more sophisticated print processes.

Gravure.

Gravure is a high quality printing process capable of producing printed images which have a continuous tone effect similar to a photograph. The gravure process utilizes a metal printing cylinder onto which the image is etched.

Gravure is used for many packaging applications, magazines, and pressure sensitive labels. Gravure is the preferred method of producing magazines and catalogs that have large circulations. An example of a high volume, high quality publication that utilizes rotogravure is the "National Geographic" magazine.

There are also many specialty items that are created with rotogravure including gift wrap, wallpaper, plastic laminates, printed upholstery, imitation wood grain finishes, and vinyl flooring. Many of the specialty items are printed on very wide presses. Some of them, such as those that print patterns on floor coverings, are up to 150 inches wide.

A gravure sheet-fed process is used for smaller runs for such items as limited edition prints and other artwork, photographic books, high denomination postage stamps, stock certificates, and some advertising pieces.

Flexography.

A relief printing process using rubber or plastic plates on a web-fed press and solvent liquid inks. Mainly used for packaging and for some newspapers.

Flexography is a printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate that can be adhered to a printing cylinder. It is basically an updated version of letterpress. It much more versatile than letterpress in that it can be used for printing on almost any type of media including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper. It is widely used for printing on the non-porous stocks required for various types of food packaging. It is also well suited for printing large areas of solid color.

Other common applications printed with flexography include gift wrap, wall covering, magazines, newspaper inserts, paperback books, telephone directories, and business forms.

Offset Lithography.

A print process where the image and non image areas are on the same surface plane of the plate. As water and grease don't mix, the surface of the plate is treated to attract ink and repel water.

Advantages of offset printing compared to other printing methods include:

• Consistent high image quality. Offset printing produces sharp and clean images and type more easily than letterpress printing because the rubber blanket conforms to the texture of the printing surface.
• Quick and easy production of printing plates.
• The more you print, the less you pay per page, because most of the price goes into the preparation undergone before the first sheet of paper is printing and ready for distribution. Any additional paper print will only cost the client paper price (and ink), which is very minimal.

Pad printing.

Pad printing is a printing process that can transfer a 2-D image onto a 3-D object. This is accomplished using an indirect offset (gravure) printing process that involves an image being transferred from the printing plate (cliché) via a silicone pad onto a substrate (surface to be printed). Pad printing is used for printing on otherwise impossible products in many industries including medical, automotive, promotional, apparel, electronics, appliances, sports equipment and toys.

Example of the uses of Pad printing:

• Letters on computer keyboards and calculator keys
• TV and computer monitors
• Identification labels and serial numbers for many applications.

Screen Print.

Screen printing has been used for centuries and although there have been many improvements with the technology, the process still consists of forcing ink through a stencil covered fabric or wire mesh which has been mounted in a sturdy frame. The ink goes through only the open areas of the stencil and is deposited onto a printing surface positioned below the frame. Screen printing is very versatile and it is often the only printing process capable of handling certain applications.

The equipment costs for screen printing are lower than other printing processes, but the rate of production is usually slower. Manual screen printing can be accomplished with only a few simple items: a sturdy frame, screen fabric, stencils, squeegees, and ink. Automatic press equipment is available which greatly speeds up the process, but it is no match for the output delivered by press equipment used for other print processes.

Screen printing can be performed on almost any type of material including paper, glass, fabric, plastic, wood, and metal. Products as varied as signs, posters, circuit boards, mugs, clothing, and soft drink bottles can be printed using the process. Screen printing is very useful when an image needs to be wrapped around an object or when images need to be printed onto oddly shaped manufactured objects.

Digital printing.

An impression printed from a digital press file via plate less application of text and images using ink jet fused toner, or liquid ink.

Up Top Disco.

An identity and stationary for a night run by modular.Designs by Simon Bent.
A good use of mono tone especially on the business cards.

Hacienda 15th birthday poster.

This is a Blanka designed replica of the Mark Farrow-designed Haçienda 15th birthday poster, which is printed in three spot colours and a reflective ink.

As quoted from the serif website:

“We designed this poster to celebrate the 15th birthday of the Haçienda.” Farrow explains, “We had no idea at the time that it would be the club’s last. The code 51 15 25 05 97 (FAC 51 is 15 on 25 05 97) was printed in a reflective ink onto a grey background which rendered it almost invisible in daylight. The poster only came to life at night under the glare of car headlights. Our reasoning being that the message was only important to people who were out after dark.”

Franck Juncker.

some nice examples of the use of spot colour, within these images it seems that the spot colour is used to highlight a certain area of the image and works particularly well on a black background.

Warpaper.

These two pieces are by Karen Brotherton and have been silk screened (nice use of one colour prints) but there is also a hidden message.I didn't realise this at first but the longer you look at this piece you suddenly see the images of guns and weapons of war hidden within the design.

Two colour prints.

Two colour screen prints by Andrio Abero.

Tri-colour

Three colour screen prints by Andrio Abero.

RGB

CMYK

monotone.

One colour screen prints by Kate Morross.

Duotone.

Duotone.

Artwork by Rob Ryan.

Spot Colour.

Artwork by Sophie Henson.

Greyscale

Artwork by Sophie Henson.

Duotone

This piece is by Sophie Henson.
I like the use of overlaying the two colours but slightly offsetting them to create some sort of optical illusion.