Guest blog post by Amy of Tiger_Tea (February Banner designer too, talented lass)
The art and design scene is experiencing its own little civil war at the moment – those comfortably ensconced in print being accosted by those leading the revolution that is ‘digital’ (as all encompassing as that word is). Like any good war, there are also those that straddle the fence and play for both sides. I’m one of those people.
I work primarily in digital but with a mindset for what it will turn out like in print. If you showed me a dazzling app user-interface design, I would appreciate it and marvel at the programming put in to it. Show me a gorgeous paper stock with a foil deboss or a hand pulled screenprint and I will likewise coo with glee and marvel at the hard work gone in to producing it. So when I visited the Leeds Print Festival 2012, I went with an open mind.
Firstly, the Leeds Print Festival was a very transitory experience, a ‘pop up exhibition’ if you will, running from 27th to 31st Jan. The works on display have all been produced with print in mind featuring bold colours, shapes, and a heavy emphasis on type. There are even a few star turns with work from Anthony Burrill. There were some very clever pieces too, a personal fave of mine being the one with the pigeon declaring ‘it doesn’t deliver spam.’ So if the diversity of the display was a great example of the impact of print, the Print Fair held on Saturday 28th was an example of its versatility.
Print makers and crafters alike had turned out in full force to show off their wares, from humble postcards to one-off hand bound sketchbooks. The visual language of the respective creators ranged from what you might call ‘twee’ animals and cute sayings on tea towels and cards to graffitti-like mashups and bold typography. Perhaps the two stalls that took centre stage were the Salford Zine Library and The Print Project letterpress. I’ll start with the zine library. Handmade zines have quite the history and it was nice to see that they hadn’t been forgotten in this digital age. Everything they had on display was something that had been sent to them and not just from the local area either. There were zines from across the UK, across the Channel, across the globe. The topics covered were just as broad from self-reflection and autobiography to feminism and bonsai trees. Spread-eagled across the table, proffering themselves to be picked up, held, read, thumbed by the public, it was actually nice to see so few had been ‘professionally’ produced. By this I mean using services like lulu or blurb or similar to make small runs of perfect bound books. The vast majority were chopped up, stuck down, photocopied or otherwise printed by something humble, and equally bound by the mighty staple or classic sewn cotton. Zines are a quick way to distribute ideas and stories and they lend themselves well to collage and drawn techniques. They also have no critics and therefore more freedom. One zine had been made using sandpaper! Why do these creators go to such efforts to produce these little booklets, often for no money recompense? As it was with rest of the people exhibiting, its for the pure JOY of making something. To the letterpress on The Print Project’s table – it was just spectacular. There was a buzz of excitement around it the whole time I was there. I’d never seen one before. And unfortunately I feel that phrase will become all too common if traditional printing methods are allowed to die out.
But they’re not going to die out, are they?
Not as long as we have enthusiasts like those at the Leeds Print Festival. The undeniable fact about the art of printing is that creators love printing by hand because of two factors. Firstly, they love to get messy, muck in, and do it all themselves. They have the control over everything – typesetting, colour, size, finishes, paper, etc. They love having the practical experience that most would envy. And they have poured some of themselves in to the process. They know they’ve made it, and so does anybody viewing or purchasing that piece. Secondly, they love the unexpected results. No matter how seasoned you are at printing, there will always be a pleasant surprise every time you print. Every piece could be a one-off just because the amount of ink moving through a mesh or the amount of pressure used can garner different results. There’s an inherent pride, even in the so called ‘rejects’ that are made.
So don’t worry, there’s plenty of time to revel in the printed form. For those of us who enjoy a weighty paper and some heart and soul, print will be around for a good while yet.
I’ve seen the phrase ‘Print is dead’ and ‘Print is not dead’ on twitter and the photo with this piece refers to zombies and vampires. I’m not sure where this comes from. Printing is as live and healthy as ever. The printing industry in the UK employs 140,000 people and turns over £14.3 BILLION per annum. It is the worlds 5th largest, even counting huge markets like China and theUSA. The industry in Britain contributes £1 bn pa to the country’s trade balance. I don’t have the UK stats to hand but in the USA last year 125 million pieces of direct mail were sent out in November alone. 13.5 BILLION catalogues were mailed out over the year.
I’m also not sure what is meant by traditional methods. Artists use etching, wood engraving, lithography, silkscreen as much as ever. I saw excellent examples of all these plus a few methods that even I have heard of after 40 years in the trade on the Ilkley, Saltaire and Headingley Art Trails last year.
Letterpress, the method illustrated above, was superceded by litho in the 1970s and has only had a small specialist application since. Gravure is used less in the magazine industry but flexo has if anything become more prevalent. All the millions of lager cans, crisp bags, lengths of laminate flooring, rolls of wallpaper etc
that we use every day have to be printed somehow.
In the general commercial market litho, a method invented in the 1800s, is far and away the dominant method and will probably continue to be so for decades to come for the simple reason it is cheap and efficient. The new kid on the block, digital, accounts for about 3% of the world print market. I have, like most commercial printers, digital as well as litho equipment but it is slow and very expensive, so has nothing more than a niche market.
The printing industry here is suffering from a sluggish economy so it can’t be said to be in the pink but don’t worry, Emma, print will be around in a big way long after I and even you are zombies.
I showed a group of Graphic design students round Target Print a few weeks ago to show them how their designs are translated into print and I am always happy to show anyone else who is interested in seeing a live print works in action. I can be reached on 07903 869502. A visit by Kooji Creative can be seen on their blog
http://koojicreative.blogspot.com/2011/04/target-print.html
Sorry I meant Amy, not Emma on my comment. Also I seriously undershot the US direct mail figure. That can’t be right. In the UK it was 1.7 billion pieces of direct mail went out last year, so for the US it must be several times that.
Its always interesting to see how someone else perceives ‘print’. For me, its the ‘arty’ side of the word. Commercial printing doesn’t even enter my mind when it should have, because you’re right – there is a lot of printing still done commercially using mass methods and even with the advent of e-readers and e-books, there are so many more people who prefer to thumb a page than a screen. Magazine racks are still stuffed. Book shelves still stocked too 🙂
I think its so easy to say ‘oh, print is a dying artform’ when you get so dazzled by digital offerings. But thats why we need things like the Leeds Print Festival and good people like yourself to fight its corner and say ‘I’m still here!’
I might take you up on that offer of looking around Target Print 🙂
The printing press, in its various forms, has been around quite a lot longer than ‘digital’ and I’m sure it’ll still be here when technology breaks down and we’re forced to survive in an apocalyptic, computerless wasteland.
As a silkscreen printer, I regularly take digital creations and turn them into physically printed, tangible (smellable!) goods. There really is nothing like it, and it simply cannot be recreated digitally.
I’m quite sure (for now) there is clearly room for both. Digital technology has lots of wonderful benefits but people will always engage with something they can physically touch and appreciate.
Incidentally, here’s what’s printed on the back of my iPad:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/armyofcats/5634251648/
You’ll be welcome, Amy.
I always say the radio didn’t kill the theatre, the movies didn’t kill the radio, the TV didn’t kill the movies or the radio, etc. When they started to show the classics on tv it was fought by the book trade who thought it would kill sales, but in fact sales shot up! Digital cameras didn’t kill photos. It’ll all but kill off film but far more photos are taken than ever. I think the advent of full colour home printers and computers has democratised print and made it cheap and available to all. And the quality of print today is far better than it ever was. If you don’t believe me look at some old 1980s packaging or black and white newspapers. Without computer generated artwork print would be a lot duller and a lot more expensive. It’s a big world with lots going on!
There’s a thriving underground of hobby letterpress printers producing beautiful work and preserving old machinery. My son in law is one. His website is very interesting http://britishletterpress.co.uk/
… which, by the way, I should have said, is pretty much the opposite of what The Print Project does! We are letterpress printers. Our aim is to keep the old art of letterpress alive by producing fine letterpress items.
Speaking personally, my favourite thing about letterpress is being involved in the production of something from start to finish – from thinking of the words in your head, to touching the words with your hands when you set the type, through setting up the page on the press, to inking and rolling… and to fixing the press yourself if anything goes wrong!
One of the presses I use is over a hundred years old. I love that something so old still does today, the job it was built to do then. How often can you say that about modern technology?!
It’s maybe a Heidelberg. When they switched to making litho presses they built them to the same standard. One of mine is about 20 years old and has printed about 60 million sheets. I’ve seen them on the market with 600 million on the clock. That means present rate of use (providing we can still get the parts!) she should still be going strong in 200 years time. The digital, perhaps not.
I agree on the fact print will be around a while, especially for those who love weighted paper 🙂 Also, I think Leedsprinter is spot on. Long live print finishing!
Thanks for the post.