Cold Type: The Years of Paste-Up Graphics

2 A This catalogue was designed in conjuction with the exhibition Cold Type: The Years of Paste-Up Graphics, Birmingham, United Kingdom, July 4th to August 11th, 2017.

Catalogue Design: Theodora Pangos Printing: printed.com Exhibition Design and Curation: Theodora Pangos Generous support for the exhibition was provided by Birmingham City University and The Parkside Gallery.

Special thanks for the help, inspiration and support: Daniel Hinchcliffe Derek Duff Mark Murph Tom Tebby John Hall Geraldine Marshall Caroline Archer Becky Howson Martin Donnelly Jane Anderson Alex Barratt Adam Lloyd Henry Bartonwong Brandon Hadley Steve Robinson James Brierley Jonny Griffiths Tony Davis Doug Wilson Eleonora Bruno Aidan Mooney Charlie Barrington-Osborne Anne Brierley Barnaby Goode

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INTRODUCTION

Cold Type: The Years of Paste-Up Graphics Considering that roughly thirty years ago the activities of the graphic designer were mainly restricted to posters, advertisements, packaging, signs, etc., the work has now expanded to grasp nearly every field of representation and design.

Graphic design was one of the first professions to be impacted by the introduction of the personal computer, and as observed today, the typical desktop of the graphic designer is a virtual one. The ever-expanding possibilities offered by computer technology meant that the field was transformed and that various production artists, photomechanical technicians, key-liners, paste-up artists, typesetters, etc., who used to play an important role in the field, were overtaken by mechanisation and being eliminated of their functions of creation and design.

The changes within these trades, or even their disappearance has given rise to a new situation.

The creative process has now been given over to the designer and the mechanical side increasingly to the machine. The graphic designer today has to combine different sets of skills. The computer’s efficiency has multiplied both the numbers of variations designers thought possible and the amount of changes the client seemed necessary.

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INTRODUCTION

While computer technology has increased speed, and cut down on the manual work, it has not altered what is expected of the product. The computer has simply provided new tools within which to achieve quality production that has always been the designer’s primary goal.

The exhibition Cold Type: The Years of Paste-up Graphics, explores the graphic design production from the 1960s through to the 1980s, showcasing a collection of cold type tools used by graphic artists to produce comps and mechanicals for print-ready solutions. The decades of change between the hot type and digital production, a different kind of revolution, which is often overlooked. The focus is on previous techniques and forms used in print design, looking at innovative tools that pushed the field of graphic design in new directions and helped shape current tools that are ubiquitous today in the form of software. The objects exhibited explore the craftsmanship and innovation of the trade, showing the original objects that we now only tend to see represented virtually on a digital desktop.

The collection also includes a selection of artefacts like pre-computer graphic communication books and manuals, production machine catalogues and posters. For the designer, the values of craft were personally embodied in the acts of designing – all the process techniques necessary to envision and

Comp: Short for comprehensive artwork. A hand-drawn layout or dummy. Carefully prepared and finished to approximate the piece of print.

Mechanical: A paste-up with all the elements in proper position, marked, and ready to be photographed and made into a plate.

Paste-up: To paste visual elements (proofs from hot-metal or cold-type composition) to a layout board in exact positions; the paste-up is then photographed before making printing plates.

INTRODUCTION

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produce executable plans: drawing, rendering, making comps and mechanicals. Knowledge about production was necessary. All objects were chosen according to the immediate use they had for the graphic designer. The tools were part of the everyday working life and allowed the designer to plan and produce graphic material.

Hot Type: The phrase hot type refers to the printing technology developed late in the 19th century in which molten lead is injected into the mould to cast metal type. Beginning of the 1960s, hot type began to give way to cold type.

Cold Type: The Years of Paste-up Graphics is organised in seven themes corresponding to where or how the specific tools were used in the production of design, and are named as such: A. Preparing Mechanicals B. Typewriters, Word Processors and Lettering Guides C. Refining Artwork and Preparing Proofs D. Drafting, Measuring and Scaling E. Lettering Guides, Rub-down and Adhesive Transfering F. Inks, Pens and Markers G. Manuals and Catalogues.

Cold Type: Type composed by other than traditional methods (hot type or foundry) – namely, photocomposition, paste-up, or “typewriter methods”. Such type is print-like in varying degrees.

The exhibition’s goal is to show the progression and enrich the understanding of the graphic design field; exploring tools of the trade from the mid-twentieth century and marking the contribution they made to shaping current tools used by today’s graphic designers.

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Preparing Mechanicals The first step in designing a printed piece is preparing a layout, a blueprint of a printed job. The layout may be a rough visual, a loose comprehensive, or a tightly rendered comprehensive, looking like the finished job in all details.

The final layout may be crudely drawn, but it has to be accurate in size and accurately marked, as it is the blueprint from which everyone, including the designer, will take their specifications to produce the job.

With the approved layout and paper dummy as a guide, the graphic designer is ready to put all the elements together into a final paste-up mechanical for graphic reproduction.

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Typewriters, Word Processors and Lettering Guides Cold type composition was a term first applied to a typewritten manuscript that was used as direct camera copy run by the offset process.

It was later used to differentiate the kind of printing material from composition produced by hot metal typecasting machines. The majority of composition, in the mid-twentieth century, was generated on phototypesetting equipment, giving quality text and display typography on paper or film bases. This material, in turn, is used in the preparation of camera-ready copy for offset lithography.

The type font is carried as a negative image or an image master. Depending on the system, the type font may be a grid, spinning disc, drum or filmstrip. The type is set using high intensity light that flashes through the characters, projecting them onto photographic paper or film.

Typewriter composition, also know as strike-on or direct impression, is probably the simplest of all typesetting methods and does not require the services of a skilled typographer. Some of the popular systems included the IBM Selectric Composer, Varityper and Olivetti. These systems have a good selection of typefaces in a range of text sizes.

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Refining Artwork and Preparing Proofs All material supplied to the printer for reproduction by the offset process was handled as art and copy preparation. The term copy includes all elements to be reproduced, including words, illustrations, photographs, borders, and other ornamentation.

There are several methods available that a graphic artist could use to produce special effects. This was the creative side of graphic arts darkroom photography. Special effects were produced to meet two general needs: a) the reproduction of creative images from otherwise average copy; and b) adherence to limitations created by materials and equipment in order to produce effective and economical printing.

Line conversions, duotones, posterisation, masking film and screen tints are but a few of the special photographic techniques used.

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Drafting, Measuring and Scaling Today we experience and use representations of tools for drafting, measuring and scaling through the use of different design softwares.

It is easy to forget that at one time everyting was done manually with the help of ingenious devices that graphic artists used to create mechanicals (paste-ups). The mechanical is the final assembly of art and copy elements into a unit for photomechanical reproduction.

Many original art elements may be used in producing a printed piece. Some may have to be reduced or enlarged in size, which requires scaling and cropping. Much of the advantages of working with a paste-up, was that it could be changed in size for the finished job. The paste-up artist was able to calculate the new dimensions of any piece of work planned for a change in size.

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Inks, Pens and Markers Technical pens were used for artworking and for creating key-line shapes which the printer used as an edge guide for laying a flat area of colour, a tint or solid black. Technical pens come in various thicknesses depending on the required weight of the line. As the line work was reproduced in the final print, accuracy was paramount. To keep the work clean, the designer would slip a sheet of paper between their hand and the working area.

Markers were also an ideal medium for rapid visualisation and concept sketches and became synonymous with the creative departments of advertising agencies.

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Lettering Guides, Rub-down and Adhesive Transfering Type for the paste-up may come in the form of a reproduction proof, a high-quality print made from handset or machine set type. In majority of the cases, however, cold-type composition was provided. This would usually be in the form of photocomposition. Preprinted transfer lettering, borders, and ornaments were used for some kinds of work. These materials are either of the rub-down variety or adhesive.

Letraset Design System added dimension to the work of the graphic designer and artist, by making available a series of techniques and products, permutable in any combination to deliver any desired effect. Products were closely intergrated and each product made its contribution to the effectiveness and economy of the graphic designer’s work. The size of instant lettering is the exact equivalent of metal pica or ditot size.

Templates that contained letters of different sizes, with numbers and various symbols could also be used to produce title sized letters. The advantage of using guiding devices was that the lettering would be uniform, and a person unskilled in free hand lettering could produce neat, attractive work with only a little practice.

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Manuals and Catalogues Producing quality paste-ups is a challenge.

Knowledge about the production was a necessary part of the any design education, gained in the classroom through books such as James Craig’s 1974 classic Production for the Graphic Designer, and Gerald A. Silver’s Modern Graphic Arts Paste-Up, or in the workplace, whether it was how something was printed or bound or from design magazines and letraset catalogues.

The books and manuals explore the different techniques of paste-up work, including introduction for the students to the different tools and practices as well as the scope of the Graphic Arts industry.

Magazines, catalogues and manuals were launched to meet the needs of students and professional designers.

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INDEX

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Preparing Mechanicals 9 Layout Artist The layout artist is specially trained to prepare the printing layout on the clients ideas and requirements. The sketches show the most effective arrangement of illustrations and text matter. A working knowledge of type styles and the ability to estimate the amount of space that the words need were basic requirements for this position.

10 - 11 Paste-Up Artist The paste-up artist prepares a paste-up or mechanical following the layout artist’s sketch. The paste-up artist measures and marks a paste-up board to determine the exact positions of the illustrations and words. The photographic and typeset material is cut apart to fit the spaces on the mechanical. All material is then carefully pasted on the illustration board in the proper position. Paste-up artists are usually required to have a knowledge of drafting techniques as well as the ability to do precise work. The quality of the finished printed product will only be as good as the assembled paste-up.

12 - 13 Stripper After the illustrations and word copy for a job have been photographed, the negatives and positives are sent to a stripper. The stripper tapes the films into final position on sheets of goldenrod paper or plastic. When all the pieces are in position, the stripper cuts window openings from the goldenrod material to allow light to pass through the illustrations and words, to be exposed on the printing plate.

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Typewriters, Word Processors and Lettering Guides 16 - 17 Type Image Font Masters Various methods were used to store the photographic image like: glass grid, Linofilm, Film strip, Linoterm, individual Matrix slides, etc.

20 - 21 Diatype A Diatype is a manual "typesetter machine" used for the phototypesetting of texts, printing them on a light sensitive film.

18 - 19 Letterphot A type font image master was used to store the photographic image. Each disc contains one font, and could replace the metal type cases used in letterpress.

Phototypesetting works by cre-ating photographic prints from a negative, exposing one letter at a time until the text is completed. The discs could easily be shifted and rotated inside the machine to reach a certain letter. The Letterphot disc can hold one font at a time so when you want to change a font you have to replace the disc manually from the machine. The letters of the machine carry a 12pt font but the machine can scale the letters between 4pt and 36pt, a significant difference from the letterpress method where you have to set physical letters on each size you want to use.

22 - 23 Process Camera A process camera is a specialised form of camera used for mass reproduction of graphic materials.

24 - 27 Stencil / Frisket While a designer’s original artwork might be submitted as pencil or ink drawing, the production of drawings, and the production of typefaces in the photosetting era often took the form of stencils cut freehand with a knife out of acetate-backed red masking film.

28 - 29 Kroy 80 - Lettering System This manual lettering machine creates professional looking lettering by dialing the typedisc to the desired character and pressing the print button. Letter spacing can be automatic or adjustable.

Typediscs are available in over 30 popular typestyles, in sizes from 8 to 36pt.

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Typewriters, Word Processors and Lettering Guides 30 - 31 Imperial Typewriter A common used typewriters for producing cold type composition for offset reproduction.

32 - 38 IBM Selectric The free standing composer resembles a Selectric typewriter, has a replaceable type element and a carbon ribbon mechanism. Each time a key is depressed, a letter image is formed on the page. The IBM MT/SC has a tape system which stores key strokes on a reel of magentic tape. Errors are corrected on the MT/SC by backspacing and retyping. this backs up the tape and corrects the error. After all copy has been keyboarded, the machine plays out a corrected draft, without requiring retyping.

The IBM Selectric Composer features stationary carriage and interchangeable type fonts called elements. Because it carries a single type ball font, it cannot set mixed composition in the same line without changing type balls

39 - 45 Olivetti Typewriter Portable and lightweight typewriters with innovative design ethos extended beyond its products that can be found in the company's advertisements. Olivetti is considered pioneering for the ways in which they communicateds complex, extensive information through a bold simplified aesthetic.

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Refining Artwork and Preparing Proofs 47 Screen Tints Tint screens were used to produce shading, background and other design effects. These screens are produced in a variety of densities (percentage area covered by dots), and a variety of rulings (number of lines of dots per inch).

A screen of any given density may be obtained in a variety of rulings.

48 - 49 Percentage Screen Lay template over a halftone screen, turn to 45 degree angle to determine the halftone screen.

50 Line Conversions The most common technique of making a halftone negative is to a use halftone contact sheet. In addition, special effect halftone screens can be used to convert continuous tone copy to line convertions. Among these are mezzotint, steel engraving, circular, wavyline, and vertical straightline. The layout artist could create unusual designs with special effect screened copy. The original copy is usually prepared on photoprint paper and attached directly to the paste up.

51 - 55 Instantex Instantex are patterned, rubbed down sheets that were used to add tone and texture in illustrations.

56 Red Masking Film Red masking films consists of two films sandwiched together. The bottom layer is a clear polyester backing sheet; the top layer is a translucent, red (ruby) coloured, sheet. The masking film is used in many areas of graphic design, typically to produce masks for various printing techniques.

57 Dry Color A specially coated coloured ink sheet, which by the dry transfer process, deposits a thin film of evenly coloroured ink on the artwork.

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Drafting, Measuring and Scaling 59 Slide Rule The common slide rule will be found useful in determining new sizes after reduction or blow-up. Essentially a slide rule is the same device as a proportion scale. The scale is etched in a linear or ruler form. The disadvantage of the slide rule is that it does not give percentage of reduction in the window.

60 - 61 Drawing Templates There are hundreds of patterns made for every possible use. Generally, designers used the all-purpose drawing guide template such as radius guide, spacer, parallel spacer, or isometric ellipsis guides.

62 - 63 Adjustable Triangle A thicker triangle (100°) of clear acrylic with beveled edges. Protractor section graduates in 1/2” degree increments from 0 ° to 90° with magnifier.

64 - 65 French Curves Usually made from metal, wood or plastic composed of many different curves. It is used in manual drafting to draw smooth curves of varying radii.

The shapes are segments of the Euler spiral or clothoid curve.

66 - 67 Pica/Agate Ruler A clear, accurate version with picas and 6 & 12 pt scales on one side, and agates & inches in 16ths on the other side. This type measure is much more likely to be used for its handy list of unit conversions and glyph shortcuts than measuring type.

68 Proportion Scale To find the proportions of a new size, line up one dimension of the original copy with the corresponding dimension of the new size. Other dimensions will line up around the dial. To find the percentage of reduction, the original size is shown in the inner scale and it is lined up with the new size on the outer scale.

69 Scaleograph Time saving, easy-to-use precision plastic mechanical instrument that takes the guesswork out of scaling and cropping photographs, odd shapes, or drawings. Precise white scales on the arms gives easy-to-read measurements for necessary camera work.

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70 Rubber Cement The standard adhesive used in paste-up work. It dries clear and it is flexible. The rubber cement releases its bond making rearrangement of proofs easy.

71 Opaline Dry Cleaning Pad Powdered gum erasers in a mesh fabric pad that gently removes dirt and smudges from drafting media without abrading the surface.

72 Drafting Tools From left to right: Proportional divider, Cross Joint Rulling Pen, Parallel Ruling Pen, Precision Cutting Compass, Adjustable Dual cutter.

73 Knives The standard graphic arts tool that can accomplish the most light-weight cutting and indricate work in the studio.

74 Erasers There are several different kinds of erasers for different uses, and the major point to remember is never to use a plastic type for anything other than plastic films. The featured erasers are all for pencil work.

75 Drafting Brush The drafting brush played an important role in the primitive production process. It ensured that the rubber erasure crumbs were kept clear of the working surface.

76 -77 Table-top Waxers Waxing was the most popular method because of the speed. The elements to be waxed are coated with a thin layer wax applied to the back of the copy sheet.

78 Hand-held Wax Coater Wax is applied to the back of the proof by the machine. The proof is then pressed into place. It may be easily removed by peeling it off. Wax coaters are available in small hand-held models that deposit a 1� strip of wax and larger models which coat the entire proof in one pass.

79 Wax Special wax used for waxing machines and hand-held waxers.

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Drafting, Measuring and Scaling 80 Drawing Board Clips These drawing board clips are designed to hold paper securely to 5mm thick drawing boards, with a one-piece construction shaped to prevent damage to the artwork.

83 Register marks tape Register marks are applied in diagonal corners of the paste-up before any artwork is prepare. A register mark should be placed at each corner of a larger paste-up and its overlays.

81 Magnifiers (Loupes) Tint screens were widely used throughout the Graphic Arts industry to produce shading, background and other design effects. A screen of any given density may be obtained in a variety of rulings. The magnifier is used to distinguish the characteristics of each various tint screen values.

84 Electric Eraser Commonly used by draftspersons and architects for accurate detail erasing.

82 Register marks From left to right: a) A standard register mark used on paste-ups. It is designed to be used in its positive form. b) A smaller version of the standard register mark that can be used where space is limited. c) Used with positive transparencies, that can be reproduced on film in either a positive or negative form. d) An alternative of the mark "c" above, used on multi-coloured printing.

85 Erasing Shield The erasing shield allows you to erase without smearing or the accidental erasure of surrounding areas.

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Inks, Pens and Markers 87 -91 Rapidograph Pens High precision technical pen with a unique capillary cartridge, in 13 line widths. Wear-resistant, hard chrome-plated thin tip allows working in exquisite detail. This technical drawing pen is suitable for a variety of surfaces such as lineboard, tracing paper & vellum drawing paper.

92 Graphos Pens A popular alternative to technical pens, the Graphos offers a more versatile drawing and writing system based on sixty easily interchangeable steel nibs, of five basic types. The fountain pens are efficient in technical drawing, ruling and stenciling, free hand drawing, lettering, and calligraphy. The ink flow is continuous and uniform, and may be varied by using one of the three feed units.

93 Drawing Ink (Diazo) Diazo ink is used in printing fine line drawings, various hand and commercial lettering techniques, as well as for photographic half-tone positives.

94 Indian Ink Indian ink is a simple black or colored ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing and outlining, specially when inking comic books and comic strips.

95 Ink techniques Basic ink techniques using pen and brush strokes.

96 -97 Pen Nibs Fine quality steel pen nibs for drawing, lettering, mapping, and fine line work.

102 - 105 Pantone Markers Each Pantone marker barrel is colour coded and bears the colour number.

The markers are elegant and slightly tampered for easy handling; tips are made of wool felt; a tight fitting twist-off cap with an inner seal is coded white for broad tip, and black for fine tip pens.

106 - 107 Magic Markers Felt-tip marker system with an extensive range of 186 permanent colours that are not Pantone matched. Design concepts were produced using Magic Markers on layout pads.

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Lettering Guides, Rub-down and Adhesive Transfering 109 Standardgraph Lettering Stencil Made from transparent, orange plastic.

The rate of transparency allows to see the drawing medium below the template for easy positioning.

114 - 115 Ames Lettering Instrument Designed to rule accurately spaced lines, particularly for lettering, by inserting a pencil point through proper hole and sliding it along a parallel ruler.

110 - 111 Lettering Scriber and Guides Scriber that comes with the professional lettering set. The lettering guide template is a special type of template, used to write uniform characters in a drawing nameplate.

116 - 119 Wet Transfer This earlier version of the instant lettering tecnique was printed on a two-layered sheet. The top layer was a thinned gummed tissue and carried the letters. To strip of the letters, the designer had to cut a score line through the top tissue under each line of type and insert the tip of the cutting tool to raise the edge. This was done by running the blade along under the score line. To peel off the letter both sides of the tissue were required to be cut. The letters were then placed face down on a moistened silk on the back of the frame. The designer had to then thoroughly wet the tissue and let it soak for 1 minute. The tissue was then removed and the letters remained on the screen. The frame was then turned over and aligned on the artwork. The final step required to press down the letters on the artwork through the silk and lift away the frame for application.

The letters could be adjusted if necessary with a blunt point.

112 - 113 Varigraph The Varigraph lettering device works very much on the same principal as the Leroy lettering system, using a scriber following a template and ink pen, but has the additional feature of being able to alter the height and width of the letters by manipulating the two knobs on the device which change the dimensions in the x and y directions. By changing just one of the knobs, letters can be made wider or thinner.

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120 - 123 Letrasign Ideal for both indoor and outdoor use.

The letters are made out of durable PVC which will retain its shape and withstand the normal weather conditions. The accurate edge definition of the letters combined with the build in spacing system, provides a sign system that even an amateur can use to produce professional results.

138 - 141 Letraset Symbols As well as Art Sheets, Action Transfers/ Instant Pictures & Specials, Letraset produced other ranges of graphic transfer products, most of which were labelled as part of the 'Symbols' family. The most popular were the Architectural Symbols ranges (AS & ASH), but there were plenty of others such as flags of the World, International Signage and so on.

124 - 127 Letraline Many borders were available, which were easily applied directly to the paste-up by hand or with the aid of a special applicator. The borders are cut to the desired lenght with an X-acto knife.

142 - 151 Letratone Used as a screentone technique for applying textures and shades to drawings.

128 - 137 Dry Transfers One type of adhesive lettering is non-waxed dry-transfer lettering. The letter to be transferred is placed over the artwork and tarnished directly on it. No letters need to be cut out because they are not printed on acetate. Its advantages are speed and ease of use.

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