J-card layouts and construction for screen printing

Today was all about getting all materials ready for an early start and screen printing tomorrow. This process involved selecting the paper stock from the original new wave and synthpop j-cards I have collected. The cards were first cut down all vertical fold lines and then laid out on the table to be arranged. The front card is always going to be an important one as it is the panel that is seen the most, for this reason, and for the placement of the logotype I selected the three front cards below. Yazoo and Q-Tips designs both feature plain white backs making them prime panels for printing the logotype onto, and Human League only features black text on a white background. Another consideration was the fact that the other available options (Depeche Mode and The Police) were printed on dark backgrounds and had an element of No Wave aesthetic about them. The intention was to oppose the No Wave aesthetic with New Wave and synthpop designs that would then be obstructed. The cards were tried and tested in a number of configurations with scrutiny from front and back until a pattern was decided upon. The logotype would be printed on their reverse front panel, which would be followed by a colourful or design heavy second panel that would not be printed on. Next would come panel 3 and 4 that would of course feature tracklists for side A and B.

Once this formula was fully decided upon and the combinations were lined up it was time to tape each card together with the red electrical tape I have purchased. Another important consideration at this stage was how much the 1.5cm tape would eat into the margins on cards that it was sticking together. For this reason, the first two lines were done on the reverse, either side of the pictographic pannel and the final one was done, contrastingly on the front. This allowed clean space for the tape NO from initial ideas to be put on the front and also left space for the tracklists on the back.

Finally, the layout for screen printing was prepared for use either tomorrow or Thursday.