Letterpress Printing & Design Tips

Letterpress printing works best with designs that are line art and typography based. Here are some tips to know when choosing letterpress printing.

Full Bleeds

I print everything on slightly oversized run-sheets and then trim them down to their final size, this gives a much cleaner final edge finish to each piece. Bleeds are welcome, at no additional cost since I run everything oversized, just make sure to give me an extra 1/8" (.125") of artwork where a bleed is needed.

Large Solid Colors

Do not expect complete, opaque, ink coverage if your design has large areas of solid color. This isn't always a bad thing and can actually enhance a design in most cases.

Impression

In my experience you'll get a better overall look and feel if there are more peaks and valleys in the artwork. For instance, a line art drawing of a tree will look more interesting than a solid tree trunk. But, that being said, a solid tree trunk ran in one color with the grain and outline line art ran in another color makes for a nice finished piece. See the Portfolio for an example of this.

Photography

Doesn't work. You can have your full color or black and white photos printed offset first and then I can letterpress print the text and art. Lettra performs quite nicely in either offset or digital presses. Half-tones can be letterpress printed and can add a neat effect to the design.