Editing Letraset (section)

== Product ==
[[File:Killed a nun small.jpg|thumb|An example use of Letraset in modern art: labelling a photograph by Israeli artist [[Michal Na'aman]]]]
In common usage, the name Letraset originally referred to sheets of transfer lettering that were originally manufactured as a wet process in 1959, with each character selected and cut from a sheet, placed face-down on a small [[silk screen]] frame and wetted with a paint brush to soften and release the [[gum arabic]] adhesive which held it. The frame was then turned over and the letter located over the artwork, and the character pressed into contact with the page, with the mounting base slid away as with model aircraft transfers.

Later, in 1961, the process was simplified, and a [[dry transfer]]able [[lettering]] system was developed. The range of available [[typefaces]] expanded, incorporating both classic and contemporary type designs of the period. Letraset sheets were used extensively by professional and amateur [[graphic designers]], [[architects]] and [[commercial artist|artists]] in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. As a result of its relative affordability, and because of its ease of use, it also came to be used by [[printer (publishing)|printers]], [[design studio]]s and [[advertising agencies]]. In the late 1980s, Letraset started to be replaced by [[desktop publishing]]. Today, Letraset sheets are traded on eBay and elsewhere, and sometimes used so that a designer can avoid a digital look.

The name Letraset is also often used to [[Genericized trademark|refer generically]] to sheets of [[dry-transfer lettering]] of any brand. This technique was very widespread for lettering and other elements before the advent of the phototypesetting and laser [[computer]] techniques of [[word processing]] and [[desktop publishing]]. Currently, Letraset's line of print patterns and textures are more commonly used than its lettering.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}