OUGD603 - Univers - Laser Cut

As we have decided to emphasise process throughout the concept, we are required to letterpress therefore I went to investigate into what sizes and weights are available from the University's library of metal type.

The uni has a small selection of metal type in Univers:

This will be ideal for small point type however we were hoping of printing with larger letterforms in order to highlight Univers' weights and balance.

Laser Cut

To overcome the lack of metal type, we took advantage of the laser cutter. We cut a variety of weights and sizes:

4 sizes

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Large format cutting

Chose a 6mm plywood however the laser struggled the cut all the way through it. To overcome this we sought the advice of the technician who suggested repeating the cut. After 8 cuts the laser still wasn't penetrating the plywood so we resorted to mount board.

To make the most of our time we decided to resort to mount board as we were confident the laser was able to cut through it. I have experience printing with mount board, its a very flexible printing material that can be cut using a scalpel however it is durable enough to hold its form after repeated runs through the press.

In the past I have created textures on mountboard by removing layers of the ply. This allows you to achieve dark to light tones to create a 3D effect and movement. We can do this to the type in order to create more engaging compositions.