Letterpress is a printing technique that has been around since the 15th century, traditionally involving arranging movable type and images into a bed of a press, inking it, and then pressing paper against it to transfer the ink from the type. This process creates a distinctive impression on the paper, not possible with other printing methods, making letterpress prints highly valued for their tactile quality and aesthetic appeal. Originally used for books, newspapers, and other forms of mass communication, letterpress has seen a resurgence in recent years, especially for high-quality, artisanal printing projects like wedding invitations, business cards, and stationery. Nowadays, modern letterpress printers achieve this textured quality by increasing the impression depth for a pillowy effect, which was originally seen as improper printing. Either way, each piece is truly unique work of art!

Best practices when designing for letterpress

Number of colors

With letterpress, each color is printed separately, meaning each color requires a new design plate and hand-mixed batch of ink, as well as another time cleaning, registering, and running the pieces through the press. Because of this, additional colors add to the cost of a letterpress job.

Ink transparency

The majority of inks used for letterpress are subtly transparent. This means the paper color will affect the perceived color of the ink, and overlapping two ink colors will result in a third color that is a combination of the other two.

Light inks on dark paper

Because inks are transparent, light inks on dark paper don’t work very well. Even opaque white isn’t totally opaque and will look more like a light blue when printed on black paper. Alternative printing methods like screen printing or foil are recommended to achieve this look.

Large floods or solid areas

Letterpress is really great for line art and small fills, however large fills or solid printed areas (areas larger than ½” thick) can sometimes have unexpected results.

Large areas of color will have a slightly textured or suede-like appearance. The color and coverage can also vary slightly from piece to piece. While this is part of the charm of the handmade process, if you’re looking for more solid, uniform coverage it is preferable to use colored paper.

For designs with this wider coverage, the impression depth is less than fine lines or text. Large areas or floods will look more like a kiss impression that is just sitting on the surface of the paper, which was actually the original goal of all letterpress prints when it was first invented!

Mixing thicks and thins

It’s challenging to print fine details and large coverage areas on the same plate. Adding enough ink to get adequate coverage on the fills will over ink the thin areas and make them look sloppy. For designs that include both thicks and thins, it may be necessary to split it onto two plates and run them through the press separately, which adds to the cost of a print job.

Minimum line weights

The photopolymer plates used for printing have a minimum line and dot thicknesses that will hold on the plate. Lines and dots that are too fine may wash out on the plate or break down during printing. Lines should be at least 0.25 pts and dots should be at least 1pt. When checking your artwork, make sure to double check fine serifs and lines in your text and the dots on the letter “i” or periods.

Minimum font size

The minimum font size depends on the characteristics of the typeface in use. A bold san serif will hold on a plate at a much smaller size than a fine serif font. What it really comes down to is the minimum line and dot weights that a plate will hold. Check to make sure the strokes of your font are at least 0.25 pts and dots on letters and periods are at least 1 pt. If your font is a little too fine you can achieve minimum thickness by adding a very fine outline on the type and then outlining the stroke.

Knockouts

If using reversed artwork and text, ensure the negative spaces (the thinner areas of your design) are not too fine or they may fill in with ink and clog during printing. Though it depends on the typeface, it is a good rule of thumb to keep reversed type at least 12 pts or larger. You can also add a thin stroke to your reversed text or lines to account for ink gain.

Vectorizing fonts + artwork

When submitting artwork for platemaking, all fonts and strokes must be outlined and illustrations must be in vector format. To outline fonts in Adobe Illustrator, select the text with the Selection Tool. Then, right click and then select Create Outlines. Similarly, to outline stokes, Select the artwork and navigate to Object > Path > Outline Stroke.