Be A Design Cast 12 : Bennett Holzworth
by Nate Voss, (12 comments)
Turn up your speakers, BADCasters, because this week Be A Design Group’s own co-founder Bennett Holzworth joins the show!
Right click to download Be A Design Cast 12 to your computer (6mb), or subscribe directly from iTunes.
Comments (12)
Mike Miller said:
You guys mentioned letterpress (by the way, I never got one with my HOW Conference binder last year, can I get one from the “stack”?), and was wondering if you could tell me if you had some links that have directories of letterpress shops listed by locations.
Also, what kind of range (price and turn-around, generally-speaking), does letterpressing have compared to say 4-color printing?
Thanks.
Posted on April 11, 2006
Nate Voss said:
I think Bennett can answer question #1 for you pretty quick, Mike.
As for question #2, I turn to the rest of our audience and ask their expertise. I assume it is more expensive, since the technological advances that have streamlined the printing process are being eschewed, but there may be cases where it is entirely economical to handle something in letterpress, I’m not sure. It certainly is cooler, I do know that.
Posted on April 11, 2006
JonSel said:
I’m not Bennett, but I’ll answer anyway, if that’s alright.
First, check out the Briar Press website. They’ve got directories of shops as well as classified listings, an online museum, and discussion forums for all things letterpress. It’s a perfect starting point to learn more.
In general, letterpress printing is slower and more expensive than offset. Whereas an offset press could make several thousand, multi-color impressions in an hour, letterpress is a one-color-at-a-time process that is usually hand-powered. So, the efficiencies in offset are quite apparent. And even with technological advances like photopolymer plates (a plate made from a computer file – no handset lead type required), there’s very little automation possible in the process.
Letterpress has its advantages in low-quantity press runs, which is why it is often used for invitations and artist books. Offset printing usually requires a minimum run of 500 to be economical, whereas a short-run of 50 or 100 is perfect for letterpress.
And yes, Nate. It certainly is cooler.
Posted on April 11, 2006
Bennett said:
Thanks JonSel. I think you covered it.
You choose letterpress if you want your piece to have a tactile/handmade feel, not to be more economical. While some of the larger letterpress shops do have more automated presses, there is still a great deal more work and physical materials (i.e. polymer plates) to add to the cost.
Mike, The bookmarks were in the HOW Goody Bag and not the binder. You had to pick up the Goody Bag at the same place you received the HOW Conference t-shirts. I would be happy to send you one of the extras that I have.
Posted on April 13, 2006
Brooks Riley said:
I like your blog… hate your podcast
Posted on April 13, 2006
Nate Voss said:
Thanks Brooks. We like and hate you, too.
Posted on April 13, 2006
Nate Voss again said:
Silly us. There’s a story about the bookmarks from way back when right here.
Posted on April 13, 2006
Goat said:
That was totally awesome. This has overtaken the Ricky Gervais show as my favorite podcast.
Sweetness…
Posted on April 14, 2006
Stephanie Murg said:
Great podcast. I eagerly await the arrival of raspberries and cream Dr Pepper in New York (at least it’s not “raspberries n’ cream”—or is it?). For now I have to settle for Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper, which is difficult to say five times fast. I suggest a BADG field trip to the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas.
Does anyone else think that Dr. Pepper’s 20-ounce bottles are sad-looking, compared to the curvy organic silhouttes of Coke and Pepsi’s 20-oz products?
Thanks for the podcast ‘shout out.’ And feel free to call me Steph, and I suppose that your suggestion of “The Murg” is fine too. (The definite article is OK, as neither my twin brother nor anyone else in my immediate family is that into design, so there’s little risk of confusion or hurt feelings.) I know that you all secretly wish you had Austrian monosyllabic last names too, not to mention one that presents a world of design possibilities with its jaunty terminal “g.”
Posted on April 18, 2006
Mike Anderson said:
Hey Guys, good show. I wanted to add to what Nate was saying about getting your hands dirty. When I was teaching, I felt it very important to remind my students that for more than 2,000 years we have been printing by hand so it is a good idea to get at least a bit of BG in that before getting mired in the illustrator blank-screen effect.
At the College I tought at there were several printing classes, sadly, no letter press but print-making (lino + wood cuts) screen-printing in 2 departments, and various other tactile-design classes.
Thanks Again
I personally like cutting stencils for t-shirts as it has the one-off quality and the grit that really appeals to me, its cheap to start-up and you get really good with an X-acto.
I also wanted to add to the Taboo typeface discussion; I disagree with completely strickening type designs from ones pallette, that is a bit like saying that there is a particular set of colors that I wouldn’t use, just because it is trendy. I think it is more important to be appropriate and that trendy design is just masturbatory for the most part. It does little to communicate any message but trendyness. That being said… my picks are Arial, Helv, Brush Script, Algerian, Comic Sans, Matisse, Matura, Mistral, Cezanne, Papyrus, Sand well.. the list goes on.
To keep it on a good note though, you may want to highlight a not often used GOOD typeface and show people something they maybe haven’t seen.
Posted on April 20, 2006
Nate Voss said:
Good points, Mike. I’m even taking it so far as to plan out how I could set up a silkscreen studio at my house, just so I can make something that feels more “real” to me.
To your last point, I highly recommend the fabulous Be A Design Cast 10, where we take a more positive spin on Typography and do open it up to some typefaces that might be less familiar to the crowd. Thanks for listening —
Posted on April 20, 2006
Adam said:
What’s up guys, I’m am also a podcaster and have a show with some similar topics called Rookie Designer. I love your approach to the podcast, very laid back and entertaining! The conversations about ridiculous sodas rock! Anyway, one of my listeners pointed me in the direction of a site I thought you guys would like (if you haven’t seen it already). Here’s the URL: http://bancomicsans.com/home.html
Keep up the great shows!
Posted on May 3, 2006