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LetterMpress

LetterMpress is a project by graphic designer John Bonadies to create a virtual letterpress environment for the iPad that will allow users to create authentic-looking letterpress designs and prints:

The design process is the same as the letterpress process—you place and arrange type and cuts on a press bed, lock the type, ink the type, and print. You will be able to create unlimited designs, with multiple colors, using authentic vintage wood type and art cuts. And you can print your design directly from LetterMpress or save it as an image for import it into other applications.

The project has already reached its initial Kickstarter funding target to purchase complete collections of wood type, but no doubt additional funds will be useful. The type that acquired by LetterMpress will be housed at a new letterpress co-op called the “Living Letter Press” and project organizers plan to offer authentic letterpress prints from designs submitted by users in future.

(thanks Sio)

4 Comments

  1. Neil

    Is there a paradox in the phrase “authentic-looking” ?

    • Dan

      Hey Neil. Thanks for your comment I’m not sure it’s a paradox as such. Something can appear to be authentic even when it isn’t. I mean, you might say something like: “the painting looked authentic but was, on closer inspection, a reproduction.” Or you might talk about authentic-looking reproduction furniture…

      However, there is definitely something odd — contradictory even? — about the idea of a digital letterpress, or taking something we think of as authentic and rare, and turning it into something artificial and ubiquitous.

      Still, LetterMpress is clearly trying to connect the digital with actual wood-type, and, in turn, preserve the original, authentic process by making it more accessible. I think that’s kind of cool and interesting.

  2. Neil

    It is cool and very interesting. A nostalgic reaction to the digital world, through digital means. Digital design being turned against itself. Maybe we need a new word like “synthentic” — the synthetic authentic.

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