Lunch & Learn at Curious

Curious is a creative and branding studio based in the heart of Covent Garden in London. Their work is for a diverse range of clients from property and insurance to beverages and electrical goods. Every month or so, they invite a speaker from different area of the creative industry to talk about their work and inspire the creative team. Previous speakers include Michiel Cremers, Peter Flade, Adam Hinton and Tim Milne ...and this month, it was me!

Curious designed a series of ten A3 posters, which were displayed around the studio, so everyone was aware I was coming and wouldn't miss out!

The talk was on the subject of 10 reasons why paper choice is important and I illustrated the subject with 10 amazing pieces of work from my amazing world at Fenner Paper!
Each of the posters had one of the ten reasons behind the turned over paper corner:

 ....which was reminiscent of our old logo! ...top marks to Gary Smith (Creative Director) for remembering

After the pizzas arrived, over the next hour, I spoke about ten different projects, where (in my opinion) paper and the selection of the right paper had really made a difference to the end project. Below I am talking about the Towerscan project - an art project which involved the printed item also making a 3D model of the tower block.

...and below, a spectacular project for Walt Disney called "That's Donald" produced by Pentagram in 1994.

That's Donald was profiled in an article in Creative Review in May 1994, also appearing on the front cover ...and yes, you've guessed it, I still have a copy in the archive! 

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope that racing through these ten amazing projects didn't give anyone indigestion. You can read more about it here.

Thanks to Gary Smith for organising it and all at Curious for making me so welcome, and thank you for my lovely (excellent quality) tote bag...

http://curiouslondon.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 31.10.2016

Gem Cards from Stooshie Design

Here is a project brought to you from my colleague Sarah Glennie...

Stooshie Design is a boutique greeting card publisher making high quality gem cards. The creative director and founder is Linda Carlin and they are based in the beautiful North Ayrshire countryside in Scotland.

The size of the cards is 125mm square and they are printed in CMYK on the outside with the inside left plain, so you can write your own greeting. The gems are then applied by hand after printing.

This new range of cards is printed on our ZETA Linen, Brilliant 350gsm and if you click on the images below, you'll just see the subtle linen texture....

Click on images to enlarge

The beautifully simple text and pricing details are on the reverse of the card.

Stooshie print and finish the cards all in house and you can read more about them here:
http://www.stooshiedesign.com/index.htm

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.10.2016

Olly Burn Photographer

Olly Burn is a London based photographer and this piece of print is his superbly produced promotional brochure printed last year. 

On his website, Olly Burn describes himself as "lucky to be shooting in some of the world’s most beautiful and challenging locations" ...and this piece of literature certainly goes to prove that point, with locations including Jamaica and Cuba.

The size is 420x297mm, portrait, which is a very large format but gives the images an amazing amount of space. The book has a 4pp cover with a 44pp text and a 'dustjacket' forming a double sided poster wrapping around the cover. The below image shows the inside of the wrap, with the outside of the folded wrap on top.

The below image shows the actual 'cover' underneath the wrap which lists the projects and assignments profiled in the book.

Click on images to enlarge

A beautiful feature is the 'singer sewn' binding using green thread which matches the text colour on the cover.

Wrap, cover and text are all printed on our Omnia which gives it that dead matt, tactile feel but with great reproduction. Wrap is on 120gsm, cover on 200gsm and 44pp text on 150gsm 

The piece has a fantastic feel - solid flat areas of colour work amazingly well - it is difficult for me to say too much more about it - see the images below, they speak for the job...

When I was taking these images for the blog, I saw something on the spread above that I thought was on the page and went to brush it away - however it was in/on the printed image. Mud, which appears so three dimensional in both the image and the printed result that it really looks amazing, as I hope the detail below demonstrates: 

Click on images to enlarge

"All my photography revolves around interaction and capturing genuine moments. The interaction between myself, my subjects and their environments is what inspires me to take pictures." — Olly Burn. You can read more about this project on his website here.

Below image shows outside back cover (on left) with the jacket on the right.

Below shows detail of inside centre spread showing singer sewing.

It's always difficult on this blog to give a sense of scale! -so below is the brochure next to a 2 litre bottle of spring water...

Choice of the paper weights is just right, allowing it to flop open and flow in the hand.

Singer sewing gives it a crafted feel and allows it to open fully, making the best of the large format spreads.

Design and production is by Mark and Chris Thomson at Studio Thomson. The exceptional repro, printing and finishing is by Push print in London.

http://ollyburn.com/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.10.2016

40 years of posters, circulars & talks...

Yesterday evening I was privileged to have been invited to the Typographic Circle 40th Anniversary exhibition, celebration and party!

TypoCircle, as it is usually referred to, was formed in 1976 to bring together anyone with an interest in type and typography. They stage a variety of type and typography related events including a series of diverse monthly lectures by well-known industry speakers, and the annual New York Type Directors Club exhibition. The list of previous speakers have included Alan Kitching, Stefan Sagmeister, Mike Dempsey, Ken Garland, Studio8, Erik Spiekermann, MadeThought, Michael Johnson, Anthony Burrill, Michael Wolff, Sir John Hegarty… to name just a few.  This event also launched the new logo (above) designed by NB: Studio and Studio Sutherl& and made by Bruno Maag.

Besides being serious about type, they are a very sociable organisation with a reputation for staging enjoyable events and this was certainly one of them!

The exhibition was curated in a large part by NB:Studio, working with Studio Sutherl&, Jon Bateson and everyone on the small but dedicated committee. The exhibition features 40 years of TypoCircle posters and Circulars, as well as some incredible ephemera, diligently squirrelled away by past committee members for such an occasion as this.

The exhibition includes a selection of nineteen issues of Circular, the Typocircle publication which in recent times has been designed by Domenic Lippa, printed by Richard Davey on paper sponsored by GF Smith.

This gives you an idea of some of the posters that were on display - printed by Gavin Martin Colournet on paper sponsored by GF Smith.

A publication comprising of three parts has been produced to support the exhibition. Designed in collaboration by NB:Studio, Studio Sutherl& and Jon Bateson. The first section is written by Lynda Relph-Knight and Sallyanne Theodosiou. The second is dedicated to spreads from all of the Circulars produced by Domenic Lippa and his team at Pentagram. And the final section contains 40 individual posters from the TypoCircle archive.

Above is a picture of the book, together with with the poster (designed by Studio Sutherl&) also printed by Gavin Martin Colournet on Colorplan 175gsm sponsored by GF Smith. The superb orange tote bag is sponsored by Streamline. Copies of the book are available from Typocircle.

My thanks to the TypoCircle committee for inviting me. This small band of people need some serious recognition for their time, drive and dedication. They are... Chairman: Alan Dye | President: John Bateson | Honorary Secretary: Val Kildea | Vice Chairman: Louise Sloper |Treasurer: Sallyanne Theodosiou | Membership: Antony Long | Committee Members: Jon Checkley, Dominic Lippa, Jim Sutherland, Olly St John. All these people freely give their time for the benefit of others and must be admired.

I must also mention the Typocircle sponsors, without whom none of this would have been possible: JWT, GF Smith, Pentagram, Baseline Magazine, Magma, NB Studio, Gavin Martin Colournet, Wynkyn De Worde Society, Laurence King, Creative Review, Streamline, Studio Sutherl&.

...and lastly, courtesy of Alan Dye at NB:Studio, here's a great picture of me with Kath Tudball from The Partners, in front of the TypoCircle logo inspired blackboard.


Membership of TypoCircle is open to anyone with an interest in type and typography, and there are no entry tests or examinations. As I have said many times on this blog before, it's very important to support organisations such as the TypoCircle and events such as this - why not get involved! ...individual membership is just £30.00!

The exhibition at the Protein Gallery, Shoreditch, runs until Sunday 23rd October, 10-5pm and entry is free.
https://www.typocircle.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.10.2016

The Cloud Eaters

This is a recently produced silkscreen print of an artwork called The Cloud Eaters. It is by artist Joe Webb, who works mainly in the medium of collage.

The print has been created using 6 colours and had an iridescent varnish layer put down first. The print is an A1 size and is printed onto our StarFine White 300gsm.

The print has been produced by Gary Parselle at The Private Press. Gary is a collaborative silkscreen printer who works with artists to try and achieve the best possible representation of the artists work in sympathy with the original ...and he must be doing a good job as artists are queuing up to work with him! 

The below image shows the framed print on display at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

You can see more of Joe Webb's work here:

http://www.joewebbart.com/wh5x0dego9bka8mo5hmxutdpxcsz0l

 

http://www.theprivatepress.org/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.10.2016 

TOAST AW 2016 Invitation

Established in West Wales in 1997, TOAST has grown from loungewear and nightwear products to become a unique lifestyle brand renowned for its thoughtful contemporary design and ability to re-energise traditional textiles. TOAST now has a large large online following plus 11 shops and concessions in 14 John Lewis stores.

This is the invitation to the launch of the Autumn Winter 2016 collection, held at the Vinyl Factory, Marshall Street in London.

Invitation with envelope

The flat size is 630x444mm, folding to a finished size of A5 portrait. It is printed Offset Litho in four colour process, one side only, on our lovely Offenbach Bible 60gsm, giving it a lightweight feel but with a beautiful quality. Image reproduction is superb.

It is folded in a concertina format so as to avoid a crow's foot. It unfolds beautifully, nice and flat.

Click on images to enlarge

Concertina folding...

Creative direction and design is by TOAST. Head of graphics is Jo Waller and the designer on the project is Mia Shurey. Printing is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood in Kent.

https://www.toa.st/uk/
http://www.identityprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.10.2016