The Design Cubicle » Printing

Sweet Tweets: Design Resources of the Week #31

Brian — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:26:50 +0000

Sweet Tweets is a weekend feature to The Design Cubicle highlighting some of my favorite, and other Twitterer’s design-related links discovered via Twitter throughout the work week – because having resources and staying up-to-date is important in growth and development.

Week of 1-11-10:

Design blogs you should be following on Twitter
“With the vast majority of design blogs within the blogging community its hard to keep up with who is saying what. Using twitter along side your favorite RSS reader is a great way to find out about new articles that design blogs are writing up.”

How to make yourself stand out as a freelancer
“The cybersea is full of freelancers all out to make their mark and their money to keep their freelance fires burning. With an abundance of opportunity pouring in to the market, getting yourself out there and making sure you are heard and seen will help you sway those opportunities more your way.”

Impressive Tumblr customizations
“Over the past year, there have been a few different services that have popped up that allows you to post content online a lot faster than WordPress would. Two of the most popular ones are Tumblr and Posterous.”

Your personality, summarized in a typeface
“If you’ve ever sat down with a type designer, what you quickly realize is that they rarely talk about fonts in purely aesthetic or even functional terms: They talk about assertiveness or calm or friendliness. In short, they talk about personality traits. It makes sense, then, that your personality could be translated into a typeface.”

On small caps
“I just read this post by Joe Clark, linked from Daring Fireball, about why you shouldn’t use small caps for acronyms. In it, Clark provides some examples which at first glance seem to support his argument, but a little thought reveals them to be mere examples of ill-considered typography rather than a crushing blow on the use of small caps”

Dyana Weissman on Kerning
“As designers, kerning is one of those esoteric terms we love to use. Not only is it vital to quality typography, it’s also a great word to throw into a conversation with non-designers whenever we want to sound smart or abstruse.”

A Negative View of White Space
“After reading through the article on The Web Design Ledger, “Whitespace: The Underutilized Design Element” I felt compelled to respond and clear up what I feel is spreading misconceptions about design in relation to white space.”

Educate Your Clients On What You Offer With a Guide
“Educating clients on the services you offer can be a tedious process, especially if you find yourself doing it over and over again. There are a few options for providing your clients with a resource that can bring them up to speed on what you can do for them, without you needing to explain over and over again.”

10 big and bold slab fonts
“Slab fonts are a part of the serif font family and are incredibly effective for logos, headlines and in printed media. Slab fonts can be rounded, angled or block like, the common stand out feature is that slab fonts are chunky, bold and big.”

Type on a curve
“Setting type on a curving path can alter the balance and relationships between characters. Here’s how to make sure your text still looks good.”

The Most Relevant Identity Work of the Decade
“I gave myself a deadline of January 15 to do a recap of identity work in the 2000s, assuming that it wouldn’t be an editorial faux pas to do a list of this sort well into the new year. So here it is. An admittedly incomplete — it would take months to do this exhaustively — compilation of the most relevant identities of the past decade.”

Designing with content in mind

Brian — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:56:36 +0000

Last week I read an article titled “If Content is Really King, Then What Is Design?” Not only did this article inspire a ‘Self-Expression Fridays‘ poster design, but it also had me thinking: If content is king, what can the design do to compliment the “king,” or in this articles case, the content?

If what you have to say on your website is so important, then what can we do to make it a more enjoyable experience and better compliment the content with the way we design for it?

Appropriate typefaces

Typography is not about picking a font that looks cool, but rather choosing a typeface(s) that compliment the medium and purpose. With recent advances in web typography (ahem, Typekit) we now have more control then ever over what typefaces we use for our content — but with more control, we must be even more careful and have a better understanding of type.

Web typography tips:

» When choosing a font for prolonged reading, try something with a larger x-height (for smaller body copy) or study serifs for improved readability and reader comfort.

» Choose typefaces that compliment the content, look and layout

For more on font pairing and web typography:

Breathing room

Websites or blogs with tons of reading require breathing room — or better yet, remember that white space is your friend. It’s difficult to read and stay focused on any information that is, for example, being crammed up against ads, has tight line spacing, or has cluttered design elements.

Don’t worry, it’s alright for users to scroll vertically to get to information. Don’t feel like you need to cram it all in there.

Here are a few design tips to help your content breathe:

» Improve your line spacing of body copy: a good rule of thumb is 1.5 em line-spacing of your body copy font size.
» Remember, white space is good and less is more

Websites with good breathing room:

Establish an information hierarchy

When it comes to readable content, one thing to remember is people do not like to read — they like to scan and get the information they want quickly. Establishing a strong hierarchy allows the reader to easily scan your website, blog, article, etc. for information without spending too much time on information they do not want to see or read.

A hierarchy guides your readers around the page and creates a more enjoyable experience for them.

Allow for digestible information

If your website or blog has length passages of information or words, try designing in a way that breaks up the content into smaller, digestible blocks of text. A possible solution could be having a home page with short excerpts of articles/information that lead to the entire story by clicking on a link.

Use color and use it well

Color should not only be used to create a mood, but also to draw attention to specific areas or text. Websites that use color sparingly and well typically have great results because of it. It helps readers scan and draws attention to important information.

A few tips on color usage on the web:

» Reversed out (white) text on dark backgrounds can make for difficult, prolonged reading.
» Using too many colors can distract the user and can cause confusion over important content/information
» Use color to communicate a mood

Contrast and call to action

Contrast and call to action allows information to be broken apart and also (like a good hierarchy) easily scan-able. Contrast can be used in typefaces as to separate headlines from body copy, while it can also create areas of darker/brighter color to draw attention or call upon a certain area of your screen.

Contrast can also be used to create tension and set a mood for the content. Try complimenting your content with appropriate typefaces or color. Also note that establishing call to actions early on in the sites preliminary stages is important content management and structures the users experience.

While all of the above factors seem simple in practice, it is often easy to just begin designing and forget about the content and medium in which we are designing for. Remember, content is king, but design is the land of which the king rules. If you have the above thought out and planned before you start designing it will pave the way to a more successful and relevant design.

Letterpress: Where, How and Inspirational resources

Brian — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:06:35 +0000

Recently I have been on the hunt for online letterpress printers for a current branding project I am working on and sent out a Tweet which resulted in many great links (thanks everyone!) and also others interested in discovering the same thing; the best places to get it done.

For those unfamiliar with letterpress printing it is in short “a term for the relief printing of text and image using a press with a “type-high bed” printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image.” My shorter definition of the above: “Just plain beautiful!”

Below are a few online letterpress studios for you to get your next letterpress jobs printed, information about how to set up files for letterpress and 25+ images of beautiful letterpress inspiration.

Letterpress Studios

Studio on Fire

The Mandate Press

Boxcar Press

Dolce Press

Bjorn Letterpress Studio

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR FILES

The team over a Boxcar Letterpress have a nice ‘Designing for letterpress’ and ‘File prep instruction’ guide, so before you start designing your files and decide you want letterpress work read these letterpress guidelines first.

Also, every letterpress studio is different so make sure you consult each studio separately to make sure you meet their guidelines and specifics.

INSPIRATION!

Below are 25+ inspirational and absolutely breathtaking letterpress designs:

Collection of Inspirational Website Design Collections

Brian — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:30:09 +0000

Over the past several months and last year many other blogs have compiled their list of web design inspiration – so in case you missed them here is the Motherload Collection organized into categories for your convenience!

Business Inspirational Collections

Color Inspirational Collections

Portfolio Inspirational Collections

Misc. Inspirational Collections

Typography Inspirational Collections

CSS Inspirational Collections

‘This N That’ Inspirational Collections

Feel free to add your own favorite inspirational collections in the comments below.

8 Print Finishes to Spice Up Your Designs

Brian — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:10:06 +0000

Finishing is a process applied to a design’s substrate, or surface, that can provide your work with a specific look and feel, add decorative elements, alter its shape and size or provide functionality and presentation enhancements. Finishes can transform an ordinary design into something much more interesting and unique.

Below is a list of 8 various printing finishes (with images and links) that can be applied to your designs:

Varnishes

A varnish is a colorless coating that can both protect the substrate from wear-and-tear and enhance the look and feel of a design, or specific elements of the design (referred to as a spot varnish), with a glossy, dull or satin finish. Most magazine covers that you buy likely have a varnish applied to them — like the smooth, slippery-like texture that you feel on most magazine covers.

UV varnish example:

View other business cards of Graphic and Web Designers

Spot UV Varnish example:

Other types of Varnishes:

Gloss — typically used to enhances photographs
Matte (or dull) — helps improve readability; most used in the interior pages of publications
Satin or silk — the middleman between gloss and matte; not too glossy, not too dull
Neutral — used to protect the substrate without the appearance of the varnish
UV varnish — provides more shine than typical varnish; applied with an ultraviolet light
Full-bleed UV — very high gloss effect; most common
Spot UV — enhances specific parts of a design; can create a variety in texture
Textured spot UV – creates a specific texture; ie: leather, rubber, etc.
Pearlescent — provides more of a “luxurious effect”

Die Cut

Die cutting is when the shape of the paper is altered or areas are cut out to enhance the visual purpose of the design. Often die cuts are used to see beyond a page and onto the proceeding one.

Folds

Throw out Fold

A throw out fold allows extra space within a set sized publication. Think of the monthly centerfold image in Playboy magazine for a second (I swear I read them for the articles!) — the magazine, with its two-facing pages, allows the centerfold to be a larger (taking up 3 pages) by utilizing the throw out. The “third” page is folded over the second allowing it to fit within the two-facing pages.

Gatefold

Much like the throw out fold provides a third page to fit within a two-page spread, the gatefold allows a forth page. The left and right panels are folded inward and meet at the spine.

French fold

The french fold is an eight-page fold (4 front and 4 back panels) from a single sheet of paper that creates two right angles to each other. Most often used in invitations and announcements.

The Accordion fold

Folds that go in opposite direction to make save space and fit more content into a smaller whole. Most music CD inserts use this technique.

Roll fold

A piece of paper folded that has two or more parallel folds that fold in on each other. It may fold in from the left or right. To allow proper nesting of panels that fold in, inside panels are usually incrementally smaller than outer panels with the inside end panel being the smallest.

Learn how to properly fold paper for each one of the above folds.

Embossing and Debossing

Embossing (above the surface) and debossing (below the surface) is a stamping technique in which particular elements are three-dimensional and textured. This technique can be accomplished with or without (blind) the use of ink or foil.

Foil Stamping

Foil stamping, which is the process of pressing colored foil onto a substrate with a heated die, can add texture and elegance to a design. It can also be used as a mirror to show reflections adding to the overall effect of a printed piece.

Deckle Edge

More-or-less a paper treatment, as the edge or edges of the substrate is torn giving it a ragged, decorative look. If you’ve had any printmaking classes, you might be familiar with Rag paper; rag paper is high-quality paper that leaves the papermaking machine with is torn edges left as is.

Fore-edge printing

Printing technique applied to the outside edges of a publication that can give the appearance of color, display words, or create texture (ie: gold or silver).

Perforation

A ‘half-cut’ that allows parts of a substrate to be easily removed.

Remember, it is important to plan from the beginning if you would like to use any of these finishing techniques, contact your printer beforehand to fill them in with what you like to accomplish. Every printers will require you to setup your files differently to ensure the desired finish is accurate. Also, not every printer has the necessary tools to fit your “specialty” needs, while others outsource finishing options.

If you looking for a good online printer that will be able to assist you in the above finishes, I can attest to Jakprints. They provide a variety of services including laminating, binding, folding, perforation, varnishes, die cutting and custom embroidery and have always done a great job for me.