Type and Color: How to Design and Use Multicolored Typefaces by Mark van Wageningen

Author:Mark van Wageningen [Mark van Wageningen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Published: 2020-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

Three steps in the printing process for Bixa and Ziza: the digital form (top); the print or impression (middle); and the milled form in the wood and lead (bottom).

Wrong Is Right

One of the most exciting aspects of letterpress printing is its tangibility (i.e., its tactile quality). With many prints, one can not only read the letter on the paper, but also touch it. The impression of your type or plate, which is the result of high pressure, is expressed on the paper. As a result of the pressure, the printing ink is pushed outward, so to speak, and a halo effect is created next to the impression on the paper around the letter shape. Earlier typeface designers used to calculate this phenomenon and consciously made their letters thinner so that they only achieved the intended thickness through the squeezed-edge effect.

Wooden type, set in display sizes, also has its imperfections and irregularities. When printing on paper, you can see the grains, cracks, and damage of the wood letters. These random irregularities give the printed matter a very lively and charming touch. Today’s typefaces are created on high-resolution monitors, where randomness and imperfections are virtually nonexistent. That’s good for the perfect print, but it nips the vibrant and charming possibilities of chance in the bud. Hence, this project also represents the search for the fascinating feel of the letterpress, for the imperfection of the impression. If one starts from the general idea that imperfect printing is wrong, then one can immediately take the next step and define the term wrong as correct.

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