University of the Arts 2010

This is one of the most beautifully simple jobs that I have seen all year. It is for the University of the Arts in London and is the book produced for the awards ceremony in July and lists every candidate on every course together with their awards.

Size is 160x230mm, portrait. The job has a 4pp cover with 112pp text with a spine width of about 10mm. One of the most unusual things is that the whole job is printed in just one colour - Pantone Gold (874, I guess). Not only is it unusual to see one colour jobs produced these days in any sort of volume (because the pressure always seems to be on using colour) but using a metallic on an uncoated substrate (Redeem 100% Recycled 240gsm and 130gsm)  is uncommon and yet, as you can see, it works beatifully, both on the text work and the full pages of solid with reversed out extremely fine lines.

Design is by David Preston Studio. It was produced in conjunction with Simon Goode at the Department of Communications and Development at the University of the Arts. Thank you Simon for sending me copies and the lovely note.

It was printed by Tradewinds who are based in Peckam in South London and I have to say, they have made a really lovely job of it.

http://www.arts.ac.uk/

http://www.davidprestonstudio.co.uk/

http://www.tradewindslondon.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.10.2010

Whistles S/S 2010

This is the Spring Summer 2010 lookbook for Whistles - (I've only just taken the pics which is why it's s bit late for the current season!)

The size is 240x340mm Portrait, saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover (which is deliberately lightweight) on our Marazion Ultra 135gsm with a 24pp text on Marazion Ultra 90gsm which gives it a light, summery feel.

The spreads alternate between CMYK in colour and four colour black and white images, sometimes in a portrait format over the DPS. It's a beautifully produced job.

Art Direction and design is by Simmonds Ltd.  Photography is by Karim Sadli and Styling is by Francesca Burns.

http://www.whistles.co.uk/

http://www.simmondsltd.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.10.2010

HAPTIC

I've just received printed samples of this superb identity project for architects, Haptic.

Rules have been used to create letterforms (see above) which have then been translated into a fantastic emboss and deboss for the business cards, pictured below.

The effect on the business cards is created using a multi-level die which embosses and debosses in the same pass on the machine. Fantastically simple and amazingly effective - nothing more to be said!

Materials used are Matrisse Cotton 110gsm for the letterhead and Matrisse 320gsm for the business card.

Design is by BOB Design in London. Creative Director is Mireille Burkhardt.

Print and embossing is by Benwells in London.

http://www.hapticarchitects.co.uk/
http://www.bobdesign.co.uk/
http://www.benwell.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.10.2010

Nobile Folios

I have just received a copy of this really exquisite piece of literature published by Sylph Editions in association with London art gallery, Piano Nobile.

This new series of publications are Monographic explorations of 20th and 21st Century masters. Each booklet explores one painting and one painting only. This picture by Mark Gertler is called 'Bathers 1917-1918' and is set alongside a story called 'Trees at a Sanatorium' specially written for this publication by Shaun Lewis.

There are several facets to this job which it is impossible to appreciate without actually handling the job. The size of  240x282mm just feels right (can't always explain that one!). It has an 8pp cover and a 32pp text. The material choice is perfect - it is Omnia Natural 200gsm cover and 120gsm text which again just 'feels' right. The material and the image work perfectly together with the subtle tactile nature of the Omnia and the brushwork of the painting. The binding is three hole sewn BUT with two lots - which looks great in the red thread.

The publication comes beautifully packaged in a folio box made using our Rib-Tone 1 sided. Comptletely unprinted (and therefore quite economical) the box is held closed by a locking tab and personalised with a belly band - the whole package looks great.

The project is designed and art directed by Ornan Rotem at Sylph Editions with assistance by Num Stibbe and in this job, even the typeface gets credited! 'set in Hoefler and Frere-Jones's Verlag, an affable Modernist typeface, drawing its inspiration from early 20th century rationalist geometric designs such as Futura'

The superb print and finishing is by Principal Colour in Paddock Wood.

http://www.piano-nobile.com/

http://www.sylpheditions.com/

http://www.principalcolour.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.10.2010

ISTD Stammtisch - 13th October 2010

Talking Books was an event held last Wednesday hosted by the ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) at The Russian Club Studios in London E8 . It involved a series of short presentations by a variety of speakers talking about a book of their choice. The speakers included Ken Hollings, Fraser Muggeridge, Caroline Roberts, Gary Bird, Lucienne Roberts, Hana Tanimura, Gilmar Wendt and me! 

It was a great evening which was amazingly interesting and diverse both in terms of the people giving the presentations and the books that they spoke about. It was very oversubscibed  and I should guess there were at least 120 in the audience.

This is me doing my talk...

Afterwards everyone got a chance to handle the books that had been spoken about (with cotton gloves on, of course!)

I can't give a complete transcript of the evening as it  would take far too long. The speakers were all excellent (probably with the exception of me!) and in particular Lucienne Roberts who spoke so passionately and coherently about her book on Sister Corita and CSM MA student Hana Tanimura about our book buying and owning culture - she's writing her dissertation on this subject  All in all a really interesting evening.

And I guess you're asking "which book did Justin talk about"? Well, in some ways it isn't a book at all - it could almost be described as a "de-constructed" book, as it has no binding! It's a job for the NatWest Media Centre at Lords Cricket ground produced for Future systems by Cartlidge Levene in 1999. Unfortunately I haven't got time to write about it fully now but it will feature as one of my "Jobs from the Past" posts (which is the first post of every month). But for now, here's one picture of it so you get the idea!

Finally thanks to the ISTD for hosting and arranging the evening. I thing these events are excellent and I think that everyone who's practising in this creative industry should make an effort to get to this sort of event once in a while. Otherwise we all exist in our own little work bubble and often don't get exposed to what else is out there and different ideas and thinking. Special thanks to Belinda Magee and Paulus Dreibholz and all at ISTD. For next event, email to stammtisch@istd.org.uk.

http://www.istd.org.uk/
http://www.helveticcentre.ch/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.10.2010

Bookmarks

This is a set of Bookmarks which were commissioned by high street and online retailer Urban Outfitters as giveaways (with a purchased book, of course) for their Bookclub.    

 Size is 185x55mm. They are printed on Omnia 320gsm. Originally Chloé wanted to use our Flockage Litho 300gsm and the job was proofed on that, but given the wide range of different illustrative styles, it worked well on some but not so well on others, so Omnia which gives an uncoated and substantial feel to the bookmarks was chosen as it would work with any of the illustrations.

Design and Art Direction is by Chloé Wolfe-Cowen at Urban Outfitters. They are litho printed in CMYK with a single colour reverse. Print is by R. Young and Son in Croydon.

To see all ten bookmarks and details of the designers/illustrators names, look at www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/page/bookclub

...and thanks for the note Chloé.

http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/

http://www.ryoungprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.10.2010

Rupert Shrive - After St. Theresa

This is a lovely exhibition catalogue designed and produced by Jalloro for London art gallery, Morton Metropolis.

The catalogue shows the work of artist Rupert Shrive, for the exhibition titled "After St. Theresa". The catalogue covers his work including Sculptures, Configurations and Love Songs. His work is produced using mainly brown packaging paper which has been "scrunched up" torn and shaped to form these amazing artworks - so with that in mind, Rib-Tone which is one of our cover boards that looks like wrapping paper has been used to great effect on the cover.

The size of the catalogue is 150x210mm, Portrait, section sewn binding and the spine is 9mm.

The job has an 4pp cover with 95mm flaps on Rib-Tone [2 sided] 340gsm with a 80pp text on Marazion Ultra 170gsm. The Marazion Ultra was chosen mainly because of it's matt flatness which would reproduce the artworks well without a glossiness which would detract from the tactile subject. A simple but effective choice of materials.

 

Design is by Jalloro, who are based in London and the Creative Director on this project was James Robinson.

Print production is by Footprint Innovations based in Tunbridge Wells and the project was handled by Stuart Hillcock.

http://www.mortonmetropolis.com/
http://www.jalloro.com/
http://www.fpiltd.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.10.2010

Forward Thinking - Conference at St Brides

Today I received a printed note from Alex Cooper and Rose Gridneff (the joint letterpress gurus!) about a conference that they are helping to organise at St Brides on 19th November.

Looks like it will be an interesting day. Have a look at  http://www.stbride.org/events?show=letterpress_1

...and thanks for the lovely note (printed on some of our lovely paper!)

http://www.stbride.org/

Posted by Justin Hobson 12.10.2010

Johnston Works - Party time!

Last Thursday evening I was invited to a party at the Dining Rooms in Lots Road, Chelsea hosted by Johnston Works for friends and associates that work with them and it was a very jolly time.

Thank you to everyone at Johnston Works for making me feel so welcome and a special thank you to Kirsten Johnston (pic above) for inviting me.

Here are some very badly taken pictures of mine to record the event showing Remy Jauffret (below)

...and Stuart Simpson in thoughtful discussussion with Roy Killen from Push Print.

http://www.johnstonworks.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.10.2010

ISTD-Stammtisch 1: Talking Books

The International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) is pleased to announce the first of its Stammtisch* events: Talking Books. It is to be held next Wednesday (13th October) at 7pm at the Russian Club Gallery, 340-344 Kingsland Road E8 4DA

* ‘Stammtisch’ = German for ‘Regulars’ Table’, ‘regular get-together’.

The event is hosted in conjunction with the Helvetic Centre on the occasion of the Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2009 exhibition organized by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture. (All awarded books will be accessible at the event.)

Talking Books will host a series of short presentations by speakers from a variety of backgrounds, each of them talking about a book of their choice and their personal and/or professional relation to it. We expect stories about form, format, layout, production, history, content, structure, editorial quality, imagery, and much more. Most books presented during the evening will be available for the audience to see and handle.

Speakers include
Gary Bird (Managing Director of Gavin Martin)
Justin Hobson (paper consultant, Fenner Paper)
Ken Hollings (writer, editor, lecturer)
Fraser Muggeridge (designer)
Caroline Roberts (co-owner of Grafik Magazine)
Lucienne Roberts (designer, writer)
Hana Tanimura (designer, student)
Gilmar Wendt (designer, writer)

Talking Books is an open and free event, but will operate on a guest list basis. For further information or reservations please send an email to stammtisch@istd.org.uk.

...and yes you did read correctly, I am speaking! - so no rotten eggs from the audience please!
http://www.istd.org.uk/,
http://www.helveticcentre.ch/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.10.2010

GAP 2010

This is a lovely project produced for Gap this Summer. It consists of an invitation and an A5 lookbook.

The "private view" invitation is an A5 size folding out to A3 and is printed in one colour (silver) on our Astralux 90gsm. Astralux is a one sided "cast coated" substrate which means it is an extremely high gloss coated finish on one side with an uncoated reverse. Very nice for a folded invitation and the silver looks great on it.

The accompanying lookbook has a 4pp cover and a 32pp text, A5 portrait, which is saddle stitched with WHITE staples - an excellent detail. Another lovely feature is the cover being cut 25mm short from the foredge with the 2010 printed on the cover and page one of text, lining up. A really nice touch and relatively inexpensive to do...

It uses a combination of Astralux 115gsm for the cover and our Omnia 120gsm for the text which gives a great coated/uncoated contrast (especially with the cover as described above) but the advantage being that the images work really well on the Omnia - printing as well as if they were on a coated material, as you can see....

Printing is by Absolute Ink who are based in Clapton in London and who work directly with many of the large brands. Art director and designer on the project was Jonathan Baron working in conjunction with the in-house production team at Gap and below is his brand spanky new business card:

http://www.gap.com/

http://www.studio-baron.com/

http://www.theabsolute.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.10.2010

Future:Content

The guys at It's Nice That are very excited about the launch of their first ever one-day conference, Future:Content.  It's Nice That have always believed in doing things differently and I'm sure they'll follow this lead with Future:Content. The event looks at how people involved in design and communication engage with, define and present content across a number of platforms. It will be a chance to hear the opinions of carefully curated industry specialists on their areas of expertise.

The conference will take place at the intimate Shoreditch Studios on 10th November. Speakers include Deyan Sudjic (Design Museum), Russell Davies (Ogilvy & Mather and RIG London), Phil Clandillon & Steve Millbourne (Sony Music), Sanky (AllofUs), Francesca Panetta (The Guardian and Hackney Podcast) and Anna Gerber & Britt Iversen (Visual Editions) and more speakers to be announced soon.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit

http://www.itsnicethat.com/futurecontent

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.10.2010

Jobs from the past - Number 13

Followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by and this one is my FIRST EVER piece of work at Fenner Paper that was in any way a "creative project"!

22 and Eye - LCPDT BA (Hons) Degree Show 1993

This job dates back to 1993. The design company was Pentagram and the designer on the project was Vince Frost. The project was the end of year show, poster and literature for the BA (Hons) Photography course at the London College of Printing and Distributive Trades (as it was then) and I still have a copy!

The poster is pictured above. Size is 580mm Square. It features a photograph by one of the graduating students. Clare Carnegie. The invitation was exactly as the poster but 180mm square. It was printed in two colours as a duotone with a black and a grey. I know this for a fact as I've still got an untrimmed press sheet! It was printed on a coated paper called Lightning Silk in 150gsm (although that particular sheet has now gone long ago). With the poster, goes an invitation, identical to the poster but 180mm square and printed on the same sheet as the poster.

The main pack to show each of the student's work is a 6pp folder containing 24 cards. The folder is very simply produced - more of a wrap around - as there are no flaps top/bottom with a tipped on label on the front. The 180mm square folder was produced on Chagall Nero 260gsm which has a slight texture. 

The 24 cards are one for each of the 23 graduates showing one image with their contact details plus an introduction by Jonathan Goddard, Director of Photographic Studies. The title "22 and Eye" comes from the use of the picture by Clare Carnegie, who's eye photograph is used as the lead image and 22 other graduates.

The cards were also printed on our Lightning Silk 250gsm. Print was by Penshurst Press (sadly no longer in existence).

This was a very "low budget" job which is why I was "cajoled" into sponsoring the piece with a good price on the paper - and that was back in 1993!

http://www.pentagram.co.uk/

http://www.frostdesign.com.au/

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.10.2010