The rise of digital printing has transformed the ability of graphic designers to produce and publish their work. Inkjet printing is a technique that propels tiny droplets of ink onto the paper. Laser printing— the updated method of photocopying—uses a laser beam to train back and forth across an electron-charged drum to define the image....
A screenprint is produced using a gauzy screen that has been stretched across a rectangular wooden frame. Ink is spread across the top portion of the screen by the printer, who then pulls the ink towards them with a rubber blade commonly known as a squeegee. The pressure forces the ink through the screen and...
Around the turn of the twentieth century, the new process of offset lithography emerged within the commercial printing industry. “Offset” refers to the process of transferring ink from a flexible matrix to a rubber cylinder, which then transfers the image to the paper. Offset printing replaced heavy stones with light, flexible plates and automated the...
Although photography was invented in 1839, its impact on poster design remained relatively minor until the late nineteenth century, as traditional lithography and letterpress are incapable of reproducing shades of gray. A sea change in poster design arrived with the advent of the halftone process, which emerged fully in the 1880s. Halftone mimics the appearance...
Letterpress, introduced in the fifteenth century, employs individual elements of wood or lead cut into letterforms, rules, and ornaments and pieced together to form a composition. Held together in a rectangular frame known as a chase, the elements that receive the ink are raised above the rest of the surface. When ink is applied, it...
Posters are all around us. We see them on the street, in the subway, tacked to bulletin boards in schools and coffee shops, and hanging on the walls of theaters and concert venues. And we see them online, collected or disseminated on social media. But how are posters made? For the next few days, that’s the...
The architect Michael Graves, who died last week at the age of 80, was passionate and insistent about the importance of drawing in architectural practice. Over the course of his career, the use of computer-aided design software became ubiquitous among generations of architects, but Graves remained steadfast in his belief that drawing by hand was...
When graphic designer Milton Glaser began designing for Kevin Eggers’ record company in the 1960s, it was called Poppy Records. By 1978, the company had changed names several times, morphing into Utopia, then Atlantic Deluxe, and finally, Tomato Music Company. (It later became known as Tomato Records). The independent label featured an eclectic group of artists,...
This gut wrenching poster, designed by the Polish graphic designer Jan Lenica, was produced to advertise the Polish National Opera’s 1964 production of Alban Berg’s avant-garde opera Wozzeck in Warsaw. An icon of Polish graphic design, the poster was awarded a Gold Medal at the 1966 Warsaw International Poster Biennale, and is Lenica’s best known...
