Are you considering making a vintage or retro title and wondering how you can achieve that? Boy did you came to the right place. We gotcha covered.

Distressed paper is a must. You can achieve this by using an uncoated paper stock and printing a sepia or parchment art pattern on it. The uncoated nature of the paper means it will absorb the ink and the paper remains soft. Images are just a little less crisp due to the saturation, and that’s what you want. You can special order cream papers (anything that is available commercially on rolls) and print that with your pattern, but you can achieve the same effect without that cost.

We love the the Linen & Leather Wrapped Books and Box Sets. Linen was used on old world books and it will absolutely lend a vintage characteristic to your title. Stick to the simple art, 1C black or a very dark color. If you want color, add a slipcase. Leather will give a classic look as well. We use a faux leather material. Printing on this is impossible, but you can deboss it for an imprint, or you can use foil stamping.

To make your title vintage, consider these touches: distressed looking paper, linen or leather wraps, kraft papers, vellum and fly sheets, and tie it up with a ribbon.

If you are doing a hardcover book, consider using black or tan kraft paper for the inner wrap and sleeves. Black paper would remain unprinted, but the tan paper can be printed. Vellum sleeves are very old-wordy, as well. Fly sheets are another popular touch that make it authentic. 

Consider things adding a ribbon or string. A box can have a ribbon to help lift things out, and a ribbon is a lovely placeholder. We’ve also had clients add unusual touches like stencils, pencils, and coins. Let us know and we can source for you. 

Fiberboard stock can be very useful for vintage looks too as the material is brownish. Colors are naturally muted on it. Fiberboard is also wonderfully eco-friendly. 

Embossing & Debossing are very old-world printing effects. One of creative clients made scrapbook corners on the edges of her photo and we embossed them. Raised relief printing on the spine of a book gives a tactile impression, as does indenting. This can be tricky if using a chipboard core, we do have a few tricks worked out…

If you are into vinyl, we make all kinds of vinyl packaging – 12inch, 7inch, we can do any size. We don’t actually make vinyl, but do the packaging really well. Consider a vinyl looking disc if you are doing a cd release. They can be twinsies.  Cassettes? Mnnn, no. But one creative client had us make a usb with cassette like packaging.