Gocco Holiday
November 29, 2007

Well, I finally came up with a design and printed cards for our pink penny clients. I really wanted to create a card that kept with our branding and was holiday, but also representative of us.

Inspired by our home page, I used the design element in our logo to create a snowflake. I started with some really elaborate snowflake patterns, but it was getting to complicated so in the end I decided simple was better. I think people will get it - yes?

Here's my original Photoshop design:

Then, in order to print with the Gocco in two different colors I had to create "plates" from which to create my light pink and dark pink screens.

I did this by separating the layers into two different files, converting to gray scale and using Levels to get good contrast. I don't have a laser printer so I printed these out and made photocopies to use with the Gocco.

This was my second time using the Gocco and here are a few things I learned:

- Full bleeds (as the dots are designed) are pretty hard to do, at least with my PG-11. These cards were a bit bigger than my Gocco print surface so when I tried to make a screen of the dots it did not expose correctly near one edge.
Solution: Print the dots on the cards first with my ink jet printer, then Gocco over that. Not ideal, but it was the best thing I could think of without sacrificing my design.

- Trying to print anything close to the edge is not a good idea unless your card is very small. I had the same problem with the snowflakes - the small ones up top didn't burn perfectly on my Gocco screen so the print kind of fades up there.
Solution: Use cards that fit on the print surface well so there is even pressure when you expose your screen. Or create a design that fits well within the "safe" area to create a clean screen to print from.

So Gocco is just fun, I've decided. Since I have two businesses (pink penny and rayaphotography) my project this week is to design one for my photography business and print those. I am so excited about my client gifts: it is probably my favorite part about owning a business and this year I got on top of it early. To personalize it more with a hand made card pretty much makes me giddy. Paper, ink, packaging - these are the things that excite me ; )

Posted by raya 8:51 AM    

Labels: Gocco, She's Artsy

6 comments:

At November 29, 2007 10:08 AM Chic and Charming said...

Those cards are adorable. I really enjoyed reading about your design process.

 

At November 29, 2007 3:00 PM faithsalutes said...

I want to be your client.

 

At November 30, 2007 11:01 AM One Love Photo said...

You are going to make me add a Gocco printer to my wish list. Beautiful card design!

 

At December 1, 2007 10:51 AM Stef said...

this is an awesome card design! I love it. Very classy, fresh and simple.

 

At December 3, 2007 7:47 PM kristafaye said...

Will you do one for me next year? ;) Very pretty.

 

At January 2, 2008 6:54 PM raya said...

Of course Krista, I'd love to!

 

Post a Comment