Weddingbee PRO

In addition to printing our own letterpress wedding invitation designs for couples, we are also more than happy to print custom designs upon request. Sometimes that will entail printing a design created by the couple, and other times that will mean working with them to create a design that is inspired by their ideas. Either way, it's a fun opportunity for us to print something truly unique and personal to a couple, which we absolutely love.

Designing for letterpress is a bit different than designing for other printing methods. So I wanted to share some tips for creating your own invitation design in a letterpress-friendly way, if you're looking to go with letterpress invitations, but still looking to add that DIY touch to your design.

{This gorgeous invitation is letterpressed with gray ink paired with blind deboss, which means the impression is created without ink. This was a custom piece designed by the groom, Allen, and it is a single piece design with guests asked to visit the couple's website for additional information and to RSVP.}

Dark Ink on Light Paper

A key thing to note about letterpress design is that we tend to print dark ink on light paper, because that is truly the strength of letterpress printing. Light ink on dark paper is really best suited for engraving or another printing method. With letterpress, we use translucent inks so if you really want light ink on dark paper, be prepared for the paper to show through. Printing light ink on dark paper will be like using a thin coat of white paint on a brown wall -you'll see the brown color through the paint.

Choosing Colors

If you're looking to create a letterpress-friendly design, the colors in your document should correspond to the ink colors we'll use when printing. If a piece is going to be printed in 2 colors, only those 2 colors should appear in your design. Letterpress is not well suited to printing various gradations of color, but I personally think that is the true beauty of letterpress printing. Most of our designs use 1 or 2 colors, which is traditional with letterpress, although we do print really breathtaking designs featuring 3 or 4 colors too.

{This incredible custom design was printed for Julie and Noam, who are getting married next month in NYC. The entire set was designed by their good friend Katerina Barry of Your Day Designs. The hand-drawn map was created by calligrapher Nancy Howell. Their design was especially unique because it continued onto their inner envelopes, a design element that evolved from an idea Noam dreamed up and was ultimately engineered by Bella Figura co-founder, Harold. The invitation design was blind debossed on large sheets of paper and then die cut, with each envelope being carefully hand-assembled. The end result is really special and appears as if the press came through the card and pressed into the envelope.}

Resolution

With letterpress printing, it's especially important that all designs are high resolution -we recommend 1200 dpi, but will accept designs at 800 dpi or better. When we make the plates we use for printing, any fuzziness in a file will translate to the plate and will prevent us from being able to achieve a really clean and crisp impression, so high resolution is a must.

Overprinting

Another consideration with letterpress printing is overprinting, which is when one ink color is printed on top of another where design elements overlap. Typically, in order to overprint successfully you'll need to select ink colors with a high contrast between the colors. If the colors are too similar in shade, overprinting will result in muddiness where the colors meet, which most people would rather avoid. So, if you're interested in laying out your design in two colors of blue and have a design that involves overprinting, your best bet is to select one dark blue and one light blue as opposed to two medium blue shades.

{Inspiration photo by photographer David Stubbs of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.}

{This lovely custom design was inspired by the photo above, taken by the couple's wedding photographer, David Stubbs and used with permission to create their invitations. Bella Figura designer, Beth Ann, worked with the bride, Frieda, to design an invitation suite that would set the stage for their snowy, mountaintop ski resort wedding in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in March. The custom design was printed on luxuriously thick 2-ply paper and even featured a gorgeous letterpressed metallic belly band.}

Large Solids

Another interesting difference between letterpress and other printing methods is that with letterpress, printed solids look different from offset printed solids. The paper tends to show through large solids, creating a slightly textured look that's almost suede-like, which I personally find really beautiful. There is no reason letterpress designs cannot include large solids, but you'll want to be prepared that the impression won't be as deep nor the color as saturated as when printing finer details.

Fonts + Fine Details

Letterpress excels at printing type and handles most fonts very well, although we do recommend using type no smaller than 6 point. Sometime a script font will have very thin lines that may need to be thickened so that they letterpress well. Likewise, fine details and line work should be 0.25 point (or .003”) or thicker. If details are too fine they can literally fall off of the plate, so we always recommend making any fine details a bit thicker to better adapt to the plate-making and printing process.

Hopefully none of this is too confusing, but as always, let me know if you have any questions. If you're interested in working with us on a custom letterpress design, our designer is more than happy to review whatever artwork or designs you might have and give you her opinion. If adjustments are needed, she truly is an expert at adapting designs to letterpress. If you're a graphic designer and you'd like more specific technical information to help create your letterpress design, just let me know!