Doing the design yourself

These days nearly everyone has access to some form of design software and may have created a website, brochure, flier or cards to print out on the home or office printer. The assumption is that anyone with a computer can be a designer and pass their work onto The Artisan Press for it to magically become beautiful letterpress. But beware as unless you have considerable experience in passing on your work to an outside party for printing this path can be fraught with danger for the DIY designer.

Advantage: Cost – obviously DIY is the cheapest option.

Disadvantage: Cost – while DIY is cheap it is not necessarily the most efficient way to take your art to letterpress. Issues such as using the correct PDF Distill option; correct final page size; correct placement of crop and registration marks; correct spot colour nomination for separations if your job is more than one colour; fonts – are they Windows or Mac, Postscript/Truetype/Opentype, can they be converted to outlines; line spacing, character spacing and kerning; limitations of screens and halftones with letterpress; are raster images the correct resolution: Pantone colours and the list goes on.

Cost becomes an issue because of the time it will take for The Artisan Press to analyse, resolve and fix any or all of the above issues if they arise.

Solution: Unless you are designer experienced with supplying pre-press files the best course of action is to send a mock-up of your great ideas by email. At this point we'll talk through what you are trying to achieve and you'll be advised on the cost of taking your idea to finished art stage.

Of course if you are an experienced designer you're welcome to supply your finished art after taking a look at the requirements, limitations and specifications detailed on the Information for graphic designers page.

Using The Artisan Press as your designer

After many years of designing for and printing letterpress, The Artisan Press specialises in the creation of beautiful custom design work. Whether it be based on one of our earlier designs or created totally from scratch, Wayne will try to make the artwork and design process of your printing a simple and pain-free experience.

Advantages: After sending you a design questionnaire by email – together we'll work towards a design direction for your stationery with regards to style, fonts, colours and images. Via phone and email your design will be finally honed until you're happy. The process is a little different but the results speak for themselves.

Disadvantages: Expect this process to take approximately 2 weeks.

Solution: Be prepared with your final text. The less changes that have to be made the quicker the process.

Using a letterpress friendly designer

Over the years, The Artisan Press has worked with a lot of professional graphic designers who supply finished art to the exacting specifications required for beautiful letterpress printing.

Advantage: You work hand in hand with a designer to get exactly what you want. They may work off an existing design and tweak it to your needs or start fresh with a totally customised idea.

Disadvantage: Obviously working with a designer is going to be a little more expensive but the results will be of a standard that can only be achieved by a professional.

Solution: A favourite letterpress friendly designer is Natasha from Moments of Color design. Her professional approach to clients both locally and overseas and the beautiful quality of her work makes her a standout. Feel free to contact Natasha directly or contact The Artisan Press and we'll put you in touch.

Illustrations

Illustration really shines when printed letterpress. If you have a photo of your venue, person, plant or animal we recommend that the photo be converted to an illustration to get the best result and to give an old world shine to your printing. The Artisan Press works with two of Sydney's finest illustrators, Jason Atherton from the Mutation Parlour and Tony Slavec.

Jason is a master of illustration and painted finishing techniques and his work in pen and ink has graced many newspapers, posters and magazines. Originally trained by legendary hot-rod graphics guru Ken Willhite, Jason's work covers a variety of styles and techniques. If you'd like to see more of Jason's work click here to visit his website.

Tony's wild and unique illustrations have graced Sydney's leading ad agencies for a number of decades and his early work with Mambo has left a lasting legacy of the slightly off-beat. His freelance work maintains an amazing range of clients seeking character filled line illustrations. If you'd like to see some more of Tony's work feel free to contact The Artisan Press and we'll put you in touch.