I saw a most heartening article today in the 2/4/13 HamptonRoads.com called “Old Fashioned Printing Method Is Just Her Type.” It's by Krys Stefansky of the Virginian-Pilot, and it extols the virtues of a slow, beautiful, custom printing process using oil-based ink on fine paper.
Many years ago when I was an art director, the firm I worked for commissioned a logo redesign by an outside designer. Then, to create a corporate identity using the logo design, my company brought the job in-house.
In the last PIE Printing Blog article, I discussed novel uses for 3D custom printing, including the specifications Nokia has made available to enable phone owners to 3D-print their own phone cases, and a stem-cell 3D printing firm called Modern Meadow that 3D prints hamburgers.
There may be new signs of life in newspaper printing. I just read an article in the 1/28 International Business Times written by Christopher Zara and entitled “Newspaper Launches Innovative New Print Format: Will Bucking the Digital Trend Pay Off?”
Digital printing manufacturers are getting more serious—and creative—with their offerings. I recently read about two AGFA products, the :M-Press Tiger and :M-Press Leopard, which combine large-format flatbed inkjet printing and custom screen printing in various (changeable) configurations.
If the following specification from a printing estimate strikes fear into your heart, we need to talk:
“Stock: Body: Printer will furnish a 60# Finch Opaque, 426 ppi., pricing as of 4\11\11.”It's really just a printer's short-hand way of expressing in a minimal number of words a vast amount of paper information. Think of it as poetry, or a mathematical formula.