It has been a tradition at the Printing Museum in Meppel since 2002: the headline print is presented on the Monday after Epiphany. Old craft techniques are usually used for the print, but not this time.
“The intention was for the poster to be produced in screen printing,” says Rob Reinink of Millart advertising agency. Screen printing is a technique in which you print the different colors separately with screen printing frames. This is done by hand.
Reinink’s design contains eleven different colors. With a screen print, the poster would have to go through the press eleven times.
“That didn’t happen this year,” says Stein van Ittersum, chairman of the Printing Museum. “Because people from the screen printing department had physical problems. That’s a bit of a shame, but we solved it in a different way.”
The poster was ultimately printed with the more modern offset method at Drukkerij Van Dijk in Meppel. The posters have been through the press twice to get the copper color clear on the paper. Van Ittersum: “This was not made the old-fashioned way. That’s a shame.”
Reinink didn’t have to think long about the design. “When I cycled away after the briefing, I already had the design in mind. I sat down at my computer and an hour later I had it ready.”
This year’s theme is 80 years of liberation. He depicted this using eighty colored squares. They represent eighty years, with a white dove of peace. Reinink also wanted to do something with the Stolpersteine in Meppel. “These became rectangular elements in copper.”
The printing of the headline print is based on an old tradition. In the Middle Ages, students could use this to show guild masters what they had to offer. They did their best work then. In return they received food and drinks.
The Printing Museum tries to keep the graphic profession current with the annual unveiling of the print. Reinink: “It is a very long tradition. If you are part of it, it is very honorable. I am quite proud of it.”