A Look Behind The Scenes: Printing Our New Winkel Tripel Map
Hot off the Press! We take you behind the scenes printing the first batch of our brand new Winkel Tripel World Map with our founder, Marcus Kirby!
Designing a new map is a complicated process. Cartography is both an art and a science, and enormous attention to detail is required to ensure a new map is completely up to date and accurate. However, the time and effort is worth it and we are thrilled to add our stunning new Winkel Tripel map to our range.
The colours we use, and the quality of the finish of the map, are as important to us as the accuracy of the cartographic detail. Because of this, we choose to print all our maps using the lithographic printing process. Lithographic printing is becoming a lost craft as designers, and their clients, opt for the ease of digital printing. While digital methods might offer a quick and inexpensive process, they can’t compete with the quality, vibrancy and definition of the finish of a lithographic print. Lithographic printing is like a mechanised and ultra-fine version of a traditional screen print, an intricate process which allows the use of metallic and fluorescents inks, something that is not possible with 4 colour digital printing.
This eight colour lithographic print rejoices in the freedom the craft and process allows, mixing metallic and fluorescent inks through political and physical data to dramatic effect. The exact inks are selected and checked by Marcus who oversees the initial proof and first set of prints, making adjustments where necessary (to learn more about the lithographic printing process, read our blog post on it here). Once the proof has been signed off, the first batch is printed, the maps are left for a full 24 hours to dry before being trimmed and having gloss varnish added to the landmasses on a separate machine. Then, finally, the final product is ready!
