Importance of Blueprints

A blueprint is a drawing representing a design, either conceptual or the final design production. The blueprint is the basic tool for any design production, including house plans, architectural construction and most all construction products. The term is also used in a somewhat colloquial sense in describing any vocational based plan, such as a “blueprint” for developing some type of strategy. In this context an outline for a speech may be considered a blueprint.

A reproduction blueprint is a type of paper reproduction which was invented in the mid 1800s to curb reproduction costs. The technique was enhanced using the diazo reproduction concept. It basically remains as the chosen reproduction method for the professional community including the military, scientist, engineers and architects. They are reproducible from the original print or by today’s more sophisticated methods including Xerox and blueline reproduction machines.

Xerox technology has advanced more into an electrostatic reproduction process using toners. A diazo reproduction is a process by which organic chemicals, usually containing ammonia and ferric cyanide, are applied to a medium, such as paper, and then exposed with light and temperature to cause chemical changes. Those chemical changes preserve the drawing. For more permanent reproductions, linen, vellum, and much later, Mylar were introduced to minimize shrinkage and distorted images.

In all reproduction techniques shrinking is a common problem, since the exact dimensions of a design drawing can suffer from aberrations. With the use of Mylar in the late 1970s reproduction became popular and sepia prints replaced blueprints by some of the marketplace. Today the term blueprint is usually made for any reproductive print.

When reproducing an original drawing, no matter what the technique, copyright laws should be observed since most blueprints are copyrighted and permission is required for reproduction, especially design prints.