Studio Brief 4 - Risograph printing

After collecting the research needed for our booklet, we have looked into the way the information will be presented visually.

We came across risograph printing and found that it has a very particular aesthetic that would suit the style we want. We talked about using a single colour for everything in the entire booklet, and printing onto a cheap off-white paper. This would give us the rough, hand-made finish we are after whilst also cutting costs down.

What is RISO printing?
Risograph aka RISO printing is a high-speed, photocopier meets mimeograph printing system, named after the manufacturer, Riso Kagaku Corp. This piece of machinery was produced for high volume copying and printing back in mid 80s. It can duplicate prints from the built in scanning bed, but also has the ability to be used as network printer, which is very appealing to designers and illustrators when producing editions or self-published comics, zines and books.

How does it work?
RISO printing uses master sheets to transfer the ink from the drum onto the passing paper according to the design that has been scanned in or entered digitally. The artwork is transferred onto the master sheet by a series of heated spots on a thermal plate which burn away the artwork shape leaving voids in the master. The master sheet wraps around the ink drum so that the coloured ink can be pushed through these voids onto the paper that passes through at a high speed.
Every print using this master will be the same colour. If you require a colour change, you will have to remove the interchangeable ink drum, replace it with your desired colour and create a new master to wrap around that drum.

Why use RISO?
This method of printing is a more affordable option when compared to other reproduction processes like screen printing or offset lithography, yet you can achieve similar aesthetics and beautiful colour overlays. You can pass a sheet of paper through as many times as you like to build up different colour layersDue to time management issues we may not have time to print using the actual risograph method. If not, we have decided to try a similar visual technique using a regular inkjet printer. We need to do a few trials with this to see how it would come out.