Coal Drops Yard is the dramatic and dynamic centrepiece of the King’s Cross regeneration program opening in 2018. These stunning Victorian industrial buildings featuring richly coloured bricks, striking arches and solemn ironwork provide a stunning backdrop for this new retail development with design by Heatherwick Studio.
This visually stunning book sets out the retail opportunities to potential retail tenants. It features dramatic photography, high quality CGI and illustration.
Size of the book is a massive 420x250mm, portrait.
The cover has a 'bookjacket' that wraps around the 4pp cover with 175mm flaps. The below image shows the jacket open with the printed filigree pattern printed on the inside. The jacket is printed on Shiro Echo Bright White 120gsm.
The majority of the text is printed on Shiro Echo Bright White 160gsm. Shiro is a 100% Recycled text and cover paper from Favini and as I'm sure you will be able to see from the images below, it prints beautifully. The publication is printed offset litho in CMYK plus a pantone special gold throughout.
Dispersed throughout the book are six 'tip-ins' which are A6 size at the foot of the publication. They are printed on Flora Anice 130gsm which gives them a deliberately industrial look and feel.
If you aren't familiar with
Flora, it is a part recycled text and cover paper with a deliberately recycled look and feel with specks and inclusions, so it looks deliberately flecky and specky. Flora is produced with 30% post consumer de-inked waste, together with 60% of virgin FSC pulp and with the "secret" ingredient of 10% of cotton fibres, which gives the paper a wonderful tactile feel.
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There is a 16pp section which is printed on Concorde Pure Brilliance 170gsm, which is an exceptionally high gloss coated, real art paper, which contrast fantastically with the uncoated Shiro (below image, Shiro on left, Concorde on the right)
The quality of the art direction, photography, repro, print and finishing is absolutely superb. The paper also happens to have performed brilliantly! - the metallic gold in particular and the large areas of solid black look superb.
There are many fantastic elements to this job, as well as the 'tip-ins' the job is section sewn and a lovely touch is the use of dark blue thread as you can see in the image below...
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...another thing is the superb line-ups between the inside cover and the bookjacket - stunning accuracy in the finishing.
Art direction and design is by Bell Integrated. You can read more about the whole project here:
https://www.bell-integrated.co.uk/portfolio/argent/. The excellent print, repro and finishing is by Gavin Martin Colournet, based in London E3.
This is just a wonderful example of where great art direction and design has been complimented by the right choice of materials that work with the imagery and the physicality of the publication - all working together having been executed brilliantly by the printer.
https://www.bell-integrated.co.uk/portfolio/argent/
http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 16.05.2017
Nick Hand is a graphic designer based in the west of England and has appeared on this blog previously with his work for Howies and the Do Lectures. More recently he's turned his hand to being a letterpress printer and established an open access letterpress project in Bristol called The Letterpress Collective in 2013. 
In 2014, Nick commissioned his workshop neighbour, bicycle maker Robin Mather to build a printing bike capable of carrying an Adana 8x5 printing press, together with inks, paper and type. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Nick travelled from Bristol to Mainz, which is where Johannes Gutenberg invented printing with moveable type in 1440. Along the way he collaborated with artists, writers and poets, printing along the way.
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