Jobs from the past - Number 167

Regular 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 from 2013

AMC² Issue4

Archive of Modern Conflict is an independent publisher based in London and this is issue 4 of  their series of journals. (their books on photography and art have won or been shortlisted for many prizes). This is a truly beautiful book, which is just a delight to hold and leaf through.

 

AMC² issue4 comprises photographs from Collected Shadows, an exhibition curated by the AMC for Paris Photo 2012. The works span a period from the early 1850s to the present day and are by photographers both known and unknown, amongst them Bertha Jaques, Gustave Le Gray, Robert Frank, Willi Ruge, Paul-Émile Miot, Johann Böhm, Ferdinand Quénisset, Mario Giacomelli, Eugene Atget, Josef Sudek and many others, while subjects include earth, fire, air, water and ether as well as divinity, astronomy, meteorology, flight and dance (these words from AMC books)

The size is 230x200mm, portrait and is perfect bound. The publication has an 8pp cover on StarFine White 200gsm. The text is made up using "French-folded" sections on Marazion Ultra 90gsm which gives it a sensational light feel and flows beautifully in the hand. The book has a 14mm spine.

The book has 140pp or printed pages (which I would normally describe as 70 x 4pp French-folded sections) - this actually makes 280pp but because the other side is unprinted and the ends are bound, each 4pp = 2pp. It's a bit tricky but if you think about it, it makes sense. French folding with a material like Marazion Ultra 90gsm feels fantastic because the weight of the material lets the pages flop and flow beautifully. The 8pp cover (pictured below) on Starfine 200gsm contributes to the soft feel. 

The picture below shows the foredge with the "french-folded" text

The book is printed by a Belgian printer, Die Keure, who are based in Bruges. They are one of the most renowned European book printers and they print for many of the high end publishers in Europe. The print and binding is superb on this book. It is printed CMYK throughout but most of the images have a mono/sepia reproductions and it's hard to get the consistency of look and feel in one publication from multiple image sources but this is an admirable result.

 

The designer is Melanie Mues, who I have worked with for many years. It was great to have the opportunity to work on a book project together, especially one as exquisite as this. 

https://archiveofmodernconflict.com/amc2-journal-issue-4/
https://www.muesdesign.com/
https://www.diekeure.be/printing/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.10.2023

Jobs from the past - Number 165

Regular 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 from 2014...

Sopianae Brand Book - 2014

This project is a brandbook for Sopianae, which is the most well known cigarette brand in Hungary. This book covers the history and culture of the brand whilst explaining the relationship with the Rountable Agency who are their brand communication consultancy.

It is a very large book at 415mmx260mm! It comes with a slipcase and the whole print package is superb and made extra special by the binding.

Click on images to enlarge

This is generally described as 'Japanese Binding' as it is in the Size|Format|Stock pamphlet that I wrote, although as I've pointed out in the same publication, terminology is certainly not universal - I doubt if they call this Japanese binding in Japan!

The cover is formed by a 2mm greyboard which is silkscreened in three colours and mounted on the cover. The 64pp text is on a mixture of an uncoated ivory coloured paper (unknown) and our Stardream Crystal 120gsm from Cordenons in Italy.

Now what has made this project particularly worthy of note is that there were not that many copies produced, so in the main, this job was produced on a digital press (HP Indigo). However because of some of the 'throw outs' - such as below, some of the pages had to be printed offset litho as the format of the digital press (in this case SRA3) wasn't large enough.

So the clever thing, from a print point of view, was to get the litho and digital sheets to match! not that easy to do but the end result is superb - as you can see below digital meets litho on the same spread.

Click on images to enlarge

The other thing that makes it slightly less complicated is that Stardream is kept in stock as HP Indigo ready, as well as the sheets for offset litho.

Stardream is a pearlescent and metallic range which shimmers and the pic below may give some idea of how it looks:

Design is by the Roundtable Agency by Head of Art, Franco Reda.

Printing and the terrific binding (at their own Bindery - Wayte Binding) all achieved in house is by Identity Printers in Paddock Wood. They truly have excelled.

https://www.roundtableagency.co.uk/
http://www.identityprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.08.2023

Sopianae Brand Book

This project is a brandbook for Sopianae, which is the most well known cigarette brand in Hungary. This book covers the history and culture of the brand whilst explaining the relationship with the Rountable Agency who are their brand communication consultancy.

 

It is a very large book at 415mmx260mm! It comes with a slipcase and the whole print package is superb and made extra special by the binding.



This is generally described as 'Japanese Binding' as it is in the Size|Format|Stock pamphlet that I wrote, although as I've pointed out in the same publication, terminology is certainly not universal - I doubt if they call this Japanese binding in Japan!

The cover is formed by a 2mm greyboard which is silkscreened in three colours and mounted on the cover. The 64pp text is on a mixture of an uncoated ivory coloured paper (unknown) and our Stardream Crystal 120gsm from Cordenons in Italy.

Now what has made this project particularly worthy of note is that there were not that many copies produced, so in the main, this job was produced on a digital press (HP Indigo). However because of some of the 'throw outs' - such as below, some of the pages had to be printed offset litho as the format of the digital press (in this case SRA3) wasn't large enough.

So the clever thing, from a print point of view, was to get the litho and digital sheets to match! not that easy to do but the end result is superb - as you can see below digital meets litho on the same spread.

The other thing that makes it slightly less complicated is that Stardream is kept in stock as HP Indigo ready, as well as the sheets for offset litho.

Stardream is a pearlescent and metallic range which shimmers and the pic below may give some idea of how it looks:

Design is by the Roundtable Agency. Head of Art is Franco Reda.

 

Printing and the terrific binding - which was all achieved in house is by Zone Graphics. They truly have excelled.

http://www.roundtableagency.co.uk/
www.zonegraphics.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.08.2014