Letterpress Printing on the Mac and iPad

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If you’ve ever wanted to work with movable type and make great letterpress creations without getting your hands dirty, now’s your chance. Well, I can’t guarantee you’ll make great creations, but you’ll have a lot of fun. LetterMpress for Mac and iPad lets you experience the craft of setting type by hand and experimenting with different results.

Although the Mac app can export the resulting images for use in other apps (the iPad app lets you save to photos or email the PNG), it’s not about the finished product, per se. The main purpose is to re-create the techniques and processes used in letterpress—or as we used to call it: “printing.” Through a semi-realistic UI, type controls, and sound effects, LetterMpress allows you to choose from over 30 typefaces and extra characters, as well as artcuts, and set the type in a virtual type bed (backwards, of course). The linespacing and surrounding empty space is filled with bits of virtual wood and lead—known as “furniture” and where the term “leading” comes from. When you have your layout finished, lock your type down into the frame and get ready to print.

Choose your paper, ink the roller, and turn the hand crank to make your print. The app lets you create custom ink mixes in RGB and CYMK and lets you make several passes on each print. Some digital features such as undo and saved compositions give it a modern usability. Open or place the exported images into Photoshop or other software for further refinement. I am enjoying the iPad version, but I think my walk down printing memory lane would be complete if the app mimicked what happens when you don’t lock your finished frame down tight enough.