What is the importance of printing design?

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Print design, a subset of graphic design, is a form of visual communication used to convey information to an audience through intentional aesthetic design printed on a tangible surface, designed to be printed on paper, as opposed to presented on a digital platform. A design can be considered print design if its final form was created through an imprint made by the impact of a stamp, seal, or dye on the surface of the paper.[1]

History

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There are several methods used to create print design artworks, spanning more than five hundred years. Printing technologies available throughout history heavily influenced the style of designs created by graphic designers at the time of production, as different methods of creating print design offer varying features.[2] Before the emergence of the design and printing technologies of the twentieth and twenty-first century such as the inkjet printer, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign, print design relied on mechanical technologies such as movable type, the letterpress, and lithography.

Movable Type

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Chinese alchemist Pi Sheng invented the concept of movable type, circa 1045 CE. He created induvial characters out of clay and lined them up, using a wax-like substance to keep them in place. They could then be pressed down to create an imprint, mimicking the effect of woodblock printing, which was the popular method at the time. Reusable, movable type was a revolutionary concept, however it did not gain traction in China because organizing the characters was not very compatible with the Chinese writing system.[3] This innovation came about more than 400 years prior to the "invention" of movable type with the printing press in Europe, and it is unlikely that Pi Sheng was of any influence to Gutenberg.

Letterpress

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Letterpress from the earliest days of printing Metal and wood type blocks arranged for printing by letterpress

The letterpress, perfected in the mid fifteenth century by Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) through the combined use of the printing press, oil-based inks, and cast metal type, remained the most common and efficient method of printing until the 1960s.[4] Used frequently with typography design and type layout, the letterpress operates through the stamping of type and photo-engraved metal blocks on paper. The metal blocks are arranged in a frame by the printer, and the text columns and etchings are separated by vertical or horizontal metal bars; it is even possible to arrange the blocks at an angle using a letterpress.[5] With the letterpress, print design and graphics remained black and white print on paper until the late nineteenth century.[2] The letterpress was the first technology that allowed for mass production and distribution of printed material at a large scale, and because of this, quickly replaced the slow processes of woodblock printing and hand copying of print design.[4] As time went on and technology progressed, the letterpress did as well. The Industrial Revolution brought about steam powered printing presses and Linotype machines, advancing the mechanical process of printing to a speed never seen before.[6]

Lithography

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Lithographic stone artwork

Lithography, introduced at the end of the nineteenth century, allowed for the use of color in prints and allowed artists to print on larger surfaces than the letterpress. Additionally, lithography enabled artists to draw their own lettering on designs, which was not possible with the letterpress.[2] The design was drawn directly onto the stone by the artist, and then transferred onto the surface of the paper.[5]

Uses

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Print design remains prevalent in society through all forms of communicative design. The importance of printed visual design was highlighted during the first world war, as posters helped to inform and instruct the audience.[2] A short list of print design's uses today includes:

References

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1. ^

   "print, n. and adj.2." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2016. Web. 30 November 2016.

2. a b c d

   Hollis, Richard. Graphic Design: A Concise History. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994. Print.

3. ^

   Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis (2012). Meggs’ History of Graphic Design (5th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

4. a b

   Eskilson, Stephen. Graphic Design: A New History. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007. Print.

5. a b

   Becker, Lutz, and Richard Hollis. Avant-Garde Graphics 1918-1934: From the Merrill C. Berman Collection. London: Hayward Gallery, 2004. Print.

6. ^

   Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis (2012). Meggs’ History of Graphic Design (5th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form. – Robert Bringhurst 

Technology has historically been an agent of change. Throughout the relatively short history of graphic design, new technology has spurred and fostered writings and ideas to spread farther and faster than previously thought possible. Each great, innovative designer or engineer has studied the past in order to improve upon what has come before. In this blog post, we will specifically focus on the technological development of printing and how it has affected the evolution of graphic design and branding.

1450: Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg – The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg was German-born and trained as a blacksmith and goldsmith. He was very comfortable with creating his own tools and refining his process. This allowed him to create and experiment with the first mechanical movable type printing press system, first in 1450. He also developed oil-based ink needed as part of the printing system. The printing press sparked the printing revolution and is regarded as the beginning of modern mass communication. The availability of information to the general public shook up the status quo and helped shift some of the power back into the people’s hands. Business owners could have their brand printed on many flyers, allowing their identity to be more consistent and widely recognized. Graphic design now had the ability to spread using quickly moveable type over the arduous, expensive task of hand lettering. The printing press changed everything.

1790: Alois Senefelder – Lithography

The next big step in graphic design that is important to note is the development of Lithography. In 1790 Alois Senefelder, German actor and playwright, developed a new technique of transferring oil-based ink from a stone, later a metal plate, onto paper. This is accomplished by etching areas into the stone, then moistening the stone to retain water in the etched areas. The ink is then applied and repelled by the water, sticking only to the original drawing. The ink would then be transferred onto a sheet of paper. This process allowed complex images to be printed on multiple sheets of paper quickly and at a fraction of the cost. Graphic designers could now quickly and affordably reproduce text and images.

1875: Robert Barclay and Ira Washington Rubel – Offset printing 

Offset printing was developed over the course of 29 years by Robert Barclay and Ira Washington Rubel. Barclay, an Englishman, developed an offset press that worked for printing on tin in 1875. Then, in 1904 Rubel, an American, reworked the offset press to print on paper. Offset printing is a sped-up version of Lithography and it made the mass production of printed works extremely fast and economical. Offset printing is best suited for economically producing large volumes of high-quality prints in a manner that requires little maintenance. Graphic designers could now print thousands of pieces of paper that looked almost identical. Consistency across printed work became effortless for large scale production.

1884: Ottmar Mergenthaler – The Linotype Machine

What if you didn’t need to manually set type when printing? Ottmar Mergenthaler was a German inventor who asked this question when developing his Linotype Machine. A 90-character keyboard types words and assembles matrices, which are molds for the letterforms, in a line (hence the name Linotype). The assembled line is then cast as a single piece, called a slug. Once the line is utilized, the metal material is then returned to the machine and stored for further usage or, if not needed, the slug is then melted down. This allowed for much faster typesetting than Gutenberg’s printing press.

1950s – 1970s: Canon, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Epson – Inkjet printing

With the advent of computers, printing became even more widespread, personal, and available within one’s own home. As the personal computer became more popular, so did printers. Canon, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Epson pioneered at-home inkjet printing. This method of printing creates text by propelling droplets of ink onto the media material. By the 1970s inkjet printers could actually reproduce digital images that were generated by computers. People, for the first time in history, could print something off a computer in their very own home. This made the computer a tool for graphic designers who did not have access to large scale printers. Also, this made branding a more personal exercise and now everyone could print something they made using this graphic design technology.

1980: David Coons and Graham Nash – Digital printing 

Digital printing consists of large-scale/high-volume laser or inkjet printers used for small-run jobs from desktop publishing or other digital sources. Developed by David Coons and Graham Nash, digital printing was to be an alternative to costly offset printing. This type of printing is best suited for individuals that want to print a large quantity job, but don’t want to print as much as an offset printer would need to make the job feasible. Digital printing has a higher cost per page, but that price is made more economical due to not having to create printing plates. This allows graphic designers access to on-demand printing, a short turnaround time, and a more flexible process for revisions. A designer could now print their project, book, brand, or whatever they wanted, quickly, at a mid-to-high volume, and for more affordable prices.

Mid-1980s – 2000s: The Internet

While not a printing technique or process, the internet is a tool that has changed graphic designers possibly as much as the printing press. Instead of waiting days for proofs to come through the mail, now they can be emailed immediately. Need to know what color, material, typeface, or other important information? That question now only takes a minute to look up. The internet is the biggest informational tool available to anyone with access. The internet has given freedom to an individual graphic designer to brand and identify themselves in whatever way they see fit. Beginning in the mid-1980s and extending to now, the internet has evolved and continues to evolve into something we are still just now trying to understand.