Jobs from the past - Number 134

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 publication is from only a few years ago in 2017.

The Print Shop - 40 Years of Calverts

Calverts is a workers' cooperative with a history of creating and producing eye-catching print and design. To celebrate Calverts 40th year, they invited Alice Pattullo and publishers Design For Today to work with them on a creative print animation, following the journey of an idea as it transforms into a finished product. It's a whirlwind tour through illustration, art direction, design, file set up and reprographics, with a sprinkling of handy tips along the way.

The size of the publication is 148x95mm, portrait with a 6mm spine.

The below image shows the inside spread with hot foil blocking on the right hand page...

This publication is a long concertina - it is quite simply one long sheet which concertina folds into a pre-creased spine, which forms a cover.

The below image shows a 'birdseye' view which demonstrates how it folds into the spine. Over the last 30 years, I have always referred to this format as a long concertina, however in recent years people have started using the term Leporello to describe this type of folding - personally I think this is just confusing! 

The 26pp book is actually made from two sheets of paper, carefully joined, with a glued tab, which you can just make out in the image below.

The below image shows both sides stretched out fully.

Click on images to enlarge

The publication is printed Offset Litho on our Shiro Echo, White 250gsm, which is 100% Recycled and FSC accredited. The weight of the material is crucial for this format - too heavy and it will be too springy, too light and it won't take the creases and hold together well enough, 250gsm is just perfect. Here are some of the spreads...

Click on images to enlarge

Below is the spread about Riso printing, where there is a 'tipped in' sheet, which is Riso printed on the right hand page.265x168

The page is 265x168mm and is folded once to reveal the below...

...and then folding up.

...there's even information about paper sizes.

It's a really beautifully conceived and executed publication with superb illustrations by Alice Pattullo and excellent writing.

And the great news is that if you would like to have your own copy, you can buy still buy them online HERE.

https://www.calverts.coop/

https://www.designfortoday.co.uk/about

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.01.2021

Jobs from the past - Number 133

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. Given the sad news this week that the Arcadia group has gone into administration, I thought I'd show you this superb project for Topman which is part of Arcadia.

Topman - Spring/Summer 2011

Topman is the Arcadia group's fashion conscious male brand and this piece of literature is produced to the very highest standard with superb art direction, photography and print reproduction - and a few little tricksy surprises lurk within as well!

This lookbook is 350x280mm, portrait format which is just a lovely size - different (not uneconomical either) but just feels right for it's sub A3 and slightly squarer format.

The piece has a 4pp cover and a 68pp text and is perfect bound.

It is printed offset litho in CMYK throughout - colour reproduction is fantastic - solid flat areas of colour work amazingly well as do the mono images. The sense of space in the job is fantastic - the spread below has a completely blank page - an excellent unhurried piece of design for print. 

...and here's for the surprise (well three of them actually). There are three smaller (310x230mm) right hand page "throw outs" with closer up detail shots. These are printed on our high gloss, one sided cast coated paper Astralux 115gsm. The images are printed on the gloss side (see below) and the uncoated reverse (see above pic) is printed in a flat solid cool grey.

The below image shows the flat uncoated reverse side of the Astralux, printed grey over the high gloss face side with the CMYK images...

The 68pp text is printed on our Omnia 120gsm which gives it that dead matt, tactile feel but with great reproduction - let the pictures do the talking...

Below is the detail image showing the fantastic reproduction on the Omnia:

For me, one of the joys of this piece of literature is the way it easily flows in the hand. Many designers will use a really heavy cover when producing a document with a substantial number of pages and this can cause disruption with the way the cover interacts with the text - it can be way too flicky! The cover of this job is 200gsm - it is on Omnia, which is a bulky material, but it is the perfect weight.

The cover is beautifully hot foiled blocked in gloss white foil.

...and if that wasn't enough the whole book is inserted into a custom made capacity envelope, also made out of Omnia 200gsm.

Art Direction and design was by Gill Patchett who worked in-house at Arcadia. Production was by Stephanie Johnson. Photographer is Boo George  with production at Streeters. Printing was by Ortek printers in Walsall. Gill very kindly sent me some file copies:

So what are people doing now? Arcadia has gone bust this week. Sadly Ortek Printers went bust back in 2017. Gill Patchett is now a freelance Art director and Designer ...and Fenner Paper? yep, we're still here doing good stuff!

https://www.thisisgill.com/

...and if you'd like to read my original post about this job from 2011 and see how my powers of description and prose have improved, you can read it HERE.

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.12.2020

VIP Preview invitation

Paddington Square is the highly anticipated development in west London which will revitalise the area and also feature a new icon for the London skyline by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

This is the beautifully produced invitation for the VIP preview held at the Chiltern Firehouse last November.

Size of the invitation is 215mm square and looks stunning.

The square on the front of the invitation is hot foil blocked in Rainbow SHLR from Foilco and the type printed in "Just Black 700" which is one of Foilco’s most popular pigment foils and has a Gloss finish.

The invitation is printed on SUMO, which is our a heavyweight, thick board manufactured by FAVINI in Italy. It is available in black and white and the consists of 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm up to a whopping 3mm thick ...seriously chunky! Last year, the range was extended to include a small range of colours - five new shades all available in 1mm thick.

This invitation is produced on Sumo, White 2mm thick, which is really substantial and the result is absolutely dead FLAT - unlike the risky business with duplexing boards together which can result in a warped finish...

The hot foil stamping looks superb, sinking into the thick board and giving a wonderful, tactile, quality. 

Design is by property marketing specialists Wordsearch. Designer on the project is Ana Iugulescu and the artworker is Alex Shannon. Printing is by Trident Printing in London.

https://paddingtonsquare.co.uk/

https://www.wordsearch.co.uk/

https://tridentprinting.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.11.2020

The new year starts here...

It might only be October, but the clever new 2020/2021 calendar from Healeys Printers starts now and runs through to December next year. This way you can look ahead and plan without the disruption of changing calendars in January - a very clever idea!

Healeys are based in Ipswich and are one of a handful of printers who are registered as a 'Carbon Balanced Printer' by the World Land Trust and can offer a totally carbon balanced printing service including the paper and all aspects of production and delivery.

The desk calendar is wiro-bound onto a 'tent' card, as you can see below...

The size of each of the calendar leaves is 155x180mm and each month is printed on a different board - each is a recycled or environmentally friendly grade. Not all the papers used are from Fenner Paper, but we are fortunate enough to have our papers used for October (Shiro Alga Carta) January (Flora Anice) and February (Colorset Sandstone)

The calendar incorporates many different printing and finishing processes, including Litho, digital, hot foiling, embossing with CMI Foiling producing the embossing and foiling techniques. On each page, there is information about the paper and the printing technique... 

The calendar is designed and illustrated by Maze Media.

To receive one of these superb calendars, contact Healeys directly and I'm sure they will be happy to send you one ...but you'd better hurry! info@healeys-printers.co.uk 

www.healeys-printers.co.uk 

www.mazemedia.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.10.20

Beau Cacao

This boutique chocolate maker, based in South Eastern France, was founded in 2013 by Bo San Cheung and Thomas Delcour. Beau Cacao craft their full-bodied single-plantation chocolate in Briançon, Hautes-Alpes from cacao which is sourced directly from farmers in Malaysia.

The colours of each of the bars were chosen based on the flavour profiles of the chocolate, red to match smoky tobacco and paprika and yellow for caramel and brioche. 

The board chosen for the wrap/boxes is our Shiro Echo, Bright White 250gsm, from Favini, which is 100% recycled, FSC accredited and carbon balanced. You can read more about Shiro Echo here.

The distinctive mold of the chocolate bar (above) was designed by Adam Gill.

Each of the wraps are printed offset litho in a special colour and superbly hot foil blocked in a gloss metallic foil...

Printing is by Identity, based in Paddock Wood, Kent and they are just gorgeous - colours are bright and solids are superb - the hot foil blocking is perfectly executed (Identity are one of the few printers to have hot foil blocking facilities 'in-house')

https://www.beaucacao.com/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.10.2020

Stardream Print Processes book

Stardream is a market leading pearlescent and metallic paper range produced by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. Many designers and printers have become fans of the light irridescent finishes and the dual sided deep metallic finishes which do truly shimmer. Stardream is used for a wide range of applications, including cover, presentation folders, invitations, greetings cards and luxury packaging.

This is the new "Print Processes book" which demonstrates the wide variety of print processes that you can achieve using this paper range.

The cover image is printed offset litho in CMYK on Stardream Copper 285gsm and the result is stunning - just look how good a CMYK image can look, even on a relatively deep shade such as the Copper. What many people forget is the litho inks are transparent, what this means is that if you print on a colour, the colour will come through and it also means that if you print on a pearlescent/metallic substrate, the printed result will be pearlescent/metallic and take on the shimmer of the surface printed on.

The size of the presenter is 230x220mm and the wiro-bound inserts are 210mm square. The first page is hot foil blocked using Foilco Ref 6815 copper foil on Stardream Anthracite 285gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

Page two is is printed using Thermographic printing (thermography) in red and black.

Thermo (as it is commonly called) is a great process and can produce a gloss or matt raised surface. In this instance, the result is a gloss finish, printed on Stardream Rose Quartz 120gsm

Stardream is also suitable for digital print processes and the below rainbow image is printed on Stradream Crystal Digital 240gsm on an HP Indigo Press

The next page is french folded and is lasercut...

Click on images to enlarge

The sample printed on the Stardream Silver (above & below) is just the most simple and yet effective sample. It is printed in just 1 colour offset litho as a halftone (or some people refer to it as a montone) and as mentioned before, because litho inks are transparent, the printed result is pearlescent/metallic and takes on the shimmer of the Stardream surface.

and the grand finale of the book, really is amazing at is is the simplest, yet crazily effective process. The below watchface is digitally printed in white using a dry toner press (this was a Ricoh)

...and here is a detail image

...and below shows the deep blue colour (Stardream Lapislazuli 285gsm) that it was printed on.

Digital white (toner) is an incredibly stunning effect and a very economical price, so it's definitely worth looking into.

My thanks to the paper mill, Gruppo Cordenons for supplying us with the tools to show the Stardream range in the very best light. If you would like one of these new books, please email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.cordenons.co.uk/
http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.06.2020