Jobs from the past - Number 82

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 here's one from 2011. 

Whistles Lookbook
Autumn Winter 2011
Between 2010 and 2013, many of the lookbooks produced by Whistles were printed on our papers and appeared on this blog, but I must have missed writing about this one! I'm sure you can see from the images below, it is a beautiful piece. Art direction, photography and reproduction is superb.

The size is 320x230mm portrait, saddle stitched. It is a 32pp self cover text on Marazion Ultra 90gsm, so the whole job has a deliberately 'floppy' feel.

Art Direction, design and production is by Simmonds. It just has a fantastic feel - it is difficult for me to say much more about it - just look at the images below, they speak for the job...

As with some of the previous Whistles lookbooks, many of the spreads alternate between CMYK in colour and four colour black and white images, and on some spreads there a completely blank pages which creates a luxurious feeling of space.

Click on images to enlarge

As I mentioned before, the Marazion Ultra 90gsm gives the book a deliberately floppy feel, the pages just turn over and flow beautifully.

 The book opens and sits nice and flat.

Art Direction and design is by Simmonds Ltd. Photography is by Kacper Kasprzyk and styling is by Francesca Burns. Print is by Push.

 

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

http://www.simmondsltd.com/
http://www.push-print.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.08.2016



Whistles - Spring|Summer 2013



This is the lookbook for the Spring/Summer collection from Whistles and it is a superlative piece of literature. Art direction, photography, design, repro and print all combining to make this job look and feel really special.

 

The size is 240x180mm Portrait, saddle stitched. It is printed on our Omnia and has a 4pp cover on 200gsm and a 20pp text on 120gsm. The weights are just right - Omnia is an extremely bulky sheet, so this works perfectly, opening nicely with the pages turning well.

 

As always (...this is the plug for the paper!) the images look superb on the Omnia; the subtle summer shades and the reproduction of the black and white images with their darker areas and heavy ink coverage - keeping all the detail in those heavy areas of CMYK together with uncoated paper tactility which would be lost on any other paper.  The other important thing to note is that unlike most uncoated products, you can successfully gloss UV varnish on this paper (with a single hit) and it works really well - as you can see in the below pic...

 There is a 4pp price guide, also printed on Omnia 120gsm (and also Gloss UV varnished)

Art Direction and design is by Simmonds. Creative Director is Chris Simmonds, designer is Kate Swingler. Photography is by Ben Toms and Styling is by Katie Shillingford. Repro and print, which is superb and the UV varnishing, which has excellent registration/fit, is by South London printer, Push.

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

http://www.simmondsltd.com/

http://www.push-print.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.08.2013

Lulu Frost for Whistles

 

Lisa Salzer is the founder and designer for New York based jewellery brand Lulu Frost and this is their first collaboration with British fashion retailer Whistles.

This simple piece of literature, shows the jewellery off beautifully. It is a 16pp self cover and is 245x170mm, portrait. It is loose bound (no binding) and is printed on our Omnia 120gsm which feels and flows just right and the jewellery and lush greenery reproduce brilliantly  

Below image shows the loose binding with the centre spread:

Brochure design and art direction is by Whistles. Photography is by Baker and Evans. Repro, print and finishing are by Push.

http://www.whistles.co.uk/
www.lulufrost.com
www.bbde.co.uk
http://www.push-print.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.05.2013

Whistles - Autumn/Winter



This is the Autumn/Winter 2012 lookbook for Whistles - (we've only just taken the pics which is why it's a bit late for this season!)

 

Since 2008, Whistles has been under the leadership of Jane Shepherdson, a former brand director at Topshop. Shepherdson has positioned Whistles as an intelligent choice - often described as ‘the thinking woman’s fashion brand' and this new lookbook is surely a reflection of this objective.



The size is 240x180mm Portrait, saddle stitched. It is printed on our Omnia and has a 4pp cover on 200gsm and a 20pp text on 120gsm. The weights are just right - Omnia is an extremely bulky sheet, so this is just perfect. 

...and here we go for a bit of a plug! - As you can see from the above images above, there is lots of colour and images with CMYK dark areas - loads of ink going down and it looks great on the Omnia, reproducing bright vibrant colours as well and keeping all the detail in the darker images. The other important thing to note is that unlike most uncoated products, you can successfully gloss UV varnish on this paper (with a single hit) and it works really well - as you can see...

Art Direction and design is by Simmonds Ltd. Superb print (and UV varnish - which really is in very good registration/fit) is by Push ...and thanks to Kate for sending me a copy. 

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

http://www.simmondsltd.com/

http://www.push-print.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.02.2013



Fashion Rations 2

A couple of years ago, fashion retailer Whistles, started an internal communication/employee loyalty scheme where staff members can offer a limited  discount to "friends and family". They coined the phrase "fashion rations" and produced ration book style booklets in a small "ladies purse" size. This is the latest incarnation, which is "more fashiony and less rationy" if you get what I mean - much brighter and less utility looking:

As with previous editions, a particularly nice touch is that the front of all the books are "crash numbered" on the covers (see above). For those of you who aren't aware of this process, it is an old letterpress process which uses a numbering box on a platten. It is an "impact" process which simply thumps the number on the sheet and then (in a clockwork style) clicks on one digit. It allows a degree of security and control on how many books are issued.

The size of the book is A7 (105x74mm) portrait and is stab stitched (that's where the staple goes through the whole book, from front to back - like a cheque book - although the term cheque book binding normally implies, the application of binding tape over the stab stitches).

The cover is on our Colorset (100% recycled) in Magenta 270gsm. The book includes 5 vouchers or "rations", which are perforated along the spine, so they tear out easily.

...and of course, there's always the small print on the reverse!

Print production was done by PrintStation, based in Bexhill on Sea (guy@print-station.biz).

The job was designed at Whistles by Jess Schiazza ... and thank you Jess for sending me a copy and the lovely note.

...and if you're interested, here's the post about the first ration book: http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/fashion-rations.html

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.07.2012

Whistles HS 2011

This is another superbly produced lookbook for Whistles - High Summer 2011

The size is 235x290mm Portrait, saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover (which is deliberately lightweight) on our Colorset Solar 120gsm (100% Recycled) which is printed in just one colour litho (black) with a 28pp text on Marazion Ultra 90gsm, so the whole job has a deliberately 'floppy' feel.

As with some of the previous lookbooks, many of the spreads alternate between CMYK in colour and four colour black and white images, and on some spreads there's even a completely blank page which creates a luxurious feeling of space.

Art Direction and design is by Simmonds Ltd. Photography is by Kacper Kasprzyk and styling is by Francesca Burns. Print is by Push (superb fleshtone and mono reproduction, by the way)

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

http://www.simmondsltd.com/
http://www.push-print.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.07.2011

Whistles Invite AW2011

Here's an invitation with a real difference ...it's really thick!

This is the invitation to the launch of the Whistles Autumn/Winter 2011 collection at Claridges. It is produced using three of our materials! The face is hot foil blocked in a pigmented green foil on our Colorset, Crimson 270gsm. This has then been pasted onto our Vale Board which is 2000micron (2mm) thick and then is finished with Astralux Black 250gsm which has been pasted on the reverse.

...and the most beautiful touch of all is the 2½mm thick board has been sprayed in green to match the foil - really beautiful.

Below pic shows black reverse:

So there you have it. A three ply sandwich which is beatifully finished, has lots of impact, style and solidity!

Design is by Simmonds. Foiling and finishing is by Gavin Martin and it's been beatifully done.

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

http://www.simmondsltd.com/
http://www.gavinmartin.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.05.2011

Whistles S/S 2011

This is the latest Spring Summer lookbook for fashion retailer Whistles.

The size is 235x290mm Portrait, saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover (which is deliberately lightweight) on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Light Blue 120gsm which is printed in just one colour litho (black) with a 28pp text on Marazion Ultra 90gsm, so the whole job has a deliberately 'floppy' feel.

As with the previous issue, there is lovely sense of light and space with this piece with some spreads having a completely blank page on left or right. It really allows the superb photography and the subject room to breathe. The brochure is printed in one colour (cover) and CMYK for the text.

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

Print is by Boss based in West London - incidentally their press, which is a Heidelberg CD 74-6LX is fitted with an inking/blanket/impression cylinder washup device - which (in theory) means "hickey" free printing ...impressive stuff! (and interesting in a sort of nerdy way!)

NOTE - Added 26.10.2011. Following my visit to Heidelberg UK, I've found out that this system is called a Vario Dampening System and here's how it works: "Vario operation reduces the formation of hickeys on the printing plate due to a differential speed from the dampening form roller to the plate. The reduced speed is attained by the separately driven distributor roller spinning around 12% slower" ...very clever stuff.  Thanks to Paul Chamberlain at Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com) and Fenton Smith at Boss for explaining it all to me.

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

http://www.simmondsltd.com/
http://www.bossprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.05.2010

Whistles A/W 2010

This is another superbly produced lookbook for Whistles - Autumn/Winter 2010

The size is 235x290mm Portrait, saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover (which is deliberately lightweight) on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Bright Red 120gsm which is printed in just one colour litho (black) with a 28pp text on Marazion Ultra 90gsm, so the whole job has a deliberately 'floppy' feel.

Many of the spreads alternate between CMYK in colour and four colour black and white images, and on some spreads there's even a completely blank page which creates a feeling of space. The background for the shoot is amongst London rooftops and it's a real pity that I can't show all the spreads here as the backdrop of high rise buildings is used to great effect.

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

http://www.whistles.co.uk/
http://www.simmondsltd.com/
http://www.push-print.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.11.2010