Keep in mind that we’re happy to answer any questions you have about your design’s suitability for letterpress.

WIDTH OF LINES

Lines should be .25 point (or .003”) or thicker, please! No hairlines!

FONTS

Letterpress excels at printing type and handles most fonts very well. We recommend using type no smaller than 8 points.

NUMBER OF INKS

Letterpress printing traditionally uses 1 or 2 spot colors.

SCREENS

Letterpress excels at printing colors at 100%. If you’d like to incorporate a lighter color, we recommend using a second lighter ink color instead of a screen. Screens are more suited for offset printing, not letterpress.

DIES AND SCORES

Letterpress printing presses can also die-cut and score paper—even with very thick stocks. We’d be happy to consult you on your die pattern to make sure that it will work with our equipment.

ENVELOPES

In general, letterpress prints envelopes well. We can print on the flap or on the front of envelopes. If your artwork is anything other than a return address, consult with us about the placement of your art on envelopes. Depending on the envelope, there may be limitations to where you can place your art.

REVERSE TYPE

Depending on the size of the reverse type, your reverses can clog up on the press. Because of this, we recommend a type size of 12 point or larger for reverse type, though this does vary depending on the typeface that you use. You may have to add a small stroke to the reverse type to compensate for letterpress ink gain. Also, if we’re printing text and the solid area around your reverse type in the same color, we may need to print the solid area in a separate print run. Extra press runs do increase the cost of printing.

LIGHT INK ON DARK PAPER

With letterpress, we tend to print dark ink on light paper, because that is letterpress printing’s strength! Light ink on dark paper is really best suited for engraving. When a client wants to incorporate a darker color, we might suggest printing an offset flood on the back side of a light colored paper, or duplexing a dark colored paper to a light colored paper. That said, if you really want light ink on dark paper, just be prepared for paper show through. With letterpress, we use translucent inks. Printing light ink on dark paper will be like using a thin coat of white paint on a brown wall: you’ll see the brown color through the paint. If using a pure white ink or metallic ink, we can run a piece through the press twice, at an additional cost, to create a more dense color.

LARGE SOLIDS (LARGE SOLIDS ARE AREAS LARGER THAN ½” THICK)

Letterpress printed solids look different from offset printed solids. The paper tends to show through large solids, creating a slightly textured look that’s almost suede-like (we think this is a beautiful look by the way!). If you have a large solid and thin text in the same color, we’ll need to print the solid in a separate press run, to give the text a good deep impression and proper inking. Extra press runs do increase the cost of printing. Large solid areas can cause buckling of the paper, especially if using a thinner machine-made paper stock. You’ll also notice the depth of impression may appear less noticeable on really large letterpress solids—it doesn’t have the contrast that line-art or type would have.

PAPER SIZES

If you’re printing a piece larger than A4, please consult with us about what maximum paper size you can use for your design. Depending on the nature of the artwork and the quantity we’re printing, we can recommend a format that works well for our equipment.

Our favorite ways to receive files: an EPS file with type outlined, plus a press-ready PDF to use as a proof

Our next favorite way to receive files: a press-ready PDF with fonts embedded, plus a faxed or overnighted hard copy for proofing purposes

IF USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR

Illustrator works very well for drawing artwork and setting type. Before sending your Illustrator file to us, outline the type (Type>Outline) and save the layout as a new file name (so that you can go back to edit the type if necessary later). Also, embed all linked images (an option in the Links palette). Preferred file formats: EPS or PDF.

CHOOSING COLOURS

Use Pantone uncoated solid spot colors only—don’t use process, RGB, CMYK, LAB, or Indexed colors. The colors in your document should correspond to the ink colors we’ll use when printing. i.e. if we’ll be printing in two ink colors, make sure only two spot colors are used throughout your files.

IMAGES

Vector images (from Illustrator or Freehand) work very well. For raster images (from Photoshop), avoid the grayscale color mode for your images. Use a 1200 dpi bitmap instead.

TRIM SIZE

Show the final trim size either by using a 1 point 100% black border or by setting the document size to the trim size.

DIES AND SCORES

Die cuts should be clearly indicated by a 1 point 100% magenta line; scores should be indicated by a 1 point 100% cyan line.

BLEEDS

If you’re using a bleed, extend your artwork at least 1/16” past the trim.

ENVELOPE ARTWORK

Draw the envelope flap or the front of the envelope where we’ll be printing your artwork. The envelope should be drawn in black. Position your artwork on the envelope flap or envelope to show us placement.

To find out more follow the links below.

ABOUT LETTERPRESS | HOW WE WORK | DESIGN FOR LETTERPRESS | PAPER & INK OPTIONS | HOW TO PLACE AN ORDER | OTHER PRINTING SERVICES