Veteran graphic design/typography and letterpress teacher from the London College of Printing/London College of Communication: David Dabner talks... giving an insight into the principles of design, creative letterpress and why computers make students sloppy.
@steviesteveo1 Good point. He has a valid statement which should no be undermined because some become lazy. Computers do inhibit the ability to develop. Just because you have a mac doesn’t justify you level of design. Traditional verses digital is the most unusual battle. design is design no matter how it is produce. I think my generation is going to have a large gap between good designer and program junkies.(filters,effects, with less design principles.
@Nociception He’s saying you should put care and attention into your work. That’s good advice. Everyone has a computer today, so no one needs to pay a guy to design leaflets just because they don’t have the equipment to do it themselves any more. What a designer is getting paid for, now more than ever, is his skill and judgement. If you’re just carelessly typing words and printing it off please realise that anyone can do that – they don’t need 5 (or even just 2) years training to do it.
@99posts You’ve really missed the point there. The point of school is not to turn out 10 times more stuff, it’s to learn how to do something. They’re there to learn about typography, what works, what looks good and clear and so on. That’s why they’re doing it the difficult, slow way. It’s to make them think about what they’re doing.
I do everything digitally but I would like to learn letterpress; looks like it would give you greater appreciation for typography if you’re actually holding the physical letters themselves.
with the level of time it takes to learn that prehistoric crap, and maybe ‘maybe!!’ produce something descent you could have turned out 10 times more high quality; very good material. also will be efficient ( less wasteful ) both in materials, and time.
talk about dangerously old-fashioned thinking. thats just sad.
It would be interesting to know how this video was produced. It appears that much effort was devoted to creating a “film-like” presentation and character – how much of this was digital manipulation? I would suggest that both sides of the digital versus traditional technique debate are missing out by dismissing the alternatives.
Result actually doesn’t have anything to do with your equipment. I actually find pre-dtp stuff much better than most todays work, today quantity goes wayyyy over quality. We definately got tools to make great graphic design, but theres just too many non-skilled people doing it.
It’s 1000 times faster to do things on the computer. more time efficient and your results are way better using adobe programs. welcome to the digital age.
well i am a calligrapher. i hereby declare that all type designers learn calligraphy, because that was my ontology. (obviously, you should not take me seriously, but that is just my point.)
@cupralua wrong wron wrong on all accounts..digital like digital photograhy just doesnt cut it at all..letterpress is a physical enity metal lumpy an object rub ink over it and it PRINTS!! you get a feel for the job when you can see that…
@Nociception i thnk you’re missing the whole point..hot metal letterpress was somethng physical and tangible..not some ‘virtual’ thng you cant see or feel..letterpress gave you a feel for the work…all i see these days is ppl showing off trying to be clever and failing..dont forget its avout communicating somethng this digital crap doesnt do..
yesi was at this college when dave the dab was there..in fact he’s right about all this digital lettering crap…bless him..well done dave..nice to see you’re still with us..
ha! that was funny, Nociception. But seriously, though… i have to agree with you. we can UNDERSTAND what Letterpress was all about and what kind of results it produced, what kinds of typographies it fostered, how to be post-modern, etc., but that doesn’t mean we have to actually DO that stuff with a screwdriver and all. Hands on, Schmands on.
‘I can set my paragraphs really well, perfectly on the computer, I don’t see the point in wasting my time’ (Or something like that).
You have to understand the basics to be able to move on to the perfections. If I was getting this sort of training I would be over the moon. We’re not doing this level of training, we’re working on computer mainly and it’s nowhere near as beneficial.
Our training is great and the work is good but with this we’d be much better. Think of yourself as lucky.
English is my third language and graphic design is my profession. I would put out my eyes with a rusty spoon before I have to go and work with a letterpress… under supervision of this academifossil.
Nice video though.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
@steviesteveo1 Good point. He has a valid statement which should no be undermined because some become lazy. Computers do inhibit the ability to develop. Just because you have a mac doesn’t justify you level of design. Traditional verses digital is the most unusual battle. design is design no matter how it is produce. I think my generation is going to have a large gap between good designer and program junkies.(filters,effects, with less design principles.
@Nociception He’s saying you should put care and attention into your work. That’s good advice. Everyone has a computer today, so no one needs to pay a guy to design leaflets just because they don’t have the equipment to do it themselves any more. What a designer is getting paid for, now more than ever, is his skill and judgement. If you’re just carelessly typing words and printing it off please realise that anyone can do that – they don’t need 5 (or even just 2) years training to do it.
@99posts You’ve really missed the point there. The point of school is not to turn out 10 times more stuff, it’s to learn how to do something. They’re there to learn about typography, what works, what looks good and clear and so on. That’s why they’re doing it the difficult, slow way. It’s to make them think about what they’re doing.
@ratheskin58
Yeah, absolutely. I can already envision an academifosil holding a 1920 camera and asserting “modern film cameras” make people sloppy.
old people are scared of computers.
I do everything digitally but I would like to learn letterpress; looks like it would give you greater appreciation for typography if you’re actually holding the physical letters themselves.
Dude U need 2 Study ICt son
that old dude needs to be SMACKED in the face.
with the level of time it takes to learn that prehistoric crap, and maybe ‘maybe!!’ produce something descent you could have turned out 10 times more high quality; very good material. also will be efficient ( less wasteful ) both in materials, and time.
talk about dangerously old-fashioned thinking. thats just sad.
It would be interesting to know how this video was produced. It appears that much effort was devoted to creating a “film-like” presentation and character – how much of this was digital manipulation? I would suggest that both sides of the digital versus traditional technique debate are missing out by dismissing the alternatives.
Result actually doesn’t have anything to do with your equipment. I actually find pre-dtp stuff much better than most todays work, today quantity goes wayyyy over quality. We definately got tools to make great graphic design, but theres just too many non-skilled people doing it.
It’s 1000 times faster to do things on the computer. more time efficient and your results are way better using adobe programs. welcome to the digital age.
well i am a calligrapher. i hereby declare that all type designers learn calligraphy, because that was my ontology. (obviously, you should not take me seriously, but that is just my point.)
@cupralua wrong wron wrong on all accounts..digital like digital photograhy just doesnt cut it at all..letterpress is a physical enity metal lumpy an object rub ink over it and it PRINTS!! you get a feel for the job when you can see that…
@Nociception i thnk you’re missing the whole point..hot metal letterpress was somethng physical and tangible..not some ‘virtual’ thng you cant see or feel..letterpress gave you a feel for the work…all i see these days is ppl showing off trying to be clever and failing..dont forget its avout communicating somethng this digital crap doesnt do..
yesi was at this college when dave the dab was there..in fact he’s right about all this digital lettering crap…bless him..well done dave..nice to see you’re still with us..
ha! that was funny, Nociception. But seriously, though… i have to agree with you. we can UNDERSTAND what Letterpress was all about and what kind of results it produced, what kinds of typographies it fostered, how to be post-modern, etc., but that doesn’t mean we have to actually DO that stuff with a screwdriver and all. Hands on, Schmands on.
Brilliant video, Dave Dabner legend!
the dab knows best
definitely not
‘I can set my paragraphs really well, perfectly on the computer, I don’t see the point in wasting my time’ (Or something like that).
You have to understand the basics to be able to move on to the perfections. If I was getting this sort of training I would be over the moon. We’re not doing this level of training, we’re working on computer mainly and it’s nowhere near as beneficial.
Our training is great and the work is good but with this we’d be much better. Think of yourself as lucky.
Missed the old day
hottt babes
English is my third language and graphic design is my profession. I would put out my eyes with a rusty spoon before I have to go and work with a letterpress… under supervision of this academifossil.
Nice video though.
If you had been a letterpress printer then you might have learned to spell correctly.
Hmm yes maybe you’re right. But for me personally, a picture can describe thousand words, a word can only describe one
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