Seeing the book being printed!

This was one of the coolest things to see, and so satisfying. I had a vague idea of how printing worked but to actually see the ink being physically put in and then coming out beautifully on the pages really blew my mind. There is a difference between knowing the concept of something and seeing it in action.

This printing company specializes in these types of books. Other companies in the area do things like newspapers and magazines. Our publishing company chose this printing company because of their attention to detail. It’s a family owned company and the boss’s son showed us around. He was very passionate about printing.

It’s interesting how the basic principles of printing are still the same after all these centuries: ink goes onto paper. But the technology was interesting. From that desk we showed in the video there was someone adjusting the levels of ink to change how it appears. That’s what those numbers corresponded to. The designer was checking how colour appeared. I’m very glad she was there because I really don’t know anything about what looks best. There is a big difference between artists and designers in cases like this.

There are special techniques for loading paper as well. You may have noticed the guy putting the paper into the machine fluffed it up slightly before loading it. There are all these techniques that involve slight movements that people learn when working in this industry. Watching the paper going in and being printed on was very satisfying! Definitely falls in the “oddly satisfying” category. Even if it wasn’t my book, it would have still been cool to see.

We will be having a book signing on the 15th of July at the Kyobo book store at Times Square in Seoul at 3pm. We will update more soon!

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