Letterpress Name Stars

What does that title even mean??  

Today I printed a birthday part invitation – it was in two runs with clean justified type for Henry’s 40th birthday. 

The client asked for Red ink. Now, what you may or may not know is that RED ink is the most difficult ink to pin down in the pantone book. As I was printing this last bit of the invitation today, I told my office-mate that Red is my Achilles Heel. I had to pick the red, which I put off til the last minute. Why is that? why do I have such a hard time with red… Well, let’s look deeper for an answer……

Anne of Card Tricks Designs, my office-mate, was talking about color combinations one day. She had a client who wanted to use Orange and Blue. An oceany blue or kind of turquoise one. She instantly complained that she didn’t really like that combo, and wanted to shift the blue to navy or something. I actually like the original combo though it does remind me of the Miami Dolphins…. 

But then she revealed that Orange and that same kind of blue were her junior high colors. and that she always hated that color combo for that reason. 

henrys40thtestIt was at that moment when I figured it out. RED and white were the colors of the Marion Senior High School Hurricanes…. it is very clear. I don’t like straight red for the same reason Anne doesn’t. 

Incidentally, I also don’t particularly care for Kelly Green and white, the colors of Sugar Grove Combined School. Though I don’t really have a problem with Purple and white, the colors of Northwestern University. HMMMM???

I only can wonder if every graphic designer has the same feeling about their school colors. Maybe those formative years are just very color sensitive?

In any case, here is a little starburst of sillyness I printed today…. testing out the red and white for Henry’s invitations….