Project D A/W 2011

Project D is the exciting new clothing label designed by founders Danni Minogue and her friend Tabitha Somerset-Webb whom is already an established designer. The first collection launched last year to great acclaim and the range contains pretty day dresses, cocktail chic and glamorous red-carpet-ready dresses (...you can probably tell I didn't write that last bit!) For the forthcoming Autumn/Winter 2011 collection they have produced this superb new lookbook.

The size is 170x240mm, portrait. It is made up using 32pp of our Omnia 150gsm which is just simply stunning with the images used. The cover and translucent dividers printed (and hot foil blocked on the cover) on 100gsm tracing paper (not ours - I'm waiting to find out and will hopefully add this detail in) is printed in a rich, deep red. The finishing is "singer sewn" along the spine - absolutely beautiful.

Design is by Anthony Hodgson at Face based in Pool in Wharfedale near Leeds. Printing, including the lovely hot foil blocking on the cover, is by Chapter Press. It is a beautiful piece of literature.

www.projectdonline.co.uk

www.weareface.com

www.chapterpress.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 31.08.2011

Wedding Day 2011

Now some of you may remember with some disappointment that I wasn't actually invited to the Royal Wedding in the summer - even though I had all the gear!

However, here's one wedding that I did make it to. Anyone who's called when I'm out of the office will probably have spoken to my colleague Mark Bassett who was married on Saturday to his lovely fiancé Claire.

They were married at Tonbridge Castle (yes, we have a real Norman castle in Tonbridge!) with a reception afterwards. It was a lovely day and I wish them a long and happy married life.  

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.08.2011

WORK

This is an unusual but very effective use of our Omnia text and cover paper - all the branding material for a new London based Gallery called WORK.

WORK is a new gallery set up by Black Dog Publishing to exhibit work, host exhibitions and talks in the areas of art, design and achitecture. It is based in Kings Cross area of London.

The extremely simple but effective identity is Litho printed in black and hot foil blocked in a gloss black foil. Letterheads are on Omnia 120gsm, cards on 320gsm.

...and here was the other attraction of using Omnia for their literature. Because the work feature in the gallery could be of a diverse nature, they wanted an uncoated but that would reproduce well over a wide range of imagery - and in this case, an image which was also gloss UV varnished. The A5, 2pp invitation (printed on Omnia 320gsm) was also duplexed, making it a sturdy 640gsm.

Art Direction and design is by Matt Bucknall at Black Dog Publishing. The print, foiling and duplexing was by SP Litho in Rainham, Essex - an excellent job, really well produced.

...and thanks to Matt for the lovely note and for sending me some files:

www.workgallery.co.uk

www.blackdogonline.com

www.splitho.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.08.2011

Friends Of Print and Paper

Now I know this sounds like a "self help" group that I might have founded, but this is serious, honest!

Earlier this week I was sent a link to a site of a (realtively) new organisation called Friends of Print and Paper (or FOPAP for short).

This site appears to have been set up by individuals who are fed up with some of the claims made in and by the media about the environmental harm that paper does to the environment and the rush to both stop using or recycling paper. They have some interesting scientific information about the way in which paper works as a carbon "sink".

Now you might think that this is paper industry "propaganda" but I'm fairly sure it's not - it seems to be run by individuals and isn't backed by industry bodies or any of the pulp and paper companies, so maybe, just maybe, there's something in it.

Now, I know there'll be a lot of criticism about the logo and the site design, but get past that and have a read...   http://www.fopap.org/

(and if you have any comments, let me know)

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.08.2011

M&S Spa 2011

Here's a lovely, bright fresh looking job for the launch of the new M&S Spa collection.

Size is A5 portrait. It is printed on our Omnia which means that the solid areas and images have reproduced is a vibrant, fresh way and that the type which appears in metallic silver, actually looks metallic! It is singer sewn along the spine. It has a 4pp cover (280gsm) and a 12pp text (200gsm) with throw out pages in the text.

The below pic shows the cover open, with the silver hot foil blocking on front and back covers.

Design and Art Direction is by Iain White at Pure Design. Print is by Push and thank you to Emma for sending me some copies - you're right ...it's a beauty!

www.marksandspencer.com

www.pure-design.co.uk

www.push-print.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.08.2011

Values Document

Well, I'm going to let this job speak for itself...

Taenker is the first publication for luxury phone company AEsir which are sponsoring a series of discussions exploring values and creativity in todays world. It's a fascinating read (you can dowload a pdf from the following site: http://www.aesir-copenhagen.com/taenker/)

The brochure is 240x330mm, portrait and is a 16pp self cover, saddle stitched format. It is printed on our Redeem 100% Recycled 80gsm, which works superbly well with the overtly CMYK feel of the illustrations used in the design. There is an A5 16pp insert, printed on 100gsm gloss coated.  Another really nice touch is the use of white wire on the saddle stitches and the fact that there are three stitches - which looks good on the larger than A4 format document and holds the A5 insert in securely and makes a feature of 3 stitches.

Design is by Tom Hingston Studio. Print is by Team Impression and thanks to Simon Bucktrout for sending me copies:

http://www.aesir-copenhagen.com/taenker/

www.hingston.net

www.team-impression.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.08.2011

DAKS S/S11

Here's yet another excellent example that demonstrates the versatlity of our Offenbach Bible. A lightweight material that prints superbly well and if well printed can make any piece of literature a thing of quality and great interest.

Particular care has been taken over the print reproduction of these images. Many have subtle detail, weaves and texture which need to be seen and appreciated, so the reproduction achieved on the Offenbach Bible is of paramount importance to the sucess of this catalogue. The size is a standard A4, portrait and it's a 16pp piece with lovely white wire stiches (nice touch!)

Designer on the project is Bretton Bird working in-house at Daks. Printing, including the lovely hot foil blocking on the cover, is by Chapter Press. All in all a really lovely piece

www.daks.com

www.chapterpress.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.08.2011

St Bride's Conference 2011

Becky Chilcott and John Walters are co-curating the Friends of St Bride Tenth Annual Conference.

The theme of this year’s conference is Critical Tensions and it’s being held on the 10th and 11th November 2011.

They have a fantastic line-up of speakers including Phil Baines, Jonathan Barnbrook, Zoë Bather, Alan Kitching, Gerry Leonidas, Vaughan Oliver, Paul Rennie, Lucienne Roberts, Jack Schulze, Steve Watson, Rebecca Wright and Derek Yates with more names yet to be added.

The objective in holding events at the St. Bride Library is to raise its profile and try to maintain a very real presence in people's creative imaginations rather than it acting as a profit making exercise, so the conference is reasonably priced.

So why don't you get those little grey cells moving and sign up!
http://stbride.org/events?show=criticaltensions

PS - I happened to notice that there are varios student discounts and concessions and the other thing is if you are an Eye subscriber you also get a discount - cool!

www.stbride.org

Posted by Justin Hobson 12.08.2011

Fabergé Invitation

This is a lovely private view invitation for Fabergé and the launch of their latest jewellery at the Baselworld exhibition. Size is 140x170mm, printed on our Omnia 280gsm which, as you can see, faithfully reproduces these amazing earings and the background solid colour:

The text side is printed in two colours offset litho, with a hot foil blocked Fabergé logo, in silver. Art Direction and design is anonymous  Print is by Push.

http://www.faberge.com/
http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.08.2011

INK

This brochure is the result of a collaboration between photographer Emilie Bailey, London based design studio & SMITH and digital printers Spring Image.

The title is "INK"  but the subject is nothing to do with printing, it's entirely about tattoos! It is 175x250mm, portrait format and saddle stitched. It looks and feels great and yet the run was only 500 copies!  The job was printed on an Indigo digital press by Spring Image and the print result is fantastic. It is printed on our new Shiro Echo, Bright White (FSC) 4pp cover on 250gsm and 32pp text on 120gsm.

Although Shiro was not developed originally for digital, it has been "sapphire treated" by the printer. This treatment is often applied to more unusual papers and provides a "key" so that the inks (which are different to litho inks) work on the paper surface - watch out for the new pre-treated Shiro digital range which is on the way!

Look and enjoy...

It really is a superb piece and goes to show that an Indigo, printing on uncoated materials really is as good as, and sometimes better than printing offset litho! I have a few copies, so if you want one, send me an e-mail and I can oblige

www.emiliebailey.com

www.andsmithdesign.com

www.spimso.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 09.08.2011

Gap 1969

This is a lovely promo piece to support the 1969 jeans campaign launch by Gap earlier in the year.

Size is A5, portrait. It has a 4pp cover and a 12pp text, printed CMYK throughout. The text material is printed on Marazion Ultra 115gsm. Cover is from the popular Hull based company on Colourplan 135gsm with a Buckram emboss. The cover also has a gloss UV varnish on the large 1969. It has a deliberately floppy feel which works really well for the denimy subject!

...and here's the clever bit - see below image. The cover means the book works both ways round - one way men/womens, the other kids/baby. Not the first time it's been done but very effectively executed.

Printing is by Absolute Ink who are based in Clapton in London and who work directly with many of the large brands such as GAP. Art director and designer on the project was Jonathan Baron working in conjunction with the in-house production team at Gap.

...and thanks to Jonathan for sending me some copies.

http://www.gap.com/
http://www.studio-baron.com/
http://www.theabsolute.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.08.2011