In Edwin Abbot’s 1884 novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, a story is told of characters who live in only one or two dimensions. The three dimensional world that we live in is, for them, almost impossible to imagine.
Most Graphic design for print is conceived of in a flatlander’s world. Side to side, up and down but no back and forth.
When designing for the letterpress printing process one must cast off the restrictive thinking of two dimensional existence and embrace the third dimension. The impression, which is one of the endearing qualities of relief printing is the third dimension.
The piece shown here is a nice example of three dimensional graphic design.
Printed on (into?) a sheet of 190 pound blotter paper, the first and lightest impression is of crosses inked with a transparent ink. The second, deeper impression, is of a separate group of crosses blind stamped into the paper (which is to say that they have been printed with no ink, just impression). The third impression, the type, presses even deeper into the paper. Finally, there is a single cross which is die cut out so that it passes completely through the paper.
Abbot’s flatlanders would be horrified.
Luckily there are graphic designers who are able to think beyond the surface and take their designs to a deeper level.