Hello Everyone!
I am working on a project and I need to choose a font with round tips such as on the letter ‘N’ or ‘M’. I have seen a graphic designer use a small magnifying item to look at colors. I’d like to order this item but I don’t know the name of it. Can someone tell me what this item is? Thanks!
A printing loupe.
No affiliation. Just picked the first hit to show you for reference
You all are terrific! Thank you!
Both Pan and I are holdovers from a generation of designers that used to have these things on their desks for daily use checking negatives and color slides.
Those days are gone.
Loupe or Linen Tester. The name ‘Linen Tester’ betrays its origins which were not in printing but in the fabric trade. The quality of a cloth was set by the number of threads per inch. You still see Egyptian Cotton advertised as ‘300’, ‘400’, ‘600’ thread count with the higher number being the best quality.
Some of us mid-generation print and graphics folk are trying to keep the tradition alive. Though I haven’t looked at a negative in 12 years. =/
Me too. I still have one in my desk drawer, along with an X-Acto knife, a pica pole and a set of French curves.
Anyone wants to take a wax machine off my hand?
Did you ever use the adjustable rubber curve strip? I bought one when I was in art school but never used it.
I remember them never holding the curve very well.
I don’t have loupe at my desk but at my previous job, my boss had one in a lovely nice case that he only lent out only with supervision. When I asked to borrow it, my boss would come over to my desk, remove the loupe from its case with care, take the first look, then pass it to me to look at. When we were finished, he would it put it back in it’s case and put it away. It was a nice ritual. It was obviously important to him.
My first job was to look at negatives with a loupe for a fashion magizine on 7th Ave that didn’t last to long. LOL.
