Over the Christmas break I visited Belgium for the first time. Whilst I was there, I managed to find a small print shop in Bruges. I called the phone number I found on their website and arranged a visit. After finding the print shop online, I decided it would benefit my practice if I visited it as I am looking at poster design in a couple of briefs on at the moment. I am looking at poster design for my CoP essay and practical work as well as for my substantial responsive brief.
For the substantial brief, I am designing posters and to champion the use of the paper I'll be using, I have aimed to inform aspects of each poster with the texture of the paper its printed onto. So when looking around this print shop, I documented the ways in which the print maker has thought about the colour and imagery in relation to the type of paper its printed onto.
Some of the prints are done onto smooth, ultra white stocks that allow for the colours to be bright and eye catching and the image is not compromised by the texture or grain of paper. Whereas some others were printed onto more textured stocks such as watercolour paper, this had a huge effect on the overall appearance and quality of image. These were a bit more grainy and the colours weren't as vibrant however the stock gave the image a more traditional, textured look which makes the viewer appreciate and notice the paper more than a normal print stock.
Despite the slight language barrier between myself and the print maker, I decided to ask him some questions about his work and career in print making. He explained to me a few things about his passion for print making such as who his clients are and how he got into it in the first place. He also talked my through the process of producing each print right from finding inspiration for imagery and colour through to choosing stock and size.
To show my appreciation for him showing me around and answering my questions, I decided to purchase one of his prints.
The experience was very useful for the couple of briefs I have on at the moment that involve poster design. I will be using this research when choosing design/stock/scale etc for designing my own prints.
