Have you ever been blown away by how well another designer made their work look aged and worn? I know I have.
Obviously, there's a lot of little things that make a design look truly vintage. Subtle offsets, halftones, texture. But there's one thing that almost every designer I know misses.
It's a subtle yet powerful effect that drills into your subconscious mind. It's hard to put your finger on it until someone points it out. Any ideas what it is?
Ink starve.
What is ink starve? Ink starve is the effect that occurs after a printing plate pushes into a sheet of paper. As the plate rises of the paper the ink pools toward the center slightly. The result is a subtle grainy lightening around the edges.