With a focus on stock, substrate an 'Special' Print finishes find as many variants as possible for each of the following areas:
Branding and Identity
Packaging and Promotion
Publishing and Editorial
Information and Wayfinding
Sunday 24 November 2013
OUGD501 Study Task 5
Using the texts Garland, K. 'The First Things First Manifesto (1964); Poyner, Lasn et al (2000) ' The First Things First Manifesto 2000'; Poyner, R. (2000) 'First Things First Revisited' and Beirut, M. (2007) 'Ten Footnotes to a Manifesto' write a triangulated critical analysis of two media images (works of graphic design / advert / TV commercial / publicity poster / magazine cover / news story). This analysis should discuss the ethical role of the designer, and ideally should compare one example of 'ethical' design with another 'unethical' one.
Make sure that you compare the opinions of the four different writers and not simply quote but draw out subtle similartities and differences in their positions. Refer to the writing guide on eStudio for help constructing a triangulated written argument.
OUGD504 Jason-Evolution Print Lecture
Notes taken from the talk
Litho Printers Sheffield
Gloss, Un-coated, Silk
Un-coated,-flatter imagery, organic look, bulks up hand on quality
Litho-15,000 sheets an hour
-more expensive but comes out better
Max sheet size digital 340x440 sra3, limited litho gives you bigger paper size
Uses vegetable inks.
5 colour plates
Charges per sheet 40-60p per sheet on digital print
Litho charges on make ready charge, Plate cost b2 machine 1 set full colour £100
make ready £60
Fredrigoni paper samples
Things designers get wrong
-Bleed 3mm, ticks and crop marks needed
-Business cards need to be individual with bleed
-Brochures and Booklets needs to be single pages not spreads. Send front cover so that the artwork can be tweaked to fit
-dont use transparent spot colours, set them to overprint
-Cutting foram individual spot colour
-Image size roughly the exact size of what it is 300dpi
-8's, 16's 32's when designing books etc.
Are the benefits of the stock going to be appreciated when covered in ink.
Work in turn- each sides backs each other
Sheetwork 8 plates not 4 more expensive different image on the back
Cheaper to print a white stock, then add a tint
Pete Mckee and Judge Gill use this Evolution Print a lot.
Litho Printers Sheffield
Gloss, Un-coated, Silk
Un-coated,-flatter imagery, organic look, bulks up hand on quality
Litho-15,000 sheets an hour
-more expensive but comes out better
Max sheet size digital 340x440 sra3, limited litho gives you bigger paper size
Uses vegetable inks.
5 colour plates
Charges per sheet 40-60p per sheet on digital print
Litho charges on make ready charge, Plate cost b2 machine 1 set full colour £100
make ready £60
Fredrigoni paper samples
Things designers get wrong
-Bleed 3mm, ticks and crop marks needed
-Business cards need to be individual with bleed
-Brochures and Booklets needs to be single pages not spreads. Send front cover so that the artwork can be tweaked to fit
-dont use transparent spot colours, set them to overprint
-Cutting foram individual spot colour
-Image size roughly the exact size of what it is 300dpi
-8's, 16's 32's when designing books etc.
Are the benefits of the stock going to be appreciated when covered in ink.
Work in turn- each sides backs each other
Sheetwork 8 plates not 4 more expensive different image on the back
Cheaper to print a white stock, then add a tint
Pete Mckee and Judge Gill use this Evolution Print a lot.
OUGD501 Lecture Globalisation, Sustainability and the Media
The medias role in perpetutating an ever expansive global system based on dominant interests and capitalist powers. One system of organising the world into a larger system.
A world were a series of radically different cultures were existent has now been taken over by a mono culture. Unified into a single society to function together. A combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces. Globalisation was desired as it was seen as a change in which would push people to join together.
Capitalism.
The elmimination of state-enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and increasingly integrated...
Globalisation:
- About the process of spereading free market policies across the world.
- Conciousness, thinking about the world and eachother - dominance of a western culture, the spread of an american or western way of life.
- Technology makes us interelated.
- Realizing one single culture - negative or positive?
Cultural globalisation:
- Capital marketing becoming existent and growing within other cultures.
- 'McDonaldization' Taking over the globe, as mcdonalds can be found in any major city.
- A particular way of ordering the world, an amerian way transposed into other cultures.
- Fast food - Eating quickly. No bonding through eating, fragmented culture.
- Work under american capitilist model. 'Mcjob' a job someone has to do but doesnt want to do.
- Work as a way of contributing to society, taking an identity with your work.
- A forced spread dominating society.
Marshall Mcluhan.
'Today after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned'
- An extension of our senses.
- Radio means we can hear stuff on the other side of the world as well as tv.
- We can experience the effect of our actions on the rest of the world.
- Our ability to empathize with others will bring us closer into a global embrace.
Global village thesis.
The world shrinks to be a global villaige, our realationships become those like villaigers, a community.
1964 - Prophet of the internet.
We are able to view events in live time - tradgedies in other countries.
Contrary to this, this global embrace has not happened, we are not necessarily sympathetic. We are nor aware of the consequences of our actions in such a way.
We live integrally, The electronic age has sealed the entire human family into one tribe.
Rather than a global system emerging, Rival ideologies are emerging and tearing the world apart.
Centripetal forces - Bringing the world together in a uniform global society.
Centrifugal forces - tearing the world apart in tribal wars.
We DO NOT have a global embrace
GLOBALIZATION:
Sovereingnty: Challeneges to the idea of nation-state.
Accountibility: transnational forces and organizations, who controls them?
Identity: Who are we? nation, group community, we lose ourselves.
When a company is based in more than one country, it become impossible to police, you can pass a law in england but it wont apply in other countries. Effectively businesses are almost more powerful than governments, multinational can act outside of the control of governments. In the spread of multinationalist capitilist businesses. the process of mcdonaldization is occuring. One particular culture is being spread across the world.
Cultural impreialism.
Chomsky.
The spread of culture through art design television and film, is as much a product of multinationalal business such as mcdnoalds.
The whole world is a market, everyone is on a playingfield, all equal/fair - free market.
- Media conglomerates operate as oligopolies.
- Giant clusters of businesses in the control of one central business.
Six companies are controlling the entirity of the worlds media, all of which are american.
Time warner.
Umberella company, lots of sub companies. All of these comapies which impart lots of the worlds media are all earned by one american comapny. The one company controls the cultural output of a vast percentage of the worlds media.
America is the prime market (North America)
Western Europe, Japan and Australia.
Developing economies (India, china, brazil, eastern europe)
The rest of the world (Africa)
Concerns of northern america will be prominent in magazines that are distributed in africa. Because American business’ have the most money. tHEY ARE INDOCTRINATED TO ACCEPT THAT THIS CULTURE IS ‘THE’ WAY OF LIFE. AND SO THEY ASSOCIATE THEIR NEEDS ETC WITH THOSE OF THE AMERICAN CULTURE. You are what you own, not appropriate for other countries such as Africa, as they cannot keep up with money fuelled countries such as North America.
Cultural packages sold all over the world but presented as iunique, repackaging the ska ecommodities eg. big brother.
India - Skin whitener, to get the american look. the whole world is being assimilated.
Chomsky - Manufacturing consent.
The news- we believe we can watch the news and know what is happening. The news reader is the key part of propaganda.
- Ownership: Larger percentage of newspapers owned by Rupert Murdock. His agenda is to make as much money for himself as possible, most of his papers run stories appearing as factual, the stories are self serving. The sun determined the output of U.K elections, Tories made a deal with Rupert Murdock, Tories allowed him to buy more news organisations. The media have immense power. It is a mistake to think that stories reported in these newspapers are without bias views.
- Funding
- Sourcing: What is reported is what is allowed to be reported. Funders of these media organisations will not have it. Advertisers will withdraw there money, bosses at newspapers will not allow it, and journalists would lose their jobs. They must print stories which are sympathetic to the governing body.
Flak.
US based Global climate coalition.
Get stories into newspapers, stories that paint oil companies in a great light.
Propaganda disguised as news.
Visual communication is an incredibly powerful media for influencing the consciousness.
An inconvenient truth - film.
Flat earthers - People who believe the world to be flat.
Global summit- Kyoto. Try to thrash out a solution to global warming. Ever sanction is stopped by the US and China because it would cause money loss for both of these countries. Polluting the world is secondary to profit. To save the planet it is not to overthrow these countries, produce less CO2 and plant more vegetation. Deforestation is decreasing at a must faster rate than we can keep up with. Solutions to world problems is to buy more things, The American culture are the reason for these problems, they want you to buy to solve these.
Sustainability:
- Supposed to be sympathetic towards this.
- introduced in the 80’s - has a view towards stopping the depletion of all the worlds resources, allow societies to sustain themselves.
Erin Balser.
More expensive to be sustainable.
Solve the problems of capitalism by capitalism is flawed from the start. companies are exploiting the fact that people are concerned about the planets welfare. Green washing - Comapanies make a green product.
‘Most things are not designed for the needs of people but for the needs of the manufacturers to sell to people. The media plays a role in perpetuating this system. The way to challenge this is to challenge the system.
OUGD501 Study task 4
The Gaze and The media
Using the text Coward, R. 'The Look', write one critical analysis of a media image (advert / TV commercial / publicity poster / magazine cover / news story) which, in your opinion, constructs a particular type of gender sterotype, or reflects the dominant patriarchal concepts of gender, critiqued in the lecture 'The Gaze & the Media' (31/10/13). Use at least five quotes, referenced according to the Harvard system, in support of your argument.
Which is not only quite crude toward the appearance of many women but it is also incredibly inappropriate also indicating that this beer is for men. 'Privileged in general in this society, men also control the visual media' (Coward, R., 'The look' in Thomas. J. (ed.) (2000), Reading images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, p.g 33.)
That quote is completely correct this has been most probably designed by a man for a man, something that would catch his attention also using imagery that looks like its been taken from a male magazine. Its also having a dig at the appearance of women now in todays society insinuating they don't look as good as they did back then but perhaps they don't look as good as the women in the magazines. This ad could in fact make many women feel inferior, less confident and degraded. 'Women's experience of sexuality rarely strays far from ideologies and feelings about self-image.' (Coward, R., 'The look' in Thomas. J. (ed.) (2000), Reading images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, p.g 33.) The main focus on this advertisement is not the beer its the naked women on the ad, that anyone male or female would notice first either out of interest or disgust. 'In this society, looking has become a crucial aspect of sexual relations, not because of ay natural impulse, but because it is one of the ways in which domination and subordination are expressed' (Coward, R., 'The look' in Thomas. J. (ed.) (2000), Reading images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, p.g 34.)
Using the text Coward, R. 'The Look', write one critical analysis of a media image (advert / TV commercial / publicity poster / magazine cover / news story) which, in your opinion, constructs a particular type of gender sterotype, or reflects the dominant patriarchal concepts of gender, critiqued in the lecture 'The Gaze & the Media' (31/10/13). Use at least five quotes, referenced according to the Harvard system, in support of your argument.
After the seminar of The gaze and the media it really opened up my eyes to the stereotypical and judgemental world we live in. The above advertisement shows this perfectly, not only by the imagery but also by the text. This advertisement for Schlitz Beer is not only stereotypical towards male and female but it is also sexist and patronising. This beer company hasn't just produced the one of stereotypical image it has produced many using women particularly in a demeaning manner, its as if they have built up a reputation to use women in there advertisements in a humorous way. However it doesn't just show this stereotype for women it portrays it towards men as well, by having a women stood in the kitchen with an apron on cooking but also having a male dressed in a suit insinuating he has just come home from work to his wife cooking. It is also showing the stereotypical view that a man would advertise beer, as it is seen as a male dominated beer. The advertisement is also in a sense showing that the women is sad holding the cloth towards her face as if she was upset and equally quite emotional and soft because she has burnt the food and the male, her husband has come in and comforted her and said in a rather patronising way that its ok because he still has beer. 'Marriage, for instance, operates to secure women's labour and reproductive capacity to the advantage of men.' (Coward, R., 'The look' in Thomas. J. (ed.) (2000), Reading images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, p.g 35.)
The marriage of the couple in the advertisement already is insinuated because she looks as if she is a stay at home wife and the husband works, therefore the women cooks for the man for when he comes home. The fact that the advertisement has a vintage design to it, it also suggests that because in those days that was the norm for the male to be the main income and for the women to stay at home to do the laborious jobs.
'Advertising in this society builds precisely on the creation of anxiety to effect that, unless we measure up, we will not be loved' (Coward, R., 'The look' in Thomas. J. (ed.) (2000), Reading images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, p.g 38.) This would go back to what I said previously about the women in the advertisement seemingly crying and wiping away her tears, as it shows that she is inferior to the man because she has failed because she burnt tea and it is going against what the 'perfect' housewife would do, women are born into a society which forces them to believe they have to be like that.
However the stereotypical thought that many have been brought up believing (not so much now) that beer is a male drink, and this is portrayed with in the advert but also seemingly all the male cares about is the beer, heaven for bid if she had done something to the beer, then she would have a reason to cry and be upset, not the fact that the women has spent ages cooking for the male and that is all he is focused on.
For further understanding of the Schlitz beer as a brand I looked at there other advertisements as well and they use women scantily dressed, i.e topless in there most recent ads, objectifying women using a quote 'Things had better body then'
That quote is completely correct this has been most probably designed by a man for a man, something that would catch his attention also using imagery that looks like its been taken from a male magazine. Its also having a dig at the appearance of women now in todays society insinuating they don't look as good as they did back then but perhaps they don't look as good as the women in the magazines. This ad could in fact make many women feel inferior, less confident and degraded. 'Women's experience of sexuality rarely strays far from ideologies and feelings about self-image.' (Coward, R., 'The look' in Thomas. J. (ed.) (2000), Reading images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, p.g 33.) The main focus on this advertisement is not the beer its the naked women on the ad, that anyone male or female would notice first either out of interest or disgust. 'In this society, looking has become a crucial aspect of sexual relations, not because of ay natural impulse, but because it is one of the ways in which domination and subordination are expressed' (Coward, R., 'The look' in Thomas. J. (ed.) (2000), Reading images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, p.g 34.)
Monday 18 November 2013
OUGD501 Lecture Ethics-What is Good?
Ethics- What is good ?
First things first By Ken Garland 1964
A manifesto signed by quite famous designers, advertisers etc of the time
produced in a boom time, the boom of consumerism, post time affluence
All the designers felt frustrated that creative talents were wasting there talents on marketing pointless trivial commodities, like cat food, detergent, hair restorer, aftershave etc.
Call for designers to do something more with there talent rather then flog dog biscuits.
A celebration of the designer, but also a sigh at the waste of talent
Unethical to waste talent in pointless endeavours to make money for other people.
80's was forgotten
First things first manifesto 2000, by Adbusters 2000
redraft the tone changes, gone from crying about wasting talent to becoming more aggressive criticising the advertising system
' We the undersigned. are graphic designers, art directors and vis com who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative effective and desirable use of our talents. Many design teachers and mentors promote belief; the market rewards it; a tide of books and publications reinforces it.'
'encourages in this direction, designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits designer coffee, diamonds,etc. Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become in large measure what graphic designers have no let become in large measure what graphic designers do. This in then is how the wold perceives design. The professions time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for thins that are inessential at best.' Making people buy things and want things that they can't afford. Roping you all in in being in a system of global exploitation
'Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting and implicit.'
There are pursuits more worthy of out problem solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. Many cultural interventions social marketing campaigns books mags exhibitions educational tools TV programmes film charitable causes and other info design projects urgently require our expertise and help'
We propose a reversal of priorities in favour of more useful lasting and democratic forms of communication- a mind shift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand.
Consumerism is running uncontested it must be challenge by other prospectives expressed in part through visual language and resources of design.
Adbusters and culture jamming
In 1964 22 vis com signed the original call for our skills to be put to worthwhile use. With the explosive growth of global commercial culture, their message has only grown more urgent. Today we renew their manifesto in expectation that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart.
Ken Garland, Kalle Lasn, Rick Poyner
Very easy to look down your nose at everyone and have ethics when you don't need to worry about getting work and earning money to live. So it was very easy for these designers to sign the manifesto as they are very wealthy designers.
Putting all the problems on new designers by saying they are unethical is unfair.
Primark being exposed to employing sweat shop labourers, symbolic minor protests by saying you won't shop there. What is unethical is the system.
Exploiting advertising with capitalism
To be an ethical designer is to do more with your talents then to just do your job. Do more.
"a meme (rhymes with dream) is a unit of info (a catchphrase, a concept, a tune a belief) that leaps from brain to brain to brain. Memes compete with one another for replication and are passed down through a population much the say way genes pass through a species. Potent memes ca change minds lather behaviours catalyse collective mind shifts, and transform cultures. Which is why meme warfare has become the geopolitical battle of our info age. Whoever has the memes has the power"
Adbusters and Kalle Lasn
Victor Papanek
'Most things are designed not for the needs of the people but for the needs of manufacturers to sell to people' (Papanek, 1983:46)
'Why the things you buy are expensive badly designer unsafe and usually don't work. With some startling practical alternatives like a radio that costs 9c a s7 refrigerator a TV set for 8 dollars and much more! design for the real world
Human ecology and social change with an intro
whats people to use there skills more usefully
Papanek Beer Can Automobile Can Bumper, 1971
talents are being waster, people are ignoring design solutions because of cost
How do we determine what is good ?
there is a way of working in a capitalist society that is ethical and un ethical
Ethical Theories
Subjective relativism
-There are no universal moral norms of right and wrong
-All persons decide right and wrong for themselves
Results in social anarchy
fabric of society breaks down, a variant of what everyone thinks at some point or other
Cultural Relativism
-The ethical theory that whats right or wrong depends on place and or time
Divine Command Theory
-Good actions are aligned with the will of God
-Bad actions are contrary to the will of God
-The holy book helps make the decisions
Kantiansims
-Imanuel Kant 1724-1804 a german philosopher
-Peoples wills should be based on moral rules
-Therefore is important that our actions are based on appropriate morel rules
-To determine when a moral rule is appropriate Kant proposed two Categorical imperatives
Two formulations of the categorical imperative
-Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time universalise.
-If you act on a moral rule that would cause problems if everyone followed it then your action are not moral
-Act so that you always treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves and never only as a means to an end.
-If you use people for your one benefit that is not moral
Utilitarianism's (John Stuart Mill)
Principle of Utility
Also known as greatest happiness principle
An action is right to the extent that is increases the goal happiness of the affected parties
An action is wrong to the extent that it decreases the total happiness of the affected parties
Happiness may have many definitions such as advantage benefit good or pleasure
Rules are based on the principle of utility a rule is right to the extent that it increases the total happiness of the effected parties
the greets happiness principle is applied to moral rules
Similar to Kantianism- both pertain rules
but Kantianism uses the categorical imperative to decide which rules to follow.
Social cultural theory
Thomas Hobbes 1603-1679 and Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
An agreement between individuals held together by common interest
Avoids society degenerating into the state of nature or the war of all against all (hobbes)
"Morality consistes in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one anthers, that rational people will agree to accept for their mutual benefit on the condition that others follow those rules as well"
We trade some of out liberty for a stable society.
Toolbox of moral/ Ethical Theories
Whether presented with problems that are easy or difficult to solve, the four workable ethical theories,
Criteria for a workable ethical theory
Moral decisions and rules
Based on logical reasoning
Come from facts and commonly held or shared values
Culturally neutral
Social and Ecologically Responsible design
Radio receiver designed for the third world. It is made of used juice can and uses paraffin wax and a wick as a power source. The rising heat is converted into enough energy to power this non-selective receiver. Once the wax is gone, it can be replaced by more wax paper dried cow dung, or anything else that will burn. Manufacturing costs on a cartage industry basis 9 cents designed by victor Papinek and George Seeger at North Carolina
Social Tithe
Model for an ethical practise
designers should do whatever jobs they want to make money etc but then devote ten percent a day to design for worthwhile and ethical courses.
74% OF OUR POPULATION OWN 84% OF OUR WEALTH
The assets of the worlds top three billionaire are greater than those of poorest 600 million on the planet
More then a third of the worlds population 2.8 billion live on less than one dollar a day
in 2002 34.5 million americans lived below the official poverty line 8.5 million of those had jobs
Black american poverty double what of whites
Per capita income in sub saharan africa =$490
Per capita subsidy for european cows =$913
OUGD504 Laser Cut Induction
Health and Safety
The laser cutters are relatively risk free in comparison to much of the machinery to be found within the college. Having said that, there are a few rules and pointers.
1. The laser cutter is not to be left unattended- whilst the risk of fire is small, the situation can quickly escalate without prompt action. (The have been instanced of fire before on these cutters)
2.Ensure that the fume extraction is on and operating properly before cutting any materials.
3.No mirrors/reflective materials to be place in the laser cutter. The laser beam of light, light reflects on mirror to cut somewhere else.
4.Please do not put any materials in the cutter that are coated in solvents, chemicals etc as these cause toxic fumes and or increase flammability
5.You must book the laser cutter for use. The booking form can only be accessed by your course administrator or workshop staff and enables you to reserve the cutter and for staff to be sure that you are appropriately trained in the safe use of the cutter.
6. Be aware of where the emergency power cut off is and the location of the extinguisher in event of emergencies.
7. Do not interfere with any of the safety mechanisms
Note: A breach of any of these rules will result in immediate banning from the laser cutter.
Basic Specifications
Materials:
Paper- Nearly all types of paper cut well. Exceptions to this are those with reflective coatings, which may need a piece of newsprint over the top to negate the reflective properties. There are several paper types listed in the cutter at present and more can be added as appropriate.
Fabric-Most fabrics will work fine although you should be aware that some materials might have been coated which will affect performance. Common fabrics that have already been tested and calibrated include, cotton poplin, satin, silk, felt, wools, leathers and polyesters.
Plastics- Acrylic, acetates, polyesters, vinyl, melamine, and Perspex etc all work particularly well with the cutter. Ideally the plastics you use should be "Thermodynamic" plastics as these cut the best, do not burn or warp. A guide to the most common plastics (both Thermodynamic and Thermosetting) is listed in the file plastic types.doc
Wood-The laser cutter is capable of handling small quantities of wood. Manufactured woods such as chipboard, MDF and Ply board will generally only cut up to a depth of 6-9mm, others ail vary according to the density of grain but it is not unreasonable to be in the region of 10. These materials are particularly slow to cut and will be subject tot approval by workshop staff.
Glass- Etching and engraving only. Subject to approval by workshop staff.
Ceramics, Stone, Concrete, Plaster and other aggregates compounds- Etching and engraving is possible although this is a slow process. Stone is dependant on the type and finish as to the depth of cut.
Metals- The machine is insufficiently fitter to cut or etch metals. Even low and soft density metals such as Copper or tin will not mark let alone cut.
Sizes:
The machine will handle a flat surface area measuring approx. 720mm wide by 930 mm high although cutting to the fullest extents of this is not always possible. In general it is best to work on the basis of a sheet of A1 size material as anywhere can be cut.
Depth of materials can be manually calibrated to allow for this thinnest of materials up to a maximum material depth of 81mm for a full sheet design, with smaller samples i.e A3 having a maximum depth of 92mm.
File-types:
Raster (i.e photoshop) -JPG,BMP,TIFF,GIF,PICT,EPS
Vector (i.e Illustrator)- AI,DWG,EPS,DXF
N.B Vector files are generally by far and away the quickest and easiest files to cut.
Raster is only really practical for photographs reproduction (for printing blocks etc.)
Media Devices:
USB removable storage devices, DVD, CD, Floppy disk.
Note: The cutter is not networked so neither internet access or intranet are possible.
Logging on and accessing the programme:
Turn Laser on (lower right hand corner at the front of the cutter), ensuring that extraction system starts also)
Power up computer
Click on 'start' tab at the bottom left of the computer screen, which will bring up a programme menu.
Select 'ApS-Ethos Series' from the start menu
A log in dialogue will appear- Password is at present disabled although you should note that this may change from time to time as appropriate for administration and training purposes.
This will take you into the program ready to start opening designs.
Opening designs, scaling and orientation:
Opening designs:
To load a 'Vector' o,age (we'll come back to Raster/Photoshop images in a later session) select tje 'Design' tab from the top and then scroll down to select 'Import', the Adobe Illustrator' (ai extension).
A new dialogue window will now open enabling you to select the file, click on your file and press open.
As in the case of initially opening a design page, you will be presented with the dialogue box below. Again double click the 'Laser Effects' box located to the right.
Your image will automatically open now and be displayed.
Scaling designs:
First select your design by either left clicking the mouse and drag and drop to select your design work or pressing 'CTRL A' which selects all design work.
Select the 'Edit' tab from the toolbar at the top and then scroll down to select 'Rescale'
The design size window will now appear-enter the size that you require the design to measure.
Note: All sizes are in millimetre (mm) and take that you do not select a design size bigger than your substrate/material.
Standard A-series sizes of paper in mm are as follows,
A5-148 * 210
A4- 210 * 297
A3- 297 * 420
A2- 420 * 594
A1- 594 * 841
Type in your scaled size and then press ok
Orientation:
Generally when you open your design work you will have already set the orientation. However, now and again it is convenient to rotate your design for a best fit for your material choice.
From the top tool bars, on the right hand side select the 'rotate' tool tab.
You can now rotate your image manually by left clicking and dragging on the corner points or alternatively select 'CTRL N' and a prompt will open up alllowing you to rotate am exact amount i.e 90 degrees.
Setting material Area for the Laser Cutter
1. Ensure the Laser Cutter is turned on/off switch is located on thr front of the cutter. Check also that the emergency power off switch has not been activated
2. Lift cutter lid and place your material in the cutter. Lower lid.
3. All the functions to specify the machine cutting area are carried out from the control panel located on the front, top right of the cutter.
4. Press Online (hand button)
5. Press the material button, cutter display will read "load media"
6. Press Enter
7. Cutter display will now read "set origin". This is to determine the start of you material and is the bottom left of your page. Use the control panel curser to move the cutter head to the bottom left of the page
8. Press Enter
9. Cutter display will now read "set media"- Repeat as for step 7, although this time you are moving the cutter head to the top right of the page.
10. Press Enter and you are done
11. Return to computer and Cut design as per handbook
Adjusting the laser height
At the front of the laser barrel you will see a black plastic thumbscrew (focus adjustment screw) for height adjustment. Undo this and adjust to the height of your material accordingly. Ideally the laser barrel should be 3mm above the surface of material being cut. (use scrap piece of 3mm acrylic as a spacer)
Cut effects and cutting:
You now need to inform the laser cutter of how you want to cut the image.
Drag and drop the mouse cursor over the elements of your design to be cut.
Now that the image is selected you need to assign the elements of your drawing with a colour- this colour is used by the cutter to determine which elements of the will be cut or engraved etc.
If your drawing has no colour it is possible to assign colours from the toolbar at the top. 1st select the bits of drawing to be coloured and then select a colour from the drop down colour palette .
Now, select the 'Tools' tab from the toolbar and ten ' edit cut effects'
You will then be presented with the cut effects dialogue window.
Select an effect-e.g. 'Cut through' and then highlight the colour of your design (in the example of the giraffe, red) select the set option.
Note that the red colour tab now read 'cut-through' as opposed to 'unassigned'
Select your next effect- e.g. 'Engrave' then highlight the colour of your design (in the example of the giraffe, green), select the set option.
Note that the green colour tab now reads 'engrave as opposed to to 'unassigned'
This process has now informed the cutting programme (Aps-Ethos) which elements of the drawing you wish to cut, engrave etc.
N.B The colours you select do not matter, they are for visual purposes only.
As a general rule I always select red for cut, green for engrave and orange for a deeper engrave, like traffic lights as mnemonic for remembering the cutting order.
The next stage is to inform the cutter of your power and speed requirements for cutting.
To do this:
Select the 'Output' tab from the toolbar and then Material Manager followed by Setup
A dialogue window will now open.
Press the delete option (Dont worry, you are not deleting any information, you are merely informing the laser cutter that you wish to give some new instructions.)
This will now open up the Material Manager properties dialogue window.
Here you can select your material type (highlighted in green). If your material is not here you may need to create a new one.
If you need to create a new material or adjust the cut settings- contact a course tutor.
Press Ok
You are now ready to commence cutting.
If you are ready to cut, select the 'Output' tab from the toolbar menu and then 'Cut Design'
A dialogue window will now open, enabling you to view the cut settings and make any last alterations to the design- confirm that the material and design are all correct and press ok.
A dialague window will now prompt you to confirm that a new material exists. (The machine is checking that you want to cut the material in the cutter.)
Press Ok- The cutter will now commence)
Rastering a Photo:
In some instances such as creating a woodblock it can be more convenient to 'raster cut' your image rather than use file types such as illustrator.
N.B This process is very slow in comparison but great for reproducing photographic type imagery
Example Image (image can be a TIF file installed in Ethos/Images)
To place an image, go to 'Image' from the toolbar then 'Insert image'.
This will open up a window asking you to select your file- Images may be in tiff, jpeg and bitmap files amongst others.
Select your image and press open and then drag and drop onto the desktop
Rescale as appropriate.
You should now have something similar but with your own image.
Note your image will automatically turn to 64 bit colour greyscale
An example is on the computer called 'Image.tif'
Next select the image then go to 'Edit' on the top toolbar and scroll down to select properties.
Click on the 'Engraving Properties' tab if it is not already visible . To enable an image for engraving the 'Enable Engraving' check box should be set on.
The "scan line resolution" is the distance between the laser lines as it scans back and forth across the image. A setting of 0.2 will give a good definition, higher values will produce a lined appearance (less dense coverage).
The "white space" setting is the overrun value added to either end of the scan lines to allow the laser head to accelerate to the correct speed before laser firing begins. In most cases 10mm is adequate. In the future, if the laser head speed is increased this value may also need to be increased.
The vertical setting should usually be left on. This setting dictates whether the engraving is made up by and down motions or side to side.
The grey levels setting is used at output time and indicates the colour reproduction to be applied to the grey scale image. For example the default of 64 will produce up to 64 different laser power levels, while 16 will only produce up to 16. The value you choose will be dependant on the image you are engraving (photos may require 64 greys while a flat colour clip art may only require 16).
The negative setting is usually off, but when engraving on dark materials (such as denim) should not be set to ON to invert the colours of an image.
The "Power Contrast" setting is an output parameter which will process the laser powers used by the image to enhance the final engraving results. Usually on tonal images the "high" value gives excellent results but you may find that you will need to drop the values down for more flat colour images which use less colours.
The "fill colour" and "use images" are not used in this case and should be left as they are.
In this example the default settings are adequate and the "Enabling Engraving" is checked.
Press Apply to assign these settings to the image. If you have imported a colour image then it will be automatically converted to 256 grey scale image when the settings are applied. Press ok to exit the dialog.
Select 'Output" from the top tool bar and then 'Material manager'. Select your material type and then for the Default Cutting Effect you need to select 'Raster' as your cut setting.
To cut your image, go to 'Output' and 'Cut Design' as per earlier instructions.
How to show the laser cutter where you material is.
1. Make sure the machine is ONLINE
If it isn't press the hand button
2. Next, to show the cutter where your work is on the bed press the button under the hand followed by the arrow button
3. Now use the curser arrows to move the red dot shining out of the laser nozzle. The red dot should be lined up with the lowest left corner of your material.
Press the arrow button to store this first position
4. Now use the arrows to move the red dot to the highest right corner of your material, remember to add an extra 3cm both above and to the right. Again use the arrow button to store this second position
(note that the nozzle will move back to the first position you stored.)
The laser cutters are relatively risk free in comparison to much of the machinery to be found within the college. Having said that, there are a few rules and pointers.
1. The laser cutter is not to be left unattended- whilst the risk of fire is small, the situation can quickly escalate without prompt action. (The have been instanced of fire before on these cutters)
2.Ensure that the fume extraction is on and operating properly before cutting any materials.
3.No mirrors/reflective materials to be place in the laser cutter. The laser beam of light, light reflects on mirror to cut somewhere else.
4.Please do not put any materials in the cutter that are coated in solvents, chemicals etc as these cause toxic fumes and or increase flammability
5.You must book the laser cutter for use. The booking form can only be accessed by your course administrator or workshop staff and enables you to reserve the cutter and for staff to be sure that you are appropriately trained in the safe use of the cutter.
6. Be aware of where the emergency power cut off is and the location of the extinguisher in event of emergencies.
7. Do not interfere with any of the safety mechanisms
Note: A breach of any of these rules will result in immediate banning from the laser cutter.
Basic Specifications
Materials:
Paper- Nearly all types of paper cut well. Exceptions to this are those with reflective coatings, which may need a piece of newsprint over the top to negate the reflective properties. There are several paper types listed in the cutter at present and more can be added as appropriate.
Fabric-Most fabrics will work fine although you should be aware that some materials might have been coated which will affect performance. Common fabrics that have already been tested and calibrated include, cotton poplin, satin, silk, felt, wools, leathers and polyesters.
Plastics- Acrylic, acetates, polyesters, vinyl, melamine, and Perspex etc all work particularly well with the cutter. Ideally the plastics you use should be "Thermodynamic" plastics as these cut the best, do not burn or warp. A guide to the most common plastics (both Thermodynamic and Thermosetting) is listed in the file plastic types.doc
Wood-The laser cutter is capable of handling small quantities of wood. Manufactured woods such as chipboard, MDF and Ply board will generally only cut up to a depth of 6-9mm, others ail vary according to the density of grain but it is not unreasonable to be in the region of 10. These materials are particularly slow to cut and will be subject tot approval by workshop staff.
Glass- Etching and engraving only. Subject to approval by workshop staff.
Ceramics, Stone, Concrete, Plaster and other aggregates compounds- Etching and engraving is possible although this is a slow process. Stone is dependant on the type and finish as to the depth of cut.
Metals- The machine is insufficiently fitter to cut or etch metals. Even low and soft density metals such as Copper or tin will not mark let alone cut.
Sizes:
The machine will handle a flat surface area measuring approx. 720mm wide by 930 mm high although cutting to the fullest extents of this is not always possible. In general it is best to work on the basis of a sheet of A1 size material as anywhere can be cut.
Depth of materials can be manually calibrated to allow for this thinnest of materials up to a maximum material depth of 81mm for a full sheet design, with smaller samples i.e A3 having a maximum depth of 92mm.
File-types:
Raster (i.e photoshop) -JPG,BMP,TIFF,GIF,PICT,EPS
Vector (i.e Illustrator)- AI,DWG,EPS,DXF
N.B Vector files are generally by far and away the quickest and easiest files to cut.
Raster is only really practical for photographs reproduction (for printing blocks etc.)
Media Devices:
USB removable storage devices, DVD, CD, Floppy disk.
Note: The cutter is not networked so neither internet access or intranet are possible.
Logging on and accessing the programme:
Turn Laser on (lower right hand corner at the front of the cutter), ensuring that extraction system starts also)
Power up computer
Click on 'start' tab at the bottom left of the computer screen, which will bring up a programme menu.
Select 'ApS-Ethos Series' from the start menu
A log in dialogue will appear- Password is at present disabled although you should note that this may change from time to time as appropriate for administration and training purposes.
This will take you into the program ready to start opening designs.
Opening designs, scaling and orientation:
Opening designs:
To load a 'Vector' o,age (we'll come back to Raster/Photoshop images in a later session) select tje 'Design' tab from the top and then scroll down to select 'Import', the Adobe Illustrator' (ai extension).
A new dialogue window will now open enabling you to select the file, click on your file and press open.
As in the case of initially opening a design page, you will be presented with the dialogue box below. Again double click the 'Laser Effects' box located to the right.
Your image will automatically open now and be displayed.
Scaling designs:
First select your design by either left clicking the mouse and drag and drop to select your design work or pressing 'CTRL A' which selects all design work.
Select the 'Edit' tab from the toolbar at the top and then scroll down to select 'Rescale'
The design size window will now appear-enter the size that you require the design to measure.
Note: All sizes are in millimetre (mm) and take that you do not select a design size bigger than your substrate/material.
Standard A-series sizes of paper in mm are as follows,
A5-148 * 210
A4- 210 * 297
A3- 297 * 420
A2- 420 * 594
A1- 594 * 841
Type in your scaled size and then press ok
Orientation:
Generally when you open your design work you will have already set the orientation. However, now and again it is convenient to rotate your design for a best fit for your material choice.
From the top tool bars, on the right hand side select the 'rotate' tool tab.
You can now rotate your image manually by left clicking and dragging on the corner points or alternatively select 'CTRL N' and a prompt will open up alllowing you to rotate am exact amount i.e 90 degrees.
Setting material Area for the Laser Cutter
1. Ensure the Laser Cutter is turned on/off switch is located on thr front of the cutter. Check also that the emergency power off switch has not been activated
2. Lift cutter lid and place your material in the cutter. Lower lid.
3. All the functions to specify the machine cutting area are carried out from the control panel located on the front, top right of the cutter.
4. Press Online (hand button)
5. Press the material button, cutter display will read "load media"
6. Press Enter
7. Cutter display will now read "set origin". This is to determine the start of you material and is the bottom left of your page. Use the control panel curser to move the cutter head to the bottom left of the page
8. Press Enter
9. Cutter display will now read "set media"- Repeat as for step 7, although this time you are moving the cutter head to the top right of the page.
10. Press Enter and you are done
11. Return to computer and Cut design as per handbook
Adjusting the laser height
At the front of the laser barrel you will see a black plastic thumbscrew (focus adjustment screw) for height adjustment. Undo this and adjust to the height of your material accordingly. Ideally the laser barrel should be 3mm above the surface of material being cut. (use scrap piece of 3mm acrylic as a spacer)
Cut effects and cutting:
You now need to inform the laser cutter of how you want to cut the image.
Drag and drop the mouse cursor over the elements of your design to be cut.
Now that the image is selected you need to assign the elements of your drawing with a colour- this colour is used by the cutter to determine which elements of the will be cut or engraved etc.
If your drawing has no colour it is possible to assign colours from the toolbar at the top. 1st select the bits of drawing to be coloured and then select a colour from the drop down colour palette .
Now, select the 'Tools' tab from the toolbar and ten ' edit cut effects'
You will then be presented with the cut effects dialogue window.
Select an effect-e.g. 'Cut through' and then highlight the colour of your design (in the example of the giraffe, red) select the set option.
Note that the red colour tab now read 'cut-through' as opposed to 'unassigned'
Select your next effect- e.g. 'Engrave' then highlight the colour of your design (in the example of the giraffe, green), select the set option.
Note that the green colour tab now reads 'engrave as opposed to to 'unassigned'
This process has now informed the cutting programme (Aps-Ethos) which elements of the drawing you wish to cut, engrave etc.
N.B The colours you select do not matter, they are for visual purposes only.
As a general rule I always select red for cut, green for engrave and orange for a deeper engrave, like traffic lights as mnemonic for remembering the cutting order.
The next stage is to inform the cutter of your power and speed requirements for cutting.
To do this:
Select the 'Output' tab from the toolbar and then Material Manager followed by Setup
A dialogue window will now open.
Press the delete option (Dont worry, you are not deleting any information, you are merely informing the laser cutter that you wish to give some new instructions.)
This will now open up the Material Manager properties dialogue window.
Here you can select your material type (highlighted in green). If your material is not here you may need to create a new one.
If you need to create a new material or adjust the cut settings- contact a course tutor.
Press Ok
You are now ready to commence cutting.
If you are ready to cut, select the 'Output' tab from the toolbar menu and then 'Cut Design'
A dialogue window will now open, enabling you to view the cut settings and make any last alterations to the design- confirm that the material and design are all correct and press ok.
A dialague window will now prompt you to confirm that a new material exists. (The machine is checking that you want to cut the material in the cutter.)
Press Ok- The cutter will now commence)
Rastering a Photo:
In some instances such as creating a woodblock it can be more convenient to 'raster cut' your image rather than use file types such as illustrator.
N.B This process is very slow in comparison but great for reproducing photographic type imagery
Example Image (image can be a TIF file installed in Ethos/Images)
To place an image, go to 'Image' from the toolbar then 'Insert image'.
This will open up a window asking you to select your file- Images may be in tiff, jpeg and bitmap files amongst others.
Select your image and press open and then drag and drop onto the desktop
Rescale as appropriate.
You should now have something similar but with your own image.
Note your image will automatically turn to 64 bit colour greyscale
An example is on the computer called 'Image.tif'
Next select the image then go to 'Edit' on the top toolbar and scroll down to select properties.
Click on the 'Engraving Properties' tab if it is not already visible . To enable an image for engraving the 'Enable Engraving' check box should be set on.
The "scan line resolution" is the distance between the laser lines as it scans back and forth across the image. A setting of 0.2 will give a good definition, higher values will produce a lined appearance (less dense coverage).
The "white space" setting is the overrun value added to either end of the scan lines to allow the laser head to accelerate to the correct speed before laser firing begins. In most cases 10mm is adequate. In the future, if the laser head speed is increased this value may also need to be increased.
The vertical setting should usually be left on. This setting dictates whether the engraving is made up by and down motions or side to side.
The grey levels setting is used at output time and indicates the colour reproduction to be applied to the grey scale image. For example the default of 64 will produce up to 64 different laser power levels, while 16 will only produce up to 16. The value you choose will be dependant on the image you are engraving (photos may require 64 greys while a flat colour clip art may only require 16).
The negative setting is usually off, but when engraving on dark materials (such as denim) should not be set to ON to invert the colours of an image.
The "Power Contrast" setting is an output parameter which will process the laser powers used by the image to enhance the final engraving results. Usually on tonal images the "high" value gives excellent results but you may find that you will need to drop the values down for more flat colour images which use less colours.
The "fill colour" and "use images" are not used in this case and should be left as they are.
In this example the default settings are adequate and the "Enabling Engraving" is checked.
Press Apply to assign these settings to the image. If you have imported a colour image then it will be automatically converted to 256 grey scale image when the settings are applied. Press ok to exit the dialog.
Select 'Output" from the top tool bar and then 'Material manager'. Select your material type and then for the Default Cutting Effect you need to select 'Raster' as your cut setting.
To cut your image, go to 'Output' and 'Cut Design' as per earlier instructions.
How to show the laser cutter where you material is.
1. Make sure the machine is ONLINE
If it isn't press the hand button
2. Next, to show the cutter where your work is on the bed press the button under the hand followed by the arrow button
3. Now use the curser arrows to move the red dot shining out of the laser nozzle. The red dot should be lined up with the lowest left corner of your material.
Press the arrow button to store this first position
4. Now use the arrows to move the red dot to the highest right corner of your material, remember to add an extra 3cm both above and to the right. Again use the arrow button to store this second position
(note that the nozzle will move back to the first position you stored.)
Friday 15 November 2013
OUGD504 Print Seminar with Amber
Chronologies Print
Print definitions
1. To produce by applying inked types, plates, blocks, or the like to paper or other material either by direct pressure.
2. To reproduce by engraving on a plate or block
3. To form a design or pattern upon, as by stamping with an engraved plate or block to print calico
4. To cause a manuscript, text to be published in print
"I love a ballad in print alive, for then we are sure they are true" Shakespeare
If it is print then it is seen to be true.
It is correct. It is factual.
Documentation. Communication. Reproduction.
It is correct. It is factual.
200AD woodcut print, one of the earliest prints
Woodcut earliest print technique that we know.
Europe started printing 1,500 years laters.
First printed book 650AD from China (Buddhism) Forms a community as religion attracts people. Religion has money
Mass Communication
First movable type 1000AD - Asia
Guggenheim Press
Literacy Boom
Upperclass who could read and write, where as the lower classes started become aware of the importance of learning to read and write.
The Medium is the Message
Marshall McLuhan 1911-190
Predicted the world wide web 30 years before it became into fruition.
Through language and reading technology socially how it has changed. Explored this and the new technologies. Ultimately this press and this form of press. He explored into individualism, democracy, capitalism and nationalism.
Linotype- Revolutionised the world of printing. Type something and it would come out as a solid block of type, rather then letterpress where the characters are individual however this was no more with Linotype. Line casting. late 1800- 1960/70's popular with newspaper publishing.
First Etching- Religious theme Mass communication happened with image printing as it was visual.
Propaganda-
Daily Star-2010 This paper is aimed particularly demographic its essentially propaganda.
Print definitions
1. To produce by applying inked types, plates, blocks, or the like to paper or other material either by direct pressure.
2. To reproduce by engraving on a plate or block
3. To form a design or pattern upon, as by stamping with an engraved plate or block to print calico
4. To cause a manuscript, text to be published in print
"I love a ballad in print alive, for then we are sure they are true" Shakespeare
If it is print then it is seen to be true.
It is correct. It is factual.
Documentation. Communication. Reproduction.
It is correct. It is factual.
200AD woodcut print, one of the earliest prints
Woodcut earliest print technique that we know.
Europe started printing 1,500 years laters.
First printed book 650AD from China (Buddhism) Forms a community as religion attracts people. Religion has money
Mass Communication
First movable type 1000AD - Asia
Guggenheim Press
Literacy Boom
Upperclass who could read and write, where as the lower classes started become aware of the importance of learning to read and write.
The Medium is the Message
Marshall McLuhan 1911-190
Predicted the world wide web 30 years before it became into fruition.
Through language and reading technology socially how it has changed. Explored this and the new technologies. Ultimately this press and this form of press. He explored into individualism, democracy, capitalism and nationalism.
Linotype- Revolutionised the world of printing. Type something and it would come out as a solid block of type, rather then letterpress where the characters are individual however this was no more with Linotype. Line casting. late 1800- 1960/70's popular with newspaper publishing.
First Etching- Religious theme Mass communication happened with image printing as it was visual.
Propaganda-
Daily Star-2010 This paper is aimed particularly demographic its essentially propaganda.
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