When you’ve been around as long as I have you can remember the old ways of the printing process before computers moved in.
I don’t mean Letterpress (I’m not that old!) I mean traditional Lithographic Printing, using base board artwork, Reprographics (film and plate making) through to plates on press.
The Printing Process before Computers – Tools Of The Trade
I wanted to see how many tools, acronyms, words I could remember, some might still be used and some might not! I do invite anyone to post any that I’ve missed or any funny stories from what we like to call the good old days.
I think the best way will be to just list what I can:
| Artwork | Repro | Repro/Print |
|---|---|---|
| Cow Gum | Film | Planning Up |
| Letraset | Positive | Quarter Tones |
| Typesetting | Negative | Screens |
| Typesetters | Trannies | 45° |
| Scalpel | Transparency | Painting Up Negs |
| Swann-Morton Blades | Drum Scanner | Contact Frame |
| Spray Mount | Matchprint | Plate Making |
| Bromide Print | Chromalin | Wet Proofs |
| Dark Room | Rubi Tape | Colour Filters |
| Enlarging Camera | Negs | Continuous-tone |
| Art Board | Emulsion | Flat |
| Rotary Pen 0.5 | Moire | Emulsion Up |
| Tracing Paper | Screen Angles | Emulsion Down |
It was a time when printing your business stationery wasn’t advertised on the TV for £3.50. Now Im not saying we all haven’t adapted to the times and print costs have come down quite remarkably but I do miss the good old days.
If I needed some copy setting for a holiday brochure then I would get into my car and drive into Birmingham, I would sit and have a coffee and cigarette wait for it to finish then drive back.
The photographer (and there was plenty of them driving a Porsche) would drop off a 5 x 4 transparency that would require to be scaled up using the enlarging camera onto tracing paper to give the dimensions to the Repro House.
I invite people to post below any terms I’ve missed or stories from the good old days.
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