Contemporary typographic archeology.
Research
Graphic Design
This project begins with the need for Imprenta Nueva Balear to make a promotion calendar showing the printing techniques that can be carried out in its workshop.
© Jaume Gual
We wanted to show the great capacity of techniques that the printing press can develop, from the most current to the oldest.
The first step was to do a search in the archive of his warehouse, rescuing old cliches of brands, illustrations and geometric shapes.
After selecting the clichés to be used and making them clean of dust accumulated over the years, we made a manual printing of each one of them by inking a small manual proofing press (“test remover”). Some of these cliches are photo-etched in zinc and others are in bronze.
Rescued engravings.
Manual inking of engravings.
Once the prints of the cliches were ready, we had them scanned to have more freedom of composition in a digital environment. With digital files, we make a composition based on two inks for each month of the year. The calendar cover was composed by hand by Roberto Aguiló, manager of the Nueva Balear press, using the selected clichés. A meticulous handicraft work and, unfortunately, a trade almost lost today.
Composition for the month of September.
Composition for the month of March.
Cover detail.
Cover detail.
The first step of the printing process was to print the days of each month. In this case, being a variable content from month to month, we opted to do the printing with a Xerox Versant 180 digital dry toner press.
The month numbers appear with the Parnaso Mono font created by Feliciano Type [unpublished at the time of printing]. It is a monospaced serif font, which allowed us to have a controlled structure of the space that days within weeks will occupy on each calendar page.
The second printing step would be to print the digital compositions made with the manual reproductions of the rescued clichés. In this step we make a single color offset printing with a Heidelberg GTO 52 machine from 1992 and a modified ink based on the Cyan Pantone.
The last step of printing was with a Heidelberg Original KS cylinder planar machine from the sixties. We rescued from the archive of Imprenta Nueva Balear a type of ultra condensed wood that is overprinted with a Pantone Warm Red on the cyan composition from the Offset machine.
All the work is a journey through the history of printing from the sixties to the present, mixing artisanal techniques with more current computer tools. In conclusion, a sample of the wide range of printing possibilities offered by Imprenta Nueva Balear.
Image © Jaume Gual
Imprenta Nueva Balear – Printing & Original idea
Toni Bauzà – Research, graphic design & layout
Jaume Gual – Photography
