Then again it could be that this business card, designed by Leslie Plesser, is just a beautifully thought out piece.

In this simple, but stunning card, a well proportioned use of white space lays the solid foundation for a soaring asimetric architecture of airy typography and classic ornamentation.

Is it a serious work? Or maybe just a lark.

My contact within the organization, Joe Isaak, made it easy to work with such a formidable group of people. In the end it was not difficult to print the job given the clean design that they presented me with and the Classic Crest 165 pound paper which was donated to AIGA by Neenah.

While the movement focused on an examination of esthetics, with an eye open toward identifying a Black sensibility in arts and crafts that was distinctly separate from that of the current White culture, some of the great works of art of the 20th century were created.  During this period painting, music and literature underwent dramatic changes.

Publishing was not immune from the enthusiastic energy of change. Many of the most powerful works of African American writing were produced during this period and the printers of the time were not without their say. A number of works were produced using black paper and printed with white ink. 

This was, perhaps, an idea that was technically ahead of its time.

Although lithographic printing using paper plates was invented in 1914, the bulk of printed matter was still produced using the relief (or letterpress) process. With the letterpress process it is difficult to print effectively with either white ink on black paper or to print a flood of black ink with the type dropped out.

Perhaps this is an experiment that is worth investigating again. With the sophistication of offset printing and the advent of direct-to-print computer processes, as well as the invention of the digital book, a firmer technical foundation exists today to play with the relationship between black and white on the printed page.

Weather the paper or the ink is black or white, the strength one takes from the contrast between the two is undeniable. This business card designed by (and for) Kristin Krantz is fine example of the dynamic that is highlighted by the simple use of these two , I would say, primary colors.

The air in the garden level shop is moist and richly scented from shelves of freshly cut flowers. The windows onto the street are rippled with age but clean and bright.

The florist, who’s family’s shop has served generations from this slim brownstone in this close-knit neighborhood, smiles as she recognizes me.

Oh, wait. Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis? My mistake. (But can’t you just feel the long history of this brand new shop in Brad Surcey’s evocative card design.)

This is because it can tun out badly.

This business card, though, turned out just fine. For some reason the lighter shades of blue seem to work for this sort of thing better than, say dark brown.

I like the way that the thinner line of black presses deeper into the card than the larger areas of blue.

I will still try to discourage you from having me print work with large coverage areas, but sometimes . . .

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.

The card is undersized by a little bit, it measures 3.5 by 1.75 inches, which helps it stand out in an understated way.

The client, Kenneth Kunkle offers legal services to creative professionals and he worked closely with The Nomadic Press to come up with a design that had both the look of a serious professional and a hint of artistic flair.

A wedding planner and a wedding photographer, who together run a business in Texas, recently hired The Nomadic Press to print their business cards. They wanted something very thick stock so we all decided to use matt board.

The color choices are a little limited when you use matt board but the results are a lot of fun. This card is printed 1 over 2 so the printing costs are reasonable. The thick edges are colored silver (I gave them a bid for gilding the edges with silver leaf but the cost was a bit prohibitive). 

The design they supplied is tasty, and it is telling of the fantastic work that they both do professionally. If you are thinking about getting married soon, think about Texas.

Usually it was imprinted with just a name and perhaps the name of the club that one was a member of. If the person you were visiting was not at home when you called, then the calling card was left on a silver tray for them to take up upon their return.

The position of the card’s placement on the tray, and the bending over of one or another of the card’s corners, held deeper meanings.

These days, the modern business card is printed with a persons name and title, the name, address and logo of their business, their telephone and fax numbers, email addresses, twitter addresses, and facebook and linkedin information. Whew.

In practice, there is so much information contained on a modern business card that it is a wonder that they have remained  2 by 3.5 inches in size and have not ballooned to the size of greeting cards.

The custom business card shown here is understated in its simplicity. Printed in one color, it has an abundance of white space which shows off the letterpress impression nicely and lends a calm and professional air to the image of this company.

Now where did I put my silver calling card tray?

The red type in this image has a lower case x-height of about 2.5 points. It works just fine in a body of text, but I would not wish this point size on my fiercest competitor in a line of stand alone type.

Photopolymer plates work amazingly well with small type, but lines of little type, all on their lonesome, seem to fare poorly. Especially the “dots” in email addresses which tend to suffer under the heavy impressions called for in modern letterpress printing.

Whenever possible, I have the graphic designers that I am working with boost the point size of the “dots” in the design of email addresses by at least one point. In the end it is not noticeable but helps everything hold up a bit better in the printing process. 

Dotting your ‘i’s and crossing your ‘t’s has long been a euphemism for sweating the little stuff and for making sure that attention is being paid to the details. Here at The Nomadic Press, I am crossing my eyes and dotting my coms.