design.elements

Finishing Design Elements:

 

-Varnish: a solution of resin in oil or spirits applied to a surface to give it a protective gloss.- I found lots of examples of varnishes. They seem to be everyone’s favorite “embellishment” on business cards and books. It helps the words pop off the page by giving them a shine. Most varnishes depend on the paper, the image or words being printed on and the type of varnish you decide to use. The ones that I found were either on a book cover, brochure, business card or on gift card holders. As humans we love to touch things and subconsciously I tend to rub my hands over the surfaces of these pieces of paper; feeling the glossy surface. (I think that goes for embossed things as well)

 

 

 

 

-Die Cutting: a style of cutting out or into something that makes a shape.- some of the examples I found were in fast food restaurants on the tables; the small triangular piece in the middle of the table that promoted a new combo. Other more interesting examples I found were gift card holders. Two I had were Banana Republic and Starbucks. As you can see the inside is where the cut is on the banana republic one and the Starbucks card holder has a slit in the back where the flap from the front is able to stay closed. A third example I found but wanted to use for examples of folds was a wedding invitation. I have never seen one like this and it is truly unique and beautiful.

 

 

 

-Thermography: Raised results on paper that come from a combination of ink, powder and heat.- this is seen mostly on business cards. It has a more standard feel to it. It is that raised “bubble” look and feel to it, almost like it is embossed. The examples I found were only on business cards one from art creations and one from Kim’s Nail Salon. This technique helps the words really pop off the page and give them hierarchy and a lot of texture.

 

 

-Emboss: the process of creating a three-dimensional image or design in paper. It is typically accomplished with a combination of heat and pressure on the appear by using a metal die usually made of brass and a counter die that fit together and squeeze the fibers of the paper. This pressure and a combination of heat actually “irons” while raising the level of the image higher that the paper. This has been done for centuries. And is still used today in many parts of design. Some examples I found were again on book covers and a wedding invitation.

 

 

 

-Folds: to bend.- Pretty self explanatory. When looking at our daily life and the types of beautiful things we encounter we tend to look past simple things like folds. They make clothing look different, all the way to making a something you design more interesting if it has folds, or a fold making a pocket. The one thing in particular that I found that has such unique folds was a wedding invitation. It has a tri fold with narrow dimensions and 5 die cuts on the inside and one on the outside. These cuts have created pockets for smaller pieces of information to be held inside the invitation. The cut on the outside helps the folded flap on the outside stay closed to hold the information on the inside still. It becomes a package, almost, as well. The entire thing is put together so well thanks to the folds.

 

 

-Binding: the process of physically assembling something from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other materials. It also usually involves attaching covers to the resulting “book” or grouped material.- There are many types of binding, like saddle stitch, perfect, side stitch, case, plastic comb, and three ring. Some examples of binding I found were mettle coil/spiral and I’m not sure the name of the other type of binding but it resembles a staple. I chose these to use as my examples because they were the most interesting bindings I found and they’re different from just a standard book binding.

 

 

-Scoring: making a precise fold or crease line

-Perforating: a folded line that is mean to be torn, and made easy.- Scoring is something that we see most in our daily life. It is anything folder professionally, and perforating is just as common its in children’s coloring books all the way up to movie tickets and tags on clothing. My examples are birthday cards for scoring and movie tickets for perforating. They both show the examples well.

 

 

 

-Foil Stamp: uses heat and metallic film in a specialty printing process that produces a shiny design on paper, vinyl, textiles, wood, hard plastic, leather, and other materials. Some examples would be from a dollar bill or on a graduation diploma. I chose these examples because they were the only ones I could find. Really they can be anywhere those were just places I found them. You really have to look.

 

 

-Packaging: the package in which merchandise is sold or displayed. Packaging can make or break an item. Some things we buy because we genuinely like the product and trust it, and then some we buy because of the name or the way it looks with the package. Color choice as a lot to do with it but mostly if it is a cool box, or opens in a fun engaging way we buy into the package sometimes more than we buy into the product. I chose two packaging examples from Mac. They always blow my mind with their new design ways and I love that they hold up, you can use them over again, or use them to store important parts of your Mac’s history; like all your information about you computer, receipts can go into the original box you got it in so you never loose things.

 

 

 

-Duotone: a halftone reproduction of an image using the superimpostion of a contrasty black halftone over a one color halftone. Most often used to bring out middle tones and highlights of an image. Most common colors used are blue, yellow, browns and reds.- The examples I found were from a magazine and a card. I chose them because they were the only ones I could find.