OUGD504 Brief 04 Augmented Design - Study Task 13

Print Finishes

There are many creative possibilities for print :

Varnishes

A varnish is a liquid shellac or plastic-like put on a printed piece like a layer or clear ink, varnish adds a glossy, satin or matte finish. Part of the printing or finishing process, varnish is applied like a final layer of ink after a piece is printed. It may be clear or tinted.

Glossy finish

Matte finish

Spot varnish

This is a special effect that puts an overprint varnish only on specific areas of a printed piece, spot varnish is often used to make a photograph pop off the page, highlights drop caps, or to create texture and subtle images on the page. The term spot varnish can refer to more than just clear ink or resin varnish but also to the spot application or Ultra-violet (UV) coatings or Aqueous (AQ) finishes.

Lamination

This is one of the more expensive but more accurate types of prepress proofs are laminate proofs. These full-color proofs are created from the negatives used to make the printing plates. Each separation is transferred to a separate sheet and the layers are fused or laminated together to give an extremely accurate representation of the final printed piece.

Foil Stamping

Foil stamping is the use of a malleable metallic material applied to the print surface by using heat and pressure. Foil stamping is the application of foil, a special film-backed material, to paper where a heated die is stamped onto the foil, making it adhere to the surface leaving the design of the die on the paper. Foil stamping can be combined with embossing to create a more striking 3D image.

See the process

Embossing

The creation of a raised three-dimensional design or image on paper is known as embossing. Heat and pressures reshapes the surface of the paper to create the image. Single, multi-level, beveled, and sculptured are the styles of embossing. Embossing can be done on plain paper (blind embossing) or combined with ink, images, or foil for special effects. 

Embossing is a way to add visual and tactile interest to paper. It adds texture, value, (and color if using ink or foil embossing) and perhaps other elements of design depending on the type and placement of the embossing.

The entire surface of the paper can have an embossed finish. Logos, lines, and other images may be embossed on portions of the page. Embossing is done during the printing and finished stage of a design (or during the papermaking process). Embossing machines and individual embossing stamps are also popular in paper crafting and scrapbooking. The look of embossing can also be achieved using embossing powders or inks which can be applied to paper to create a raised design.

Debossing (or Letterpress) : it's the opposite of embossing. Traditionally, the letterpress technique was used only for applying ink on a page as a form of relief printing and usually only for text. But it has evolved to also include pressing logos and other design elements directly into the paper substrate.

Thermography

Thermography uses a special powder which is added to the document with it adhering to the ink printed on the paper. After removing the excess powder the printed piece is heated and the powder and ink mixture dries to form a raised effect on the paper.

Die Cutting

Die-cutting is a process used in many different industries to cut a thin flat material (in our case, paper) into a specific shape using a steel cutting die.  It can be used to punch out a decorative shape or pattern to incorporate within a larger piece, or it can be used to create the main shape of an object by cutting the entire sheet of paper in an distinct/designed way.  More simply put: for us it’s way of making a hole in paper in a desired shape using the same presses that we use for letterpress printing.

Laser Cutting

Laser cutting is a non-contact process which utilizes a laser to cut materials, resulting in high quality, dimensionally accurate cuts. The process works by directing the laser beam through a nozzle to the workpiece. A combination of heat and pressure creates the cutting action.  The material melts, burns, vaporizes, or is blown away by a jet of gas, leaving an edge with a high-quality surface finish. 

Screen Printing

Screen printing (also known as silk screening) is one of the oldest methods of printmaking, with examples dating back to the Song Dynasty in China.  The process involves creating a stencil of an image on a screen of porous mesh, traditionally made of silk.  A roller or squeegee is used to pull paint-like ink over the stencil, forcing it through the mesh onto the paper being printed.  Unlike the inks used in some other forms of printing, screen printing ink sits right on the surface of paper, resulting in incredibly rich, vibrant color.

See the process

OUGD504 Brief 04 Augmented Design - Study Task 12

☞ Answer to the following questions in order to guide your criticality and creative engagement with augmented strategies :

- What is the potential of interactivity in print ? The potential of interactivity in print is to bring a new dimension in a static support. It can be interesting for viewers as the company to have a direct contact. Interactivity can have also say things that can't be shown in one single image or message. It creates a new kind of suspense, asks questions… So the message is like a staging, with a scenario, moving actors and events.

- Can augmented design help draw people to your website ? My website is a video website. I think it's important to say that is this kind of website but in my campaign, I haven't to show video extracts from the website, I find it could present non-sense pictures. The purpose is to do something funny like parodies and include the philosophy aspect of my website.

- Is it all just a bit gimmicky ? Or, are there opportunities ? What kind of interactivity would be effective for my campaign ? Thinking about including augmented design in my campaign is useful. I thought about a concept which can take account viewers in subways : there are many who travel every day and sometimes for a long time. If they see my augmented ad and use their smartphone to access my website, it can be great, because they'll take it with them and view videos for their distraction in the subway.

Digital Print Workshop - Working with colours for commercial print

☞ For this workshop, we focused on Photoshop colour layouts.

Proof colors : The normal color mode for commercial prints is CMYK, but the default color mode on Photoshop is RGB, you can work in this mode but see the result in CYMK by choosing this color mode in Image>Mode>CYMK Color :

Then you can see the 2 color modes are shown on the tab :

You can preview the CMYK colours by selecting View>Proof Colors (⌘Y)

Gamut warning : by activating this tool, you have a look on areas which can't be printed (so they are indicated by the gray color areas).

In order to decrease the grey areas, you need to modify the adjustments like the levels, the saturation for example. You can use also the magic wand to select affected areas and change only adjustments on these parts.

Swatches : it's the same thing as swatches on Illustrator. You reset the pallet colour and create a new one by selecting colours on the image. Then you can save your pallet and reuse for finding it again or for another project.

Spot colours/Duotones/Channels : sometimes it's cheaper to use spot colour inks than the whole CMYK inks. You can access in the Pantone library in the colour picker pallet. In the duotone option, you can choose the number of spot colour and their intensity thanks to the curve. 

Channel colours separate the different layers of the image. Choose the Gray mode and create a New Spot Channel. Then you can apply a spot colour in the image thanks to the black brush or erase this colors with the white brush.