I took the same idea for my business cards last year and changed the colour scheme to my new palette. I wanted to emboss the logo on the other side due to the stock being a really nice texture and appearance. I wasn't sure how to do this as it wasn't majorly successful or consistent last year.
I went down to Vernon to speak to the tech team so I could do it properly. He suggested laser cutting it instead of copper plating due the fact I wanted the emboss to dent into the stock and not raise above it.
I therefore asked him how would be best to laser cut the sheet. He said a multiple of a few would be best on one spread to stop me from having to do each one individually. Then he told me I would have to raster away the space that wasn't the symbol so that the symbol would stay raised on the wood. He also said that if I didn't want and edge then I needed to create the raster space bigger than the card size.
Material wise he said no thicker than 3mm mdf and to raster 1mm into the wood.
Printed cards on my stock:
I know from families like mine, that kids growing up with creativity around them more often than not become creative almost by default. Matthew Syed’s book Bounce, The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice says more than I can say here.
I therefore have a problem with people who go to college at 18 in the expectation of becoming creative. It is extremely difficult to come at it from a standing start. Being creative is in you in some way by adulthood or it’s not. You can choose to turn it off, but it won’t be easy to develop without nurture early on.
I was brought up in a tremendously creative household. It was a working class family in Morecambe, Lancashire that wanted to do things. My granddad made all my toys, fishing rods and so on and my mum and gran always had two sewing machines whirring. They even dyed their own fabrics.
Gerardine and I have four kids and they are all very creative. They were brought up surrounded by magazines and books, attended fashion and materials shows when we ran Red or Dead and frequented vintage, design shops. And after we sold Red or Dead came to visit housing developments and regeneration schemes around the world with us. We never had time to teach them, but they were immersed in design and creativity.
You can go out and learn things, but you have a better chance if you start that learning early in your life. Our son Jack left college after 18 months, for example, because he felt he was gaining nothing. He just wanted to go out and do it and was ready for that.
This is why primary and junior schools are very important. They give children a chance to indulge their passions early on. It can be too late at 18. I do though, have a problem with the lack of creativity in state schools – when we sent our younger two kids to private school they were much happier with their creative schooling.
There has been an increased demand for creative education over recent years. In my generation parents wouldn’t have seen it such a good idea, working in a bank or for Marks & Spencer being seen as better options. That perception has changed, particularly among middle class parents who see design as a viable alternative and one with “bragging rights.”
In our business we need designers who are fleet of foot and can work across disciplines. For example, our daughter Tilly studied urban design, works with us at Hemingway Design and is equally at home designing G-Plan furniture and on uniforms for McDonalds.
If you’ve got a creative mind you can be flexible, but colleges don’t generally allow for that. Design for us is a state of mind rather than a particular course of study.
I felt this partly very true, I think creativity is within you from a very young age, however some people don't discover there use for it until later in life. I never realised that me doodling, me thinking weird ideas, loving packaging and materials and images meant anything or could become something. I didn't even no graphic design existed. I thought about advertising because that was a topic that I knew about due to being exposed to it however I don't think it's an industry that necessary suits my morals and personality. If I had decided that and not discovered design then my creative talents could of gone to waste and I do a degree in something that didn't feed my brain of ideas. I think that education should teach about the creative possibilities more to you as a student because many peoples talents can be lost if they don't have the drive to discover it. Those who understand there talents and how it can be used then all hail to them and enter the world without teaching but those who don't I think need to be directed or shown what possibilities they potentially have. Wether that course even shows them that it's not there direction, it'll defiantly eliminate the option and teach them what they do like because they no what they don't like. This I think personally can be invaluable to a creative and a person.