A Letterpress App for iPad
Graphic designer John Bonadies has teamed up with programmer Jeff Adams to develop LetterMpress, a letterpress app for the iPad. The virtual letterpress will allow users to drag and drop their type, lock it into place, ink it, and ultimately print the design. (As a demo, Bonadies set "Fine Books" for us.) The virtual print shop will come into being through high-res photos and scans of type and impressions. Currently in development, the project is raising funds for acquiring type and creating images through Kickstarter, a fundraising platform that enables individual pledges of support for as little as $1.
Bonadies, who is based in Champaign, Illinois, is also establishing a complementary real-world letterpress co-op, Living Letter Press, which will house the physical type collection that the iPad app offers virtually. In a phone interview, Bonadies told me that he surveyed interest in letterpress among the 400-500 members of Champaign-Urbana Design Org (CUDO) and received an enthusiastic response. For more information, see the project description on Kickstarter.
