Embossing for cover of my final publication

The following logo design replicates New York following the ideology of Blackpool continuously trying to replicate America. Therefore, this design was trailed as the main element of the front cover of the final publication. Using the laser cutter mount board was used to cut out the logo design which Blackpool's tourists information uses on a large scale to directly communicate with tourists. The same design was cut through and was also rastered in order to create a embossing template and for the alignment of the logo to be accurate. The design was also flipped so once the embossment was made to the publication cover it would be the correct rotation. 

Feedback was received on the debossment of the front cover and many claimed they automatically were drawn to the textured font cover and claimed it was simplistic/ minimalistic but highly effective. The cover being hardback also kept the design together and protected it due to the inside of the publication being paper bags. The embossment also signifies drawing the side which is what a lot of tourists like to do in Blackpool. 

Ben Holmes - Village

'Village is a bookshop and gallery offering a curated selection of contemporary art, design, fashion and photography books and magazines. We also source self-published and small press zines from artists around the world.' 

- Started 6 years ago
- Based in Leeds (3 Thornton's Arcade LS1 6LQ)
- Upstairs is a gallery space not for profit
- Aims to get young creatives work out there

KAYNE WEST - ' Zine pronounced zeen short for magazine. A lot of people pronounce it wrong.'

Key aspects to consider ...

1. The book as a promotion 
- Books slow people down, makes people think and catches their imagination most. A pro of a book is that it makes people only focused on the book and nothing else whilst reading.

2. The book as an Artefact 

- Nourished Journal
- Library Paper (comes out every 6 months)

3. The book as Art 

4. The book as a collaboration 

5. The book as a product 

TOP TIP: When making a book make sure the concept is clear and the book is communicating it well.

- Question why the book is being made into a book in the first place?

- Look into the ideas of mixing up printing techniques and paper stocks. Also look at different bounds and how they relate to the content of the book.

- Think how you can make your book a valuable object

- Create links with your images and concept

- Edit - start small - make mistakes - support others - have fun

'Nothing sells a book better than interaction with the publisher' Ben Holmes  

GF SMITH

Founder - Hull Ge Fredrick Smith

- Upmarket paper paper stockist 

- Created in 1885 and is available in 65 countries.

Colour Plan 

- 51 shades available 

- 25 types of embossing 

- Colour Plan is GF Smiths main collection and can be used to enhance projects 

- Can be used for most types of printing 

Uncoated 

- very absorbent 

- Superfine = prints strong colours 

Fine Coated - Heaven 42

- Coated with polymer/ clay to smooth out the surface 

- Very white so works really well with colour reproduction 

- Heaven 42 prints out really detailed images and matches colours true to real life. This is why it is often used in look books. 

Textured 

- Rather than embossed textures are in the paper

- Magazine covers

- Plike -feels like plastic 

Specialists 

- Can't be put into a category 

- Fabric/ pearlescent 

Extract 

- 10 new colours 

- Inspired by nature 

- Made from recycled coffee cups  

- Selfridges use this for their bags but have a bespoke colour 

- Costa, Starbucks, McDonald's also use this 

Factory held events - Space in London 

- Art exhibition 

- Competitions 

- History of GF Smith 

GF Smith hold a free sample service for students

- x4 A3 sheets per type of paper

- Can duplex unto 2100

Indesign Workshop - Preparing for print

PART 1 - Preparing images to be printed 

1. Make sure your images are saved as a tiff or a PSD.

2. In photoshop got to image - image size and make sure the resolution is at 300 whilst making sure the resample box is unticked. This will prepare your image at a high quality for print.

3. Address the mode of the image and change to CMYK colours ready to be digitally printed.

4. In Indesign create an image frame before you place the image. Use a bleed line if necessary ready for finalising the production (trimming the booklet).

5. One the image is placed go to object - fitting (click either one of the top two options)

6. As soon as you have changed an image size in Indesign it lowers the resolution of the image once it has been made larger. Check this on the images link sections and got to link info . In this section look at the actual PPI and the effective PPI (what the image is now it has been made larger).

7. Right click the image - edit with Photoshop.

8. In Photoshop got to image size - click resample and change the % of the image to the same size as Indesign. 

10. File - save and jump back to Indesign. Double click the image on Indesign which you have updated and it will automatically change the resolution of the image.

PART 2 - Ways of printing/ binding 

SADDLE STITCH

1. Saddle stitch needs to be a multiple of 4 and be facing pages.

2. Margins - these may be upped for binding so no work is lost.

3. Bleeds - Helps for trimming booklet. You should usually keep this at 3mm and the add trim marks.

4. A4 and bigger scaled paper needs to be printed in digital print as it needs to be printed on paper larger than A3 once crop marks/ bleeds are added.

5. When printing consider readers spreads and printing spreads. For this remember that page one is always on the right. To work out the calculations manually draw a two sided column. Then fill it in dropping down one column each time placing in the page numbers going from right to left. After this work your way back up filing in the missing page numbers. Consider this when printing on different stocks. 

PRINTING A SADDLE STITCH BOOKLET ...

1. File - print booklet 

2. Select 2-up saddle stitch.

3. Go to print settings - General (tick blank pages), Set up - paper size (what size paper are you printing onto) Also choose your orientation here and make sure the page position is centred for all double sided printing. 

4. Marks and Bleeds - tick crop marks

5. Printer - two sided. Show details and click short edge binding.

6. OK - PREVIEW

HOW TO PRINT SET PAGES...

1. Pages - Range and type in 1-2, 15-16 if you then want the rest of the pages printed on the same stock.

8 sheets of paper is maximum usually for binding using a saddle stitch without pages sticking out of the booklet. 

If the booklet is more than 32 pages print booklet into separate sections using RANGE. If you're wanting to print in 4 pages per booklet then follow ... 1-16 and 17-32 but print each part separately.

PERFECT BIND

1. File - print - double sided

2. Page position -  centred 

3. Crop marks

4. Long edge binding

IN ORDER TO PRINT SINGLE SHEET SECTIONS...

Page 1 - 1,2,3,4
Page 2 - 5,6 ,7,8

1. 2- up Perfect bound 

2. Signature Size - default - 4 pages per section 

Laser cut - Induction / materials you can and can not use

What can the laser cutter do? 

- Kiss cut 

- Engrave 

- Cut all the way through 

- Rasta

The different colour used for each section ...

- Black - cut all the way through 

- Green - engrave 

- Blue - Kiss cut 

- Cyan - rasta 

How to begin... 

1. Turn laser cutter on as well as the PC. Once this is done open App- Ethos software and open all your drawing. Once opened you need to tell the software what material you are using (Go to output materials manger).

Setting up the Laser Cutter 

1. Focus the laser head and position your materials. To do this you will need to move your laser head. 

2.Place your materials on the laser bed and ensure it is straight! Using the keypad of the laser cutter move the head to the bottom left of your material. Make sure the cutter is ONLINE (press the hand button). 

3. Press the materials button then the enter button. You can now move the laser head using the keypad. Move the head so the laser head is in the bottom left corner of your material. You will now need to focus the laser head. You can do this by using the 12mm spacer block under the laser head and by lossening the nozzle.

4. Once you have positioned your material and focused the laser head, close the laser cutter lid and press the hand button to get the laser online. 

5. You can now send your job to the laser cutter. Do this by going output - send . 

Materials 

METAL - The laser cutter is incapable of making or cutting anything made of metal. 

MIRRORS - The only reflective material which can be put into the laser cutter is acrylic single-sided mirror. This must be put into the cutter with the reflective side facing down to avoid the laser reflecting off the surface. 

GLASS - Can engrave/ etch the surface but we cannot cut through the glass as it will crack. 

P.V.C - DO NOT USE THIS! It releases a highly toxic gas that is dangerous to breath in (chlorine gas) it will also corrode the metal parts of the laser cutter causing  damage. 

The maximum size of material that can be cut is 72cm by 94cm high. This is bigger than A1. 

Embossing Workshop

In order to emboss a carve, mould or stamp with your design on needs to be created. This design can then be transferred onto a surface or object to make the design stand out, become more dominant and also hold a texture.

Many things can be used to create a template such as wood, grey board and copper. Most things can be embossed onto as long as it is thin, flat and malleable. This includes paper, plastic film, metal foil, nonwovens, textile fabric, leather, and glass.

When embossing into paper, first of all the paper must be soaked in water. This means the embossing overall will have a higher impact on the design as shown in the image above.

When putting your design through the press use grid marks so your design is straight and is where you want it to be. You can also use tracing paper in-between layers so no unwanted marks are put onto your design. 

- Once you have positioned your design on the bed, put the press carpet down and begin to turn the wheel of the press. Your design will slowly go under the roller pressing your template into your stock leaving an embossment of your desired design. 

Typesetting - Rules, theories and practical uses

Typesetting is the arraignment of letters. This includes 3 elements such as the word, the letter, the line.

The letter - design of the individual characters / glyphs and anatomy 

The word- how these glyphs fit together 

The line - Combination and arrangement of words in a body or sequence 

Typesetting principles ...

Hierarchy - To show some messages are more vital than others. Type size, weight, colour and treatment can all emphasise this. 

Alignment - 

LEFT ALIGNMENT - Arranged left with ragged right edges. This is common as allows easy reading and typesetting.

JUSTIFIED TEXT - Can look clean and classic. However, when it's carelessly set, justified type can make your text look distorted and hard to read. Proper justification is a

tricky technique to master. 

CENTRED AND RIGHT ALIGNED - Centred and right aligned text is not commonly used as it is difficult to read.

Paragraphs - 

INDENTED - The first paragraph does not have an indentation. In successive para- graphs the first line is indented. 

FULL LINE BREAK - An alternative to indenting is using a full line break to separate paragraphs of text.

Letter spacing: Leading / Tracking 

LEADING - refers to the distance between the baselines of successive lines of type. The term originates from hand typesetting, in which strips of lead were used to increase vertical distane between lines. 

Text that is set with bad leading appears cramped with ascenders and descenders almost touching. Lack of white space also impairs reading as the eye struggles to track from one line to another. For body copy, leading should be slightly greater than the font pt size and increased / decreased proportionally. 

TRACKING - Tracking refers to the amount of space between a group of letters to affect density in a line or block of copy. Readability decreases when negative tracking is applied.

Wide tracking opens up the type, giving it more airy feel with white space. This can also become less legible if used in extremes.

As a rule, below -40 and above +40 tracking are not advised. 

Kerning and Pairs 

Kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between individual char- acters/letter forms in a proportional font, to achieve a visually pleasing result.

There are some letter pairings, often letter with overhang, that may need particular attention when kerning. 

Hidden Characters - How text is formatted in characters 

These invisible characters such as returns, spaces, tabs, etc, only appear when you have “Show Hidden Characters” turned on. The indicate the structure of your body of text and show how the type is set. This can be incredibly useful for finding double spaces and unintentional line breaks. 

Line length 

Windows and Orphans 

Windows and Orphans are lines or words left hanging or separated from a complete block of text. The should be avoided as much as possible as look awkward. 

This includes single/ 2 short words left at ends of paragraphs. They appear alone at the top of the next column. Tracking and line spacing is used to remove any windows and Orphans.

Dashes and Spaces 

Grid Systems

Rivers 

Baseline Grid 

To Hyphenate or not to Hyphenate ...