You can create retro typographic collages in no time

What You'll Need:

>> LetterMpress ($9.99 in the Mac App Store)
>> 10 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Letterpress printing has seen something of a revival in recent times. Invented in the mid-15th century by Johannes Gutenberg, letterpress is a way of printing type using a printing press and movable blocks of type (and today, other, more decorative elements). Many modern creative professionals love the tradition and craft of letterpress printing. They also enjoy the highly stylized, texturized feel of the results you get from using single color inks (spot colors) and thick paper stock.

But letterpress printing isn’t exactly accessible. You need to have a press, specialist equipment and a certain amount of know-how to get results. If you want to experiment with the style of letterpress without the expense or getting your hands dirty, then LetterMpress, an inexpensive $9.99 on the Mac App Store, is a great app to have at your disposal. What’s more, it’s great fun to use and gives you a feel for the tradition of the printing technique, offers easy navigation and produces great results.

The app can be a little tricky to start with, especially if you have no experience of this kind of printing in the real-world. But once you start experimenting you can soon come away with some very interesting results. The first thing to do before you start creating any artwork is pay a visit to the settings – the little cog at the bottom of the interface.

From the settings, make sure you choose Child’s Play as the Type Composition option. This makes it much easier to compose your artwork. Also, change the page size to your requirements and ramp up the output resolution to 8,192 pixels (just in case you want to print it later). That’s all you need to worry about before you begin.

Once you’ve set everything up, you’re ready to go. It’s worth bearing in mind that this app is also available on the iPad – so if you want to create this kind of artwork on the move, you can. It works exactly the same across both platforms, but of course you have to buy it twice.

The LetterMpress Interface

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Create Letterpress Art with LetterMpress

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  Compose

  First up, hit the Compose mode button at the bottom of the interface. Now hit the Type & Art button. A drawer opens. Click the ‘Ts’ at the top-right of the drawer and choose a typeface you want to start with by dragging left and right. Double-click a font to use it.

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  Letter Sizing

  To change letter size, click and drag the ‘LINE’ text above your selected typeface. Woodtype is measured in lines – one line being one sixth of an inch. Change the size and drag the letters onto the plate. If it’s not the right size, triple-click the letter to remove it.

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  Orientation & Addition

  To create a portrait piece rather than a landscape, go to View > Rotate Right. You’ll notice the letters don’t rotate; to make them, hold down command and click them. Continue adding more letters until you have your type (in this case a phrase we’ve made up) in place.

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  Spacing

  With everything lined up how you want it, click the Furniture button. Furniture consists of non-printing objects that enable you to space your type and printing elements. Drag blocks onto the plate. When you double-click the blocks they are lowered onto the plate.

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  Ink

  Switch to Print mode and hit Paper. Select one you want to print on by double-clicking it. Next, go to Ink. Choose a color. To use multiple colors, see step 6. To choose a color, drag a palette knife or select a swatch. Use the Coverage button to select ink thickness.

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  Printing

  Drag down the handle on the press to print your poster. If you want to print different colors on different words, you need to run your paper through the press a few times – set up different words and then use the Galley Tray to save your woodblocks. After printing one part and keeping the print, it appears in your paper tray. Now load the paper back onto the press before selecting your next set of woodblocks from the Galley Tray and printing again.

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  Quick Tip

  There’s a huge range of objects and decorative elements in the Type and Art tray, so you can create greetings cards and so on without getting your hands dirty. Use the objects in conjunction with the Galley Tray for some great effects.

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