Speaking From Experience: Production

Screen Printing:
In order to represent the multiple media used within Ben's modules and his hands on approach screen printing has been used to produce Ben's book (see figure 1). This involve cleaning and preparing a screen  which didn't take long as we completed this task in stages as we finalised the designs. The only problem encountered when screen printing was a lack of digital print slots to print the A2 positive to be exposed. This resulted in two A3 sheets being printed and then taped together we created a small line across the gridded images once exposed.  Additionally we also struggled with the half toning process due as the positive was bigger than A3, this was quickly resolved with soem technical support. However the printing processes was fairly quick and simple as using a large squeegee allowed for enough pressure to be applied allowing for a clean and crisp print. Some early prints featured minor errors (see figure 2) however once the screen was used and bleed properly this was no longer a problem. additionally a registration sheet allowed for the prints to be produced quickly as each piece of paper could be quickly lined up (see figure 3). The incorporation of the experimental work from Bens modules highlighted the printing technique due to the different textures and patterns and how they appear once printed. Neon yellow paper was used as this was Ben's chosen colour when interviewed, the only issue with this is the paper is quite thin creating a slightly flimsy book (see figure 5).

Digital Print:
Digital print was used to produce the remaining books as they are mainly digital modules which is reflected in production. Additionally the time constraints of this module also meant screen printing each book was not possible. This provided a high quality finish to the booklets, despite initial prints being printed out of alignment due to the incorrect paper size within the digital printing room (see figure 4). This error place an initial set back however was amended by reprinting onto the correct paper size allowing the books to be successfully bound and produced. The need to print full colour pages worked successfully however was slighted degraded after binding , this was unavoidable due to the inability to print white on top of coloured paper within the facilities available.

Binding:
Each book was hand stitch using different cotton for each book, white was used for Amber, blue for PPP and Cop, black for Ben and grey for Simon (see figure 5 - 6). The simple nature of the stitch provided a high quality and professional finish to the booklets.

In relation to Robs book which consisted of one sheet which only need to be cut down and folded, with the thin nature of the book representing the time spent with us throughout the year before he left (see figure 7).

Overall the production cost for these books individually was fairly inexpressive with each book costing around £2-3 to produce. However as five where produce the cost added to in total cost around £10 due to digital print and the production costs of screen printing. Although Ben's book was fairly inexpensive as the stock was free the binder used to mix the paint for printing need to be bought contributing the production costs.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7