London College of Communication blog

London College of Communication (LCC) Letterpress technician Alexander Cooper will be joining leading voices within the world of design at an event to be held at the Design Museum, Shad Thames, entitled ‘Graphic Design & Great Expectations’ on Friday 11 May.

The event will centre on how typography and layout affect the understanding of literary text, in an evening of discussion, presentations and workshops.

All those participating collaborated with GraphicDesign& on their first book, Page 1, a comparative typographic experiment that generated 70 designs of the first page of Dickens’ novel Great Expectations.

Alongside Alexander on the night will also be:

Phil Baines, Tony Brook of Spin, Jeremy Coysten of North, Paulus M. Dreibholz of Atelier Dreibholz, Paul Finn of Fitzroy and Finn, Alexander’s Workshop colleague Rose Gridneff, Marcus Leis Allion, Fraser Muggeridge of Fraser Muggeridge studio, Catherine Nippe, Ian Noble, Sam Piyasena (aka Billie Jean) and David Sudlow.

Date: Friday 11 May 2012
Time: 7.30pm
Location: Design Museum
Cost: £15 / £7.50 members
Booking: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=504794&interface=designmuseum

Alex Cooper and Katie Smyth of LCC’s Letterpress Workshop have been busy printing our Power of Ten private view invites, from Morag Myerscough’s POWER concept and design. LCC’s Rose Gridneff explains the process.

Proofing Type
Designer Morag Myerscough of Studio Myerscough met with LCC Letterpress workshop to discuss her POWER concept for the LCC Shows. A wood type in the workshop was matched to Morag’s initial design and proofed up. The typeface was chosen and the proofs scanned so that Studio Myerscough could develop the design. Morag’s concept was for the invite to be both originated and produced in the letterpress workshop.

Magnesium Plates
There are four shows, requiring 300 invites for each plus a fifth generic invite which lists all shows. For a hand-operated precision proofing presses, this is a big  job – the largest we have undertaken in the workshop to date. Katie Smyth, a  BA  Graphic  & Media Design (Typo/Graphic) student was recruited the help out.

Power Yellow
The invites are printed four-up on GF Smith 540gsm Pristine White Colourplan paper stock. To print the plates the roller height of the presses need adjusting, which is done by machine engineer Basil (86 and going strong), in return for a cup of tea.

Background Red
With such a solid colour, the press requires re-inking every two to three prints. With the red finally finished, the prints needed to dry for a day before the final run of black.

Registration Sheet
Each plate had to be registered on the press, with registration sheets producing interesting outcomes.

Photo: Ana Escobar

Finished Side
Prints piled up – everyone wants one!

Staff clear up in the Well Gallery after a successful series of events for ‘The Changing Face of Letterpress’. An exhibition showcased the work of staff and students from the College’s letterpress workshop. Meanwhile linked-in talks explored the role of letterpress today.