I want the visuals of this tee brand to be simple with focus on colour and type, so I set about experimenting with type in an effort to design a logo design. I went through the full design process, designing on screen, printing out designs, evaluating these designs and re-working them in order to come up with a final design. With concerns to the type, I wanted to experiment with using many different means of altering the hierarchy between the two words. I thought the 'Urban' should be more weighty, bold and at a higher hierarchical position due to the usual connotations of an urban ciry/place, in comparison to the fun element of the 'tease' which is a little more light-hearted, hence a lighter stroke.
Once I had decided on a design and kerned it to my liking, I then began applying this to the swing ticket designs I had from last week. I printed these to see which I thought best, disregarded the ones which didn't a reworked the ones which did. I then applied colour to these and considered how clothing sizes, barcode and price would also work upon the designs.
I then considered the packaging design. I looked at some of my shoeboxes and dissembled them to reveal their nets. I choose the Adidas style box and I thought it was simple yet innovative in the way that it was both packaging for the tee and a carrier bag (also a piece of sustainable design). I used this net to create my own and mocked this up to how I would want it to work.
Friday 26 October 2012
Tee:: Re-Think
After learning from my crit yesterday that I really need to push my 2 briefs, other than inpress, forward I decided to use today and tomorrow to work solely on these brief in order for me to get grounded design before I leave them to work predominantly on my dissertation this coming week. I will, ofcourse, delve into these briefs if and when I have some spare time but I will be focusing on my dissertation over reading week.
So, today I decided to work on my tee brief; this had kind of come to a holt due to me not being happy with the name I had come up with, although I did have the basis designs and colours for the swing tickets and packaging sorted.
I had previously decided to package my tshirts in record sleeve packaging, to play on the sleeve factor. I then decided to call the line 'Stumm' as this relates to silence in German; the record sleeve would usually contain sound but in this case it doesn't contain music. However, I was not happy with this and it put me at a standstill. On revisiting this I can see why, it is not exactly catching and does not make the clothing line sound very fun, I also don't think it would appeal to my target audience.
As a result of this I have re-visited this brief today (I need to move forward with it) a began the design process fresh. I started off brainstorming the characteristics of my target audience in order to ensure that my designs and name appeal to them. I then began thinking of names, rather than thinking up names or trying to make them relate from the offset, I had a browse through the clothing label names I had already researched. I then came up with the name 'Urban Tease'.
I thought the name 'Urban Tease' would work well seen as I am targeting my tshirts to a youthful audience with an interest in fashion trends and wanting to be well dressed on the streets. I thought playing on the word tease/tees would also be practical (I had thought of this last time but never followed it through).
Rather than package my tees as record sleeves, I have decided to packaged my tees in shoebox style packaging (in an attempt to tease my audience). Most fashion conscious individuals will take into consideration their footwear when choosing an outfit; in-particular trainers to the more urban youths. So, by packaging my tees as a shoebox they are being teased about what product they are actually (obviously they will be aware at point of purchase).
So, today I decided to work on my tee brief; this had kind of come to a holt due to me not being happy with the name I had come up with, although I did have the basis designs and colours for the swing tickets and packaging sorted.
I had previously decided to package my tshirts in record sleeve packaging, to play on the sleeve factor. I then decided to call the line 'Stumm' as this relates to silence in German; the record sleeve would usually contain sound but in this case it doesn't contain music. However, I was not happy with this and it put me at a standstill. On revisiting this I can see why, it is not exactly catching and does not make the clothing line sound very fun, I also don't think it would appeal to my target audience.
As a result of this I have re-visited this brief today (I need to move forward with it) a began the design process fresh. I started off brainstorming the characteristics of my target audience in order to ensure that my designs and name appeal to them. I then began thinking of names, rather than thinking up names or trying to make them relate from the offset, I had a browse through the clothing label names I had already researched. I then came up with the name 'Urban Tease'.
I thought the name 'Urban Tease' would work well seen as I am targeting my tshirts to a youthful audience with an interest in fashion trends and wanting to be well dressed on the streets. I thought playing on the word tease/tees would also be practical (I had thought of this last time but never followed it through).
Rather than package my tees as record sleeves, I have decided to packaged my tees in shoebox style packaging (in an attempt to tease my audience). Most fashion conscious individuals will take into consideration their footwear when choosing an outfit; in-particular trainers to the more urban youths. So, by packaging my tees as a shoebox they are being teased about what product they are actually (obviously they will be aware at point of purchase).
Thursday 25 October 2012
inpress:: at Creative Networks
This evening inpress held a stall at the Creative Networks event where David Shrigley was the college's guest speaker. It was a pleasant evening with a good turn out.
We were approached by 'Pool' creative with regards to selling our work online; Polo are in the process of setting up an online shop where you can purchase work from Leeds creatives. We exchanged business cards and are going to keep in contact with regards to this.
We also spoke to the international marketing manager for Leeds College of Art. He liked the idea of what we were doing and the work we were producing, so said he would be in touch seen as he only worked upstairs in the marketing office.
Jane Denton spoke to us about selling work at an event in Headingley to raise money for a charity. We would have to pay £15 for a table and 20% of our profits would go to the charity. Something to consider anyway.
Finally, John from Woolgather attended and spoke to us about creating work for the shop space. We are going to have a meeting with their team next week to discuss this further.
Overall, although we didn't make many sales from our shop, the night was a success and we did some networking to get our work out there in forthcoming events and opportunities.
Chat with Phil
In the studio today I had a little chat with Phil about my work and the progress I had made since my tutorial last week. I didn't really feel I had made a huge progress with any of my briefs, apart from my inpress brief. I showed him the work we had been doing for inpress over the past week and he seemed to like the business card design and publication.
With regards to my RSA brief, he raised the fact that I need to ensure that I am raising awareness through my designs, somehow, in order to meet the brief. This could be subtle, but the consumer somehow needs to be aware that the design they have is a piece of sustainable design not to be thrown away, but to continue it's life cycle. Or, even by highlighting the sustainable approach I have taken to my designs, it could inspire others to do the same. There is definitely a lot to think about here and more designs to be thought of.
In showing my work to Phil today and in my crit it has made me realise that I need to push my briefs (not inpress) a lot more; however, I think the inpress brief had become at the forefront as we had the creative networks event to attend today. So, I am going to use the next 3 days before reading week to really work hard on consolidating designs for my Tee brief and RSA: Sustainability brief as it will allow me to then work solely on my dissertation through reading week.
With regards to my RSA brief, he raised the fact that I need to ensure that I am raising awareness through my designs, somehow, in order to meet the brief. This could be subtle, but the consumer somehow needs to be aware that the design they have is a piece of sustainable design not to be thrown away, but to continue it's life cycle. Or, even by highlighting the sustainable approach I have taken to my designs, it could inspire others to do the same. There is definitely a lot to think about here and more designs to be thought of.
In showing my work to Phil today and in my crit it has made me realise that I need to push my briefs (not inpress) a lot more; however, I think the inpress brief had become at the forefront as we had the creative networks event to attend today. So, I am going to use the next 3 days before reading week to really work hard on consolidating designs for my Tee brief and RSA: Sustainability brief as it will allow me to then work solely on my dissertation through reading week.
Tee Brief:: Reality
I had proposed to produce a lot for my Tee brief as I was wanting to produce my own line of tee designs. However, in my crit it was suggested that I re-consider my deliverables for the time available; I have only scheduled a further 2 weeks to complete this brief. Realistically, I am not going to get all this finished in time so I think it would be more beneficial to me if I focus on create a few deliverables to a very high standard and continuing this brief into my FMP to finish it.
Crit:: Respose
In response to the feedback I received in my crit, I have produced an action plan....
(notebook scan)
I also began to design from the suggestions given to me...
(design sheets)
I like the suggested idea of the Christmas cards for my RSA Sustainability brief, as I think they have a lot of scope; the design principles could be translated into an array of different cards, wrapping papers etc. However, if I am going to follow this design idea through, I need to consider the practical implications of my designs.
(notebook scan)
I also began to design from the suggestions given to me...
(design sheets)
I like the suggested idea of the Christmas cards for my RSA Sustainability brief, as I think they have a lot of scope; the design principles could be translated into an array of different cards, wrapping papers etc. However, if I am going to follow this design idea through, I need to consider the practical implications of my designs.
Peer Crit
For todays crit, I had design boards and practical work to show. I wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to grasp the concepts within my work so that I could get focused feedback directed a what I wanted. My 5 questions weren't as specific as I would have liked, but they were written to push people to the type of feedback I would like to receive.
Above is the feedback I received from todays crit. I think it was very fair feedback and represented the work I had presented before me.
The main aspect I want to take from this crit and work on changing is two of briefs looking very similar (Republic Tee brief and RSA sustainability brief). I thought I could fix this by not using bright colours in the RSA brief, as this would suit the eco theme more, although I do want it to still have a very high designer led direction. But, I think this could work.
Another critical point was that I need to produce more designs other than designs for my inpress brief. I think this is very true and definitely consolidates some of the concerns I had before this crit; I have research, initial ideas and mock-ups of formats but not actual design. So this is a major factor I need to work upon.
All in all, a good crit and a lot of work I need to get to.
Crit Two:: Design Direction Boards
I have produced these design direction boards in an attempt to get more focused feedback from my crit as it will give people an overview of what I am doing without having to trawl relentlessly through my blog.
Wednesday 24 October 2012
inpress:: business cards in the making
Francesca and myself sat down to put together the inpress business cards. This was much trickier than we had anticipated as the letterpressed rear did not have any crop marks to cut it down by. We tried a few different techniques but in the end had to guide the cards into place by holding them up to the light. Very professional! Having said this, the business cards looked surprisingly well made and we received a fair few positive comments from peers in the class which confirmed this.
Printed Banner
Today, our banner had been printed by Luke and Joe who are doing the promotional material for the Creative Networks event tomorrow night.
They didn't use our logo and colour scheme, but I think this looks better as it fits in with the overall branding and makes it seem part of the event.
They didn't use our logo and colour scheme, but I think this looks better as it fits in with the overall branding and makes it seem part of the event.
RSA Sustainability:: Library Research
Today I took a trip to the library to look at a few books on sustainabilty as I think I need to get my head around the basis of sustainable design before I plough head first into designing. I found one really good book on sustainable design for print; as I cannot take anymore books out (I've maxed out the limit for my dissertation) I sat down, read through it and took some notes.
Photos of Book
I think sitting down and taking notes really helped me digest the information; it has now also got me on a buzz to begin sustainably designing.
Photos of Book
I think sitting down and taking notes really helped me digest the information; it has now also got me on a buzz to begin sustainably designing.
inpress:: Binding the Publications
Niall lined up the two pages and punched holes in the correct places.
I then bound them with bookbinding thread and tied them off.
Francesca then trimmed the publication and cut the loose thread to size.
As we had a productive system in place, we managed to bind all the publications within an hour.
Result.
Tuesday 23 October 2012
Briefs Re-written
As I am going to be presenting my briefs to my peers in my crit on Thursday, I need to ensure my briefs are current and up to date in reference to the research I have carried out over the past few weeks of working on my briefs.
inpress:: Business Cards
We have put together one of each colour business card to check they could be aligned and each side was able to work with one another.
We now have the task of putting together the rest of them tomorrow.
We now have the task of putting together the rest of them tomorrow.
TIME CHECK
I have just had a look and including this week, we have 7 weeks to the day until the module deadline (including reading week). I was under the impression that I would have reading week not incorporated into the 10weeks, which would give me time to work on writing my dissertation. However, it seems I am going to have to re-work my timeplan to work around this so I have created a newer timeplan taking into consideration the timescales Phil gave me in my tutorial....
WEEK 1 (22/10/12) this week
WEEK 2 (29/10/12)
WEEK 3 (05/11/12)
WEEK 4 (12/11/12)
WEEK 5 (19/11/12)
inpress:: produce personal work for event / continue to advertise
Hope:: research & design
WEEK 6 (26/11/12)
WEEK 7 (03/12/12)
MODULE HAND IN TUESDAY 10TH DECEMBER 2012.
WEEK 1 (22/10/12) this week
inpress:: print business cards & publication for Creative Networks
RSA:: research & design
WEEK 2 (29/10/12)
inpress:: design website
RSA:: print & document
WEEK 3 (05/11/12)
inpress:: promotional material for event & print/ personal work for event
Tees:: print material/ design app/websiteWEEK 4 (12/11/12)
inpress:: distribute promo material/ design personal work
Tees:: photograph collection/ present work on boardsWEEK 5 (19/11/12)
inpress:: produce personal work for event / continue to advertise
Hope:: research & design
WEEK 6 (26/11/12)
inpress:: finalise, organize & run event
Hope:: designWEEK 7 (03/12/12)
inpress:: document event
Hope:: print & documentMODULE HAND IN TUESDAY 10TH DECEMBER 2012.
inpress:: How to bind our publication
Now that we have both the front covers and inside pages printed, we are now considering how to bind the pages together. We were initially thinking just a simple Japanese bind, but after feedback from peers this was considered a time consuming process.
It was then suggested to us that we could leave it loose/ paperclip the pages. or staple them in place. However, we thought the pages would potentially get lost if we left them loose or used paperclips and it was pointed out to us that if we used a staple then it would go against using the recycled paper.
So, we tried them out and decided that a simple bind would look best, although it may be time consuming, it would be worth it. After all, we had put a lot of effort into them up until now so it would be silly to ruin the look of them at this late stage.
It was then suggested to us that we could leave it loose/ paperclip the pages. or staple them in place. However, we thought the pages would potentially get lost if we left them loose or used paperclips and it was pointed out to us that if we used a staple then it would go against using the recycled paper.
So, we tried them out and decided that a simple bind would look best, although it may be time consuming, it would be worth it. After all, we had put a lot of effort into them up until now so it would be silly to ruin the look of them at this late stage.
Printing:: Digital Dungeon
Francesca and myself have this morning booked in and come down to the digital dungeon to print the publication ready for Creative Network event on Thursday.
We used a thin newsprint to print onto...
It was quite thin stock so we were slighlty concerned that the ink would be too visible from the opposite side once it have been duplex printed. However, james did a test for us and we decided that although it was thin, it gave a quite nice effect....
My other briefs aren't progressing as quickly as I would have like but this is due to us pushing the inpress work to be ready for the upcoming event. Once this is out of the way I will begin to push my other briefs at a faster pace and be able to be more focused on each one.
We used a thin newsprint to print onto...
It was quite thin stock so we were slighlty concerned that the ink would be too visible from the opposite side once it have been duplex printed. However, james did a test for us and we decided that although it was thin, it gave a quite nice effect....
My other briefs aren't progressing as quickly as I would have like but this is due to us pushing the inpress work to be ready for the upcoming event. Once this is out of the way I will begin to push my other briefs at a faster pace and be able to be more focused on each one.
New design work for inpress
inpres have two event coming up (Creative Networks and Dock Street Market) where we will be selling design work. From what Phil told me in my crit, I m not going to worry about trying to design new work for this right now as the end result would only be rushed and ill-considered. If I have time to design work for these events then I will, but at the end of the day it is my name as a designer that I will be tarnishing. Something to definitely consider.
Monday 22 October 2012
Crit Needs
As I have signed up for my crit on Thursday, I have made a list of what I need to do for each brief to ensure I can plan my time efficiently so that I have everything ready in time...
Plan for tomorrow.
This week is going to be busy, so I need to ensure I plan my time wisely. I have got a crit thursday morning, creative network event thursday evening and dissertation tutorial friday 2pm which I need to work around. I first wrote a list of what I need to do this week, then worked this into my week...
Tomorrow Francesca and I are going to get as much of the inpress work completed as possible, this will then give us the majorityof wednesday to get on with our individual brief.
9.30am get paper & cut to size
10am print inside zine in digital dungeon
12.30pm screenprint bookmarks
Tomorrow Francesca and I are going to get as much of the inpress work completed as possible, this will then give us the majorityof wednesday to get on with our individual brief.
9.30am get paper & cut to size
10am print inside zine in digital dungeon
12.30pm screenprint bookmarks
Printing at Vernon Street
Niall, Francesca and myself went down to Vernon street today at 9am and got on with the branding for 'inpress' ready for the 'Creative Networks' event on Thursday.
Firstly, we collected the copper plate from Niel and buffed it up with Brasso...
We then worked on letterpressing the type for the reverse of the business cards. Francesca and Niall had previously tested the ratio of sheets of newsprint or newprint would be needed to the stock being printed on, so Niall and I compared the outcomes today and decided that the 1 tissue and stock gave the best effect and best impression.
and we printed...
We then taped off a screen to flood print colour onto a stock which will then be duplexed and used as the reverse of the business cards. We mixed up a brightish red colour (as close to the pantone colour on screen as possible) and a blue which complimented the tones.
After our 1pm briefing back up at Blenheim, we strolled back down, roughly cut the screenprinted stock to a business card size (as it will get precisely cut to size at a later stage, once the type side has been stuck on). One by one, we then pressed these using the hydraulic press.
Firstly, we collected the copper plate from Niel and buffed it up with Brasso...
We then worked on letterpressing the type for the reverse of the business cards. Francesca and Niall had previously tested the ratio of sheets of newsprint or newprint would be needed to the stock being printed on, so Niall and I compared the outcomes today and decided that the 1 tissue and stock gave the best effect and best impression.
and we printed...
We then taped off a screen to flood print colour onto a stock which will then be duplexed and used as the reverse of the business cards. We mixed up a brightish red colour (as close to the pantone colour on screen as possible) and a blue which complimented the tones.
After our 1pm briefing back up at Blenheim, we strolled back down, roughly cut the screenprinted stock to a business card size (as it will get precisely cut to size at a later stage, once the type side has been stuck on). One by one, we then pressed these using the hydraulic press.
New Brief Timepan
In response to my tutorial with Phil, I am now working to a new timescale with regards to the order in which I work on my briefs, I have decided to produce a new timeplan of my briefs
Sunday 21 October 2012
RSA:: Initial ideas
After beginning to research, I have begun to think of ideas and consideration so I have got them down onto paper, rather than having them floating around my head.
Saturday 20 October 2012
Design Practice:: Direction Change
In my progress tutorial Phil suggested that I work on my RSA Change Makers brief for 2 weeks just so that I have got one brief behind me and completed. I wasn't sure about this as I felt I was making good progress with my Tee brief, having worked on it for 2 weeks and having 2 weeks left to work on it. However, at the end of last week I did begin to become disengaged with my design work, I felt a little stuck and therefore was not working to the standard I should be, nor putting in the hours I should. Therefore, I have decided that working on the RSA brief for 2 weeks, then revisiting the Tee brief for 2 weeks after this would be a good option; it will allow me to work on fresh designs and keep me interested. Plan.
Friday 19 October 2012
Letterpress Experimentation
Whilst down at Vernon picking up the plate Francesca and Niall experimented with the type they had set yesterday to see which padding gave the best effect and which stock it printed on best. The 300gsm stock (which was also used for the embossing) worked the best, so we are going to use this then duplex them. We will come back on Monday to print these.
Ething Plate Results.
So the etching plate was ready, Francesca and Niall went to pick it up. Unfortunately, it hadn't turned out quite as planned and there were a few hole in the plate from where it had been left in the solution too long. The technicians were kind enough to make another one which will be ready for us Monday. Despite the plate not being perfect, it was okay to use for test pieces; it worked well on mount board and 300gsm stock.
Type Setting.
Whilst Francesca and Niall were down at Vernon site, they thought they would look at typesetting for the reverse of our business cards (to keep the theme of traditional print continuous throughout our branding). They decided to use Times 10pt.
Open publication - Free publishing
CTS Tutorial:: Richard
I attended my CTS tutorial today, Richard was very happy with my direction and the progress I had made over summer. I showed him my rough chapter structure and he used this to suggest a slightly expanded version in which my task it to now build upon this informed by my research gathered ready for my next tutorial.
Thursday 18 October 2012
Etching
Today, Francesca and Niall went down to vernon street to enquire about producing an etching plate for our logo so that we can emboss our business cards using a cleaner cut design as the laser cutter was not as smooth as we would have like. They went through the process of making a photo etching plate. They had to leave it in chemicals so we will go back and collect it tomorrow.
Tutorial:: Phil
Fresh out my tutorial and im feeling good about things. Phil talked me through how I can timeplan my briefs best in order to get the most out of all of them; this really helped me as I think this is one aspect that I have been a little unsure of over the past week or so. I am going to follow through with what he said and hopefully this will allow me to focus in on each brief in order to get the best out of each.
Lasercutting:: Round2
After learning from yesterdays mistakes we'd made, we booked a two hour slot back in laser cutting this morning and yet again we had an eventful morning!
First we set up our design (back to front on screen) and set it to cut with a linespace of 0.03mm. Yesterday we were cutting at 1mm. We set it to cut at this, but unfortunately the heat produced caused the plastic to warp.
So, we then tried cutting at 0.05mm (our thinking was, the closer the lines the higher definition of the final outcome). However, this also began to warp and caused the acrlyic to move and cut out of the required space.
This time, we decided to play it safe and cut at 1mm linespace but 3 times over, and it worked!
We then went and pressed these. We found it quite difficult to get the pressure central...
Having tried the press and not getting the pressure correct, we decided to put this through a manual press. (well, Niall did!)
But, this didn't go quite to plan......
Luckily, we had 30mins left of our lasercutting slot so quickly went back down to cut another the same as this.
First we set up our design (back to front on screen) and set it to cut with a linespace of 0.03mm. Yesterday we were cutting at 1mm. We set it to cut at this, but unfortunately the heat produced caused the plastic to warp.
So, we then tried cutting at 0.05mm (our thinking was, the closer the lines the higher definition of the final outcome). However, this also began to warp and caused the acrlyic to move and cut out of the required space.
This time, we decided to play it safe and cut at 1mm linespace but 3 times over, and it worked!
We then went and pressed these. We found it quite difficult to get the pressure central...
Having tried the press and not getting the pressure correct, we decided to put this through a manual press. (well, Niall did!)
But, this didn't go quite to plan......
Luckily, we had 30mins left of our lasercutting slot so quickly went back down to cut another the same as this.
Sleeve Experimentation
I found that I was unsure as to which design I should take forward to package my tee, so I decided to mock up a few designs on paper just to see how each element would interact with one another and which would best fit.
However, I am still unsure as to which to use but it has informed me what elements of each design work well, so hopefully I can take this forward in order to consolidate my design idea.
Wednesday 17 October 2012
inpress:: visit Dock Street Market
Just popped down to Dock Street Market; the venue of our next event. We just had a little chat with the manager to clarify the dates we wanted the space and also for Francesca and I to see the space ourselves..
It is a quirky cafe/bar with and art feel ...definitely going to be perfect for our event.
It is a quirky cafe/bar with and art feel ...definitely going to be perfect for our event.
Stumm.
I felt I needed to begin to consider how the logo would be applied to the packaging and the swing tickets as I began to progress with the design of it, as this would ensure the logo became coherent throughout all the branding and translate successfully through to the print collatteral.
InPress:: Lasercutting
We attended a lasercutting slot we had booked for 9am this morning. We went with a pile of wood and out vectored image in illustrator, however, when we got down there we found some 3mm acrylic which we thought would work better if we were going to wet our stock before embossing.
Neither of us we entirely sure how to go about setting up the laser cutter, as it was our first time using it, so we stuck to the guide and worked through the points.
We managed to correctly set up the machine and cut 3 sizes of our 'inpress design' logo. However, when we picked up the acrylic many of the counter and letters fell out and through the grating. Also, the lettering seemed a little too small to manage and effectively be able to emboss with. So, we set up the machine again and cut our logo at a slightly bigger size this time. Much better.
We took this back to the studio, armed ourselves with some super glue and stuck the letters to another piece of acrylic (back to front, so that when we embossed the type would be the correct way round) whilst also sticking a fair bit to our fingers!!!
The type had dried and set onto the acrylic so we cut mountboard into rough business card sizes and went to the print room to uses the presses in order to emboss.
Firstly, we tried wetting the front of the mount baord, in order to give a better impression and put it in the press. However, this was a mistake! When we removed the card from the press, some of the paper stuck to the face of the lettering and also removed a few from the acrylic base. Not good.
So we tried with no water, put it in the press and the result was very effective.
We then got talking and decided there must be a way to create the effect of what we had created by simply using the laser cutter and not having to faff around gluing! As a result, we went back down to the laser cutting room to ask about this. We spoke to a man who said that if we created a jpeg black and white image (with the type in white and background black) then rasterized this on the laser cutter it should work. It wouldn't be as thick as what we had already created, but it would create a worthy impression into our stock.
Straight away, we booked a slot, sorted the artwork and got back down there. It was a little trickier to set-up than previously so we got the lovely man to help us.
The effect was very good and Niall and I were very pleased with the outcome.
We took our stamp back to the print room again to print, put it in the press and this came out....
OOPS!
We hadn't reversed the type when we cut it so the was the wrong way round. Nevermind. It was a learning curve and we had learnt from this mistake. It was too late to do another one this afternoon, but we have booked a slot and are going to rectify this problem tomorrow.
Neither of us we entirely sure how to go about setting up the laser cutter, as it was our first time using it, so we stuck to the guide and worked through the points.
We managed to correctly set up the machine and cut 3 sizes of our 'inpress design' logo. However, when we picked up the acrylic many of the counter and letters fell out and through the grating. Also, the lettering seemed a little too small to manage and effectively be able to emboss with. So, we set up the machine again and cut our logo at a slightly bigger size this time. Much better.
We took this back to the studio, armed ourselves with some super glue and stuck the letters to another piece of acrylic (back to front, so that when we embossed the type would be the correct way round) whilst also sticking a fair bit to our fingers!!!
The type had dried and set onto the acrylic so we cut mountboard into rough business card sizes and went to the print room to uses the presses in order to emboss.
Firstly, we tried wetting the front of the mount baord, in order to give a better impression and put it in the press. However, this was a mistake! When we removed the card from the press, some of the paper stuck to the face of the lettering and also removed a few from the acrylic base. Not good.
So we tried with no water, put it in the press and the result was very effective.
We then got talking and decided there must be a way to create the effect of what we had created by simply using the laser cutter and not having to faff around gluing! As a result, we went back down to the laser cutting room to ask about this. We spoke to a man who said that if we created a jpeg black and white image (with the type in white and background black) then rasterized this on the laser cutter it should work. It wouldn't be as thick as what we had already created, but it would create a worthy impression into our stock.
Straight away, we booked a slot, sorted the artwork and got back down there. It was a little trickier to set-up than previously so we got the lovely man to help us.
We took our stamp back to the print room again to print, put it in the press and this came out....
OOPS!
We hadn't reversed the type when we cut it so the was the wrong way round. Nevermind. It was a learning curve and we had learnt from this mistake. It was too late to do another one this afternoon, but we have booked a slot and are going to rectify this problem tomorrow.
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