I have trouble wrapping my head around this. If it exports an image, then it will be useless for actually creating letterpress prints, unless it's a high-resolution, un-antialiased image that will be used to make a custom die, in which case the process really isn't any different from using any other software, cuteness aside. Right?

It says something about eventually wanting to acquire metal and wood type so people can actually create prints, but does that mean the program will email finished designs to a mothership and the mothership will ship finished prints to the user? In that case, I'd personally rather just go to my local print shop.

Can someone help me understand this?

Can someone help me understand this?

just another way to waste time...

I think it's mainly for fun, not for professionals looking to create photopolymer plates. You move the letters into place and print a "fake letterpress" printout on your inkjet or whatever. Or export an image that you could use in art projects or on a webpage.

It sounds like the program will contain both pictures of the (backwards) wood type plus scans (vectorized?) of what each letter looks like printed.

He also mentions a later phase, where you'd be able to send your layouts electronically and their shop would actually set up the type and print it letterpress, then mail it to you (I wonder what they'd do if you sent them a layout with more "Z"s than they had actual type...)

I wonder if they'll do multiple presses of each letter to get various levels of "distress" or inked-ness like this:

http://www.withoutwalls.com/html/v2_01cfont.shtml

David, I think you've got it right. The plan is for them to take your iPad layout, set it up in wood and/or metal type, and print it using the ink and paper you chose from their menu. It seems they're still trying to raise enough money to buy more type to offer users more variety (and so they're less likely to run out of Zs).
What I like about the interface is that it shows users how letterpress works, and lets them experience (in a clean-fingered way) the limitations and the possibilities of the medium. And once LetterMPress is able to make printed copies, users can show all their hipster buddies what real printing looks like.

Let me see if I understand how this works:
The developers are basically asking the public to donate 15,000 so they can setup a nice print shop with lots of wood type. In return, they promise to develop a silly ipad game you can use to order letterpress printed posters from said developers?

Seems like a pretty clever business strategy.

Or am I missing something?

> If it exports an image, then it will be useless
> for actually creating letterpress prints

I assume the export feature is so you can use the images in programs like Photoshop or InDesign.

> I think it's mainly for fun

I think so, but it would also be useful to graphic designers who wanted to simulate the look of letterpress in their layouts using authentic letterpress fonts. Sounds like a cool app to me.

I like it. I hope someone does a Letraset simulator someday. Maybe a full design studio. The CPU could be deliberately overheated to simulate burning your hand on the waxer. X-acto blades could be wedged in the rubber around the bezel so iPad users can experience the thrill of cutting their fingers all the time.

I dunno, I can't help but be cynical about this. It's like they're trying to bring the Vistaprint model to a medium that happens to be extremely fashionable right now.

Which isn't to say that I doubt it'll be wildly successful. I've already seen a lot of enthusiasm for it in a lot of places.

Letter blocks for grown-ups.

Might be useful for explaining the process to clients.

I hate to be cynical, but if you want to make a letterpress-themed iPad app, you definitely don't need to buy $15,000 of wood type — which is the ostensible purpose of the Kickstarter funding. I won't say the people behind this are ripping folks off. More likely, they're sincere but severely impractical thinkers. The most likely result of this "project" is that these folks end up with a really nice wood type collection, and the iPad app never makes it onto the launch pad.

More likely, they're sincere but severely impractical thinkers.

I think that applies to iPad developers in general.

>> severely impractical thinkers

> I think that applies to iPad developers in general.

At the iPad 2 unveiling today, Steve Jobs announced that app developers for iPhone/iPad have been paid over 2 billion dollars.

@ Ray: a Letraset simulator someday

Effin' brilliant idea, sir.

As I understand it, the reason they need the actual wood type is to support the service where they take your design and print it on a real press with real wood type.

> simulate burning your hand on the waxer

Or the aroma of rubber cement fumes.

JM> Steve Jobs announced that app developers for iPhone/iPad have been paid over 2 billion dollars.

I do love my iPad, and that giant check looks great until one considers that there are 65,000 apps to divide into it for an average of 300k per app per year... Ex post taxo, that's not even a monthly run rate for a small company.

Then, if one considers that this is an anti-productivity app... I love wood type, but not that much;)

65,000 apps to divide into it for an average of 300k per app per year

And the economics aren't even that good. We can assume 20% of the apps collect 80% of the revenue (I'd guess it's even more skewed than that). That means the other 80% of the apps (52,000) share 20% of the revenue ($400M), which is less than $8K per app. And the original $2B is a 31-month number, so it's even less than $8K annually.

Probably it would be more profitable for these folks to just open a real letterpress shop.

65,000 total, including free apps? They shouldn't be counted.

dberlow & butterick, you make valid points. Keep in mind, though, that many apps are offered for free, so that would skew the average payout. And of the apps that cost money, many are created by hobbyists, not big software companies, and many hobbyist are probably glad to make a few hundred bucks.

"Probably it would be more profitable for these folks to just open a real letterpress shop."

Well, after purchasing $15,000 of wood type, they will have a real letterpress shop. And nicely marketed via a fun iPad app.

The app, itself, may not be the key component of the business model here.

many hobbyist are probably glad to make a few hundred bucks.

Sure, but those hobbyists aren't asking strangers for $15,000 for the chance "to make a few hundred bucks." The lack of meaningful accountability in the Kickstarter system — donors don't get ownership, they don't get interest payments — means that it tends to attract good-natured grifters.

Though maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. I could be using Kickstarter to fund some new, expensive hobbies of my own. For instance, that 3-week luxury cruise to Antarctica. Uh, I mean — my photography project investigating global climate change.

> it tends to attract good-natured grifters

Kickstarter is a curated funding method for artistic projects. My guess is that an app like LetterMpress would appeal to a fairly small group of users and thus self-funding its development, including spending thousands for original wood type, just wouldn't happen without some kind of underwriting.

Does the project leader have devious ulterior motives? I dunno, but he seems to spell out pretty clearly what he's using the funds for, so potential donors can decide for themselves.

Personally I'm not planning to donate anything, but if the app gets made I'd certainly buy a copy if the cost was reasonable. It looks pretty cool.

What confuses me though I love this idea, is how many people are actually going to order output? and if that's a very small number, then it's just a toy that does not need the actual fonts behind it, just the images. Collecting images of wood type would be cheaper, the acquisition of type being only the beginning of the expenses for this product's fonts. Someone like me would gladly give them images of my wood type, (though most of it is so big, not a word would fit on an iPad screen).

I love it

If it's an in-app purchase, and the cost is not too high, I could see a lot of people ordering prints.

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