LetterMpress: A virtual letterpress for iPad

This is one of those exciting apps that you’d love to have as a designer. It allows you to experience the art and craft of letterpress printing on the iPad.

The LetterMpress project has already generated well over required amount of funding on Kickstarter.com to acquire collections of authentic wood type and vintage “cuts” to add to their library.

LetterMpress will be a virtual letterpress environment—released first on the iPad—that will allow anyone to create authentic-looking letterpress designs and prints. The design process is the same as the letterpress process—you place and arrange type and cuts on a press bed, lock the type, ink the type, and print. You will be able to create unlimited designs, with multiple colors, using authentic vintage wood type and art cuts. And you can print your design directly from LetterMpress or save it as an image for import it into other applications.

So why bother re-creating what’s considered to be an obsolete process for the new technology of the iPad?

Actually, a letterpress and an iPad operate similarly when it comes to manipulating objects in a composition. Just like placing blocks of wood type on a surface, you drag the type images across the iPad, and then move them around to create your design. This is why the iPad would make an ideal platform for people to experience the creative aspects of letterpress and typography.