Lower Mill Estate

Lower Mill Estate is an award-winning community of sustainable vacation homes set in a private, fully managed, 550-acre reserve in the Cotswolds. The estate was established by the Paxton family 16 years ago with a vision to create a residential nature reserve providing a sense of security and the freedom to escape the demands of urban life.

This is simply a stunning piece of literature and is one of the best pieces of print that I've recently been involved with. This book has been produced to show everything the estate has to offer, conveying the quality of the development in a contemporary and beautifully readable way.

The size is 220x148mm, portrait. The cover is bookcloth, mounted onto board, with silver hot foil blocking on front and back cover. the foiling is a simplified version of the illustrations by Russell Cobb, commissioned for the project which were used for the press ads and on line and mobile applications - you can see them here: http://johnstonworks.com/lower-mill-estate/

The cover is very clever as it is effectively a case-bound book but the text is actually 'singer sewn', which means that the book opens nicely and sits flat. The fact that there isn't a formal, squared off, spine and that the board used is flexible means that, although it feels like a book it isn't as serious as a book, it has a lighter "browse me" feel.

You can read more about Singer sewing here: http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/what-is-number-3_18.html

The end papers are printed on Flora Anice, 130gsm and are printed all over, again using the illustrations.

If you aren't familiar with Flora, it is a recycled text and cover paper with a deliberately recycled look and feel with specks and inclusions, so it looks deliberately flecky and specky. The thing this project exemplifies is creativity in print! Very few designers take a paper like Flora and print all over it ...and get this terrific effect!

Click to enlarge and see the specks!

Inks for offset litho are transparent. Designers (and often printers) forget this, so effects like this are often forgotten about! Design and print on plain white paper is easy (well, easier) - it's projects like this which challenge and push the boundaries.

The 32pp text is printed on our Omnia 150gsm - absolutely perfect for this project as it has a natural feel but reproduces the superb photography and interior shots beautifully.

...and here in the text is another fantastic surprise - six 148x98mm 'tip-ins' appearing throughout the text which use the illustrated theme with details highlighted in silver hot foil blocking.

The tip-ins are on the same as the end papers (Flora Anice 130gsm) - and beautifully executed

But "how come all these different colours?" I hear people asking. Quite simply, the sheets are all printed up on one sheet (Flora Anice 130gsm) in CMYK - simple idea, well thought out and beautifully executed.

Design for the whole Lower Mill campaign including this book is by Johnston Works. The campaign also encompasses press, on line and mobile applications, which were all created by Johnston Works.
http://johnstonworks.com/lower-mill-estate/
Director on the project is Kirsten Johnston. The excellent print and finishing is by Push.

I'm sure that you can tell from the way that I've written about this project that this really is a special piece of print - it's one of those projects where all the elements that go into a piece of literature (concept/design/illustration/photography/print/paper/finishing etc) has all come together and collided (in a well orchestrated way!) to form a superb result.

http://www.lowermillestate.com/
http://johnstonworks.com/
http://russellcobb.com/
www.push-print.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.08.2014

Brunswick Review - Issue Four

This is the latest edition of The Brunswick Review, a piece of literature produced by the global Corporate Relations and Communications company Brunswick. This publication is produced for circulation to clients of the fifteen Brunswick offices throughout the world. Guest contributors include senior people at Diageo, Goldman Sachs and Reuters combined with Kevin Spacey and Mark Twain (well actually, that particular article is a reproduction!)

The original concept and design style for the Brunswick Review was by Kirsten Johnston at Johnston Works (see previous post  http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2010/04/brunswick-review.html) but it is now designed in house by MerchantCantos, a Brunswick Group company.

The size of the publication is 280x216mm. It is has a 4pp cover and 86pp text. It is printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 240gsm and 100gsm. Print is by Fulmar Colour.

At a time when many companies are cutting down on print as a means of customer communication, it's impressive and refreshing to see one of the world's largest corporate relations companies printing this excellent publication - it might be worth reminding some clients that PRINT ...WORKS (if it's well designed and produced on the right papers, of course!)

Thanks to Russell Thompson for sending me file copies and a lovely note:

http://www.brunswickgroup.com/

http://www.fulmarcolour.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.10.2011

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

The Brunswick Review

This is a very interesting and a very different publication. The Brunswick Review is self published by the global Public Relations and Communications company Brunswick. They have a network of fifteen offices throughout the world. One way that they keep in touch with their clients is by producing this publication which is certainly anything but a "customer magazine". It is very well written and researched and has counts Mark Thompson and Sir Andrew Motion amongst it's guest contributors.

The design of the publication relies heavily (although not exclusively) on illustration which appears to have the effect of making it very readable, I know this because I have even found myself reading it!

The size of the publication is 280x216mm. It is has a 4pp cover and 102pp text. It is printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 240gsm and 100gsm.

In each issue, there is an "Arts" section [see spread below] highlighting the work of Brunswick Arts which is a seperate division of the Group based in London...

I think this is an excellent piece of literature which is hard to classify. It definitely isn't a newsletter, certainly not a magazine or a brochure. It is however, an extremely clever piece of communication.

It is edited by Tim Dickson.

The painstaking and excellent illustration choices, design and production is all by Johnston Works. (http://www.johnstonworks.com/) and printing is by St Ives Westerham Press.

http://www.brunswickgroup.com/
http://www.st-ives.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson