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Inkjet Printing on Wood

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Ofazomi!

First off, check out the amazing work of Sean Mahan shown below. Amazing, right? Yes. Aren’t you inspired? Why not print your work on wood? You can.

There are a few ways to get your design onto wood. Inkjet printing, or “giclee,” is the most popular printing method right now with printers ranging from desktop home models to multi-thousand dollar high end commercial flatbed printers. All options shake out to a field of two: do it yourself or hire somebody. Think of the possibilities!

Veneers

Veneers are thin pieces of wood that can fit through a not-so-loved printer. Some have been designed for inkjet. A demo can be found here.

Veneer Suppliers: (google ’em too)

Giclee Printers

DirectJet printers and their cousins are designed to print on large, flat surfaces. (An industry site can be found here.) A number of commercial giclee printers use these high end machines to print your designs on glass, wood and aluminum.

Service Bureaus / Printers: (google ’em too)

Night Owl Paper Goods
My Wooden Canvas
IO Labs
New Era
(email to add your name here)

InkJet Transfer

This is tried and true. Print on a special substrate and then move the color onto the surface you desire. Exerpts from a tutorial by matsutake is below. Go read the whole thing: here.

How to transfer inkjet images to wood

Here we go! This is what you’ll need. Mod Podge, Elmer’s washable glue, and a piece of cardstock.

…(read the whole thing)…

Step 5: Soak it. You can dunk it in water, run it under a faucet, or squirt it with a spray bottle. Let the cardstock get really wet and soft. Gently peel off the cardstock. I held this under running water while I peeled it. You can gently rub the image with your finger tip to loosen any remaining paper pulp.

Step 6: Voila! And no plasticky decal edges! The Elmers washes away completely. Totally smooth!

Posted 14th October 2009 by Katie

Posted in Amusement, Artists & Designers, Color Theory, Craftiness, Design Ethics, Actions & Impact, Drawing, Fiddling & Time Wasters, Packaging, Persons of Interest, Portfolio Workshop, Repost From Cited Source, Tutorial, Visual Concepts, Vocation & Profession

Please code responsibly.

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Ofazomi!

Click to learn when to say when.

Posted in Technical Geekery, Tutorial, User Interface Design, Vocation & Profession, Web

Industrial Design Notes

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Ofazomi!

Design should be a poem. (This poem is a smoke detector.)

Posted in Cleverness & Wit, Design Ethics, Actions & Impact, Design History, Design Theory, Mad Props, Visual Concepts

iPad App Design

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Ofazomi!

Ten Things To Think About When Designing Your iPad App

By Julie Stanford

Like most well-designed things, the magic of an iPad app comes from a union of usefulness, usability and meaning. Games aside, the app must be useful by solving a problem that people actually have through the right set of functionality at the right time. It must be easy to use and, just as importantly, easy to get started using, without a lot of pesky setup and learning steps. And it must hold meaning for the user through visual beauty, an emotional connection, personal insights, etc. In this article, we won’t outline the entire design process for creating an iPad app, but we will explore 10 of the key things to think about when designing your app (and planning the design process).

We’ve excluded tips that have already been mentioned in every single iPad design article ever written (such as, “Invite users to touch by presenting real-world metaphors in a skeuomorphic interface” —look it up!). Instead, we’ll focus on what to really think about when doing design work. By reviewing these considerations in the context of your own application, you can assess whether you’re making good decisions about your design. (read more)