7a reports on technology

 

University of Hertingham - Administration Department To Mrs. A. Garner, Head of AdministrationFrom: Olivia CookeDate: Thursday 23rd February

There is due to be an upcoming event for a ‘Top Note’ award ceremony. I have

been asked to research three printed products for this event. We need to processposters, invitations for award winners and VIPs and programme sheets for allguests who intend the award ceremony.The requirements needed when making the poster, invitations and programmesare very specific. Firstly, the posters should be designed by an art student andreflect the creative nature of the award winners work. 30 posters would besufficient for the university site. Secondly, the invitations should have a highquality feel to them, as this is the most prestigious award department 

give’s each

year. There will be 40 award winners and 25 VIP guests. Last of all, theprogramme is only a running order and can be a mass printed on A5 paper. 300should be enough to cover the largest number of guests expected.There are five different print technologies that I have investigated, however, onlyfour which might be suitable. I can recommend the following as the best for eachtask.The first printing technology I have investigated is Intaglio. The process of thisprinting is to have a metal plate as in this printing the ink settles in the sunkenareas of the metal plate and then the smoothed surface of the plate is wipedclean. The plate, in contact with damp paper is then passed through a rollerpress that has to have a lot of pressure on to it. The paper is then forced into thesunken areas to receive the ink. This process of using this method is very timeconsuming and needs a highly skilled printmaker to create it. Also to make theproduct, it is very expensive to create, this means that this method is not suitablefor the requirements they wish to have as it is more suitable for a home as it isvery high quality work.Secondly, the process of letterpress is to use an image or text to place throughrollers, which will press the paper against a plate. Each letter is set in a block byhand so it does require perfection. However this type of printing process isexpensive but I do believe that it is a good technique for the invitations, as thewriting will be printed out presentable and accurate.Thirdly, the process of linocut or woodcut and letterpress printer is theengraving and shaping of the product. Once you have engraved and shaped theoutline of the image or the text or anything that wants to be presented. Thecolour ink is then placed around the outline of it, which will make the foregroundstand out with different colours. Now it is then placed through a letterpress

 

printer, so the ink and colour gets into the grooves. I believe that this methodwill be good for the poster, as there are two types of mechanical printingtechniques that are being used. There does need to be skilled work being used,which does mean that it will be a little expensive. However, I do believe that it ismoney well spent as it would be a good idea to keep the less expensive methodsfor the other products, so that there is more money to be spend on othermethods.Lastly, Offset litho or digital printing is a method of printing that could be used asit is suitable for a large amount of copies as it works at a rapid pace. Within themethod it produces mostly writing. There are some differences between digitaland offset litho printing. Firstly, digital printing involves not much setting p andthen a cost for each copy. However, offset litho involves more setting up and aprintable plate to create the first copy, but the cost per copy is much cheaper. Aguide to the expense would be that if digital was wanted then it would becheaper to print up to 500 items, however, if you wish to print using offset lithomethod then it would be best to print over 500 items. Digital printing can take upto 2-3 working days, whereas, offset litho can take up to 5 working days. Overall,I believe that the digital printing is the most suitable method to use as it wouldbe suitable for the programmes as it will be less costly and there are 300 copieswhich need to be printed, therefore, using digital printing will be most suitableas far as time consuming.Overall, I believe that the method which should be used for making theprogrammes should be offset litho/digital, the reason I think this is because it isa cheap method for a large amount of copies and has a fast pace when printing.As of the cost per print being as low as 5p, this would mean that as there is 300programmes required, this would mean that it would only cost at an average of £15.00, which does give us a reasonable amount of the budget left to spend onthe invitations and the poster. The required amounts for the invitations are 40with 25 VIP and for the posters are only 30. Due to us having a budget o £485 left I believe that using the letterpress to create the invitations is suitable as of itsaccuracy and presentation. Lastly, I believe that the linocut method is best for theposter as it is the most arty and well presented for the poster.