RagHaus Letterpress & Graphic Design

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WHAT EXACTLY IS LETTERPRESS PRINTING? Four centuries ago, Johannes Gutenberg invented letterpress printing with movable type, cast from metal, and his printing method became the ubiquitous publishing process for centuries to come. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, however, handset metal and wood type was surpassed by photo typesetting and the letterpress printing process itself was surpassed by offset printing, which is much faster, oftentimes more accurate –and more economical–, but lacks the inherent tactile, deeply impressed experience of letterpress printing we practice today. Letterpress printing has seen quite a resurgence over the past few years, especially for high end stationery on soft, cottony paper stock – broadsides, business cards, invitations, even packaging and labels. Letterpress is also extremely versatile, as it not only imprints ink on paper, it also allows for die cutting, perforating, scoring and numbering. Today, hardly anyone with a creative bone in their body can resist the beauty of deeply impressed letterpressed typography and illustration work. Thanks to a growing number of suitable paper stocks, printing color and debossing at the same time provides an aesthetic that is quite fresh, although it is a manual process with the aid of decades-old machines. OUR PROCESS We have almost completely abandoned metal and wood type and we take advantage of modern technology by designing on the computer instead, which gives us a lot more fine-grained control of the aesthetic of our graphics and typography. Each color gets printed separately as a negative and we make a photopolymer plate, both of which we do in our shop, and the plate then gets inked and printed on one of our Heidelberg Windmills, or even on the Poco proof press. INK & COLOR Unlike offset printing, which more than often is being used with CMYK colors, we letterpress with a full range of Pantone Formula Plus inks, each of which gets mixed individually in our shop. However, each color requires a new pass through the machine and aesthetically pleasing results can be achieved with a limited number of inks through overlays, as letterpress inks are translucent. Normally, lighter colors enhance the debossed letterpress effect, as light and shadow play especially well here. Even a one-color letterpress job can have a truly royal appearance. PAPER CHOICE Uncoated, and toothy papers work best – and generally we advise against using coated stock for modern letterpress printing. Cotton rag papers provide the best impression, accompanied by a soft, tactile feel that will get anyone’s attention in a heartbeat. Compared to digital and offset printing, we can use a wide range of lush paper weights, with a deep impression that provides the receiver with a sophisticated haptic experience – a big addition in the creative department. STRENGTHS Simply put, fine typography, solid lines and simple dots are the most graceful letterpress style elements. Text in small sizes should be thin to regular, and you’ll discover that even small sizes read surprisingly well, especially with the tracking opened up a little. Solid areas are a domain for offset printing, as they can be difficult to print consistently on a letterpress, and they also would not have the charm of a deep impression, but sometimes the lack of uniformity is desirable. However, solid areas with negative text are quite delightful, as the text then is raised above the solid color. Screens and halftones can be used as graphical elements –think aesthetics, or form over function– coarse dotted areas, or even a line screen can breathe life int your designs. Fine dithers and stochastic screens benefit more from more modern printing processes. "A