Jobs from the past - Number 47



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 1996.

4th Estate Catalogue
Aug 96-Feb 97
 

The Fourth Estate is a publishers that many people will be familiar with. Founded by Victoria Barnsley in 1984, Fourth Estate built a reputation as one of the most innovative and eclectic imprints in the industry, with a reputation for publishing a wide variety of critically-acclaimed and beautifully-produced titles including many prize winning authors (Booker, Orange etc).

One of the things that made the Fourth Estate stand out from the crowd was their catalogues - they were simply amazing pieces of design and print! I was lucky enough to work on a few different catalogues in the late 90's and early 2000's. Every single one was different and brilliant. Good designers were comissioned, Bogue & Hopgood, Instinct, Pentagram, Rose Design, Frost, Neville Brody, Tom Hingston to name a few. In line with their reputation for publishing unconventional yet innovative titles, the design of the catalogue was equally eclectic.

This is one of the most distinctive catalogues. Large format, printed in just one colour and printed letterpress!

The size is 310mm square, saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover and a 44pp text and is printed on our Neptune Unique SoftWhite 250gsm and 120gsm (...which is still available from Fenner Paper seventeen years on!)

Design and art direction is by Vince Frost. The catalogue was set and letterpress printed by the House of Naylor on Saffron Hill in Clerkenwell. Body text set in the Gill family by Bill Naylor and Richard Rolfe on Monotype Keyboard. Cast on Monotype composition caster by Cyril Clements. Elements in wood and metal composed by Bill Naylor, Derek Reid, Richard Rolfe and Ian Barber. Printed on a Heidelberg SBB Cylinder press (1965) by George Hughes and Colin Ansell. Edited by Mark Reynolds.

Unfortunately I can't recall how many copies were produced - probably about 3,000 I would think. Each catalogue is "crash numbered" on the outside back cover. For those of you who aren't aware of this process, it is a letterpress process which uses a numbering box - it's an "impact" process which simply thumps the number on the sheet and then (in a clockwork style) clicks on one digit.

So, where is everybody now?....

Victoria Barnsley, founder of Fourth Estate, joined Harper Collins as CEO and Publisher in 2000 when it acquired her company. These distinctive publications continued to be commissioned and produced for a few years after becoming part of a larger group. Sadly (and I guess it was just a matter of time) the Fourth Estate became a section within the Harper Collins specialist catalogue.

The House of Naylor went into liquidation in the early 2000's re-emerging as The Letterpress House in Hemel Hempstead. Bill Naylor finally retired a couple of years ago and the machinery dispersed (all going to good homes).

Vince Frost left for the sunnier climate of Australia just over ten years ago and runs Frost* in Sydney.

...and Fenner Paper? Yep, we're still here!

Looking through my pristine copy, it still looks and feels fantastic.

http://www.4thestate.co.uk/

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/about-harpercollins/Imprints/4th_Estate/Pages/4th_Estate.aspx

http://www.frostdesign.com.au/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.09.2013

The Greenwich Regulator

The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) is the charitable arm of the Royal Warrant Holders Association. QEST exists to advance education in modern and traditional crafts and trades in the UK. The Greenwich Regulator Clock is an example of fine craftsmanship and the brochure documents all the crafts concerned, from the furniture by Zone Creations, the movement by Comitti to the calligraphy by Sally Mangum.

Acrylic invitation

This is one of those absolutely exquisite pieces of design and print. The entire set comprises a paper over board, lined box, housing a bespoke acrylic invitation (which is the material the clock is made from) and the brochure.


Box and brochure - box using clear and bronze foiling.

Size of the brochure is 250x180mm, portrait. It has an 8pp cover on our Omnia 280gsm, hot foil blocked in bronze foil and the 32pp text is "French folded" (which is 16x4pp French folded sections) using our Omnia 150gsm and is printed with a solid pantone gold on the inside of the folds - gorgeous! It's PUR bound with a 6mm spine.





The 8pp cover, also printed using the pantone gold solid. Omnia was chosen because the cover would print, de-boss and foil beautifully and the Omnia would reproduce the photography with the metallic, solid blue, and the acrylic superbly ...and it looks brilliant!

Inside back page and inside back cover showing solid blue and image of the finished regulator clock.

Image showing the French folded text:

This lovely piece of print collateral and packaging has been created by Cheshire based design consultancy, The Gate. Designer on the project is Matthew Miles. It's just worth saying that this piece of literature is about celebrating the best of traditional and modern crafts in the UK and this very piece of print is itself an excellent example of that craft.

The superb print, foiling including the boxmaking is by Leeds based Pressision. Ian Cavanagh handled the project and very kindly sent me a file copy.

 

www.greenwichregulator.com

www.thegatedesigngroup.com

www.pressision.co.uk 

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.08.2013

Time 100 Gala Invitation

The TIME 100 Gala is an exclusive annual celebration which honours the world’s most influential people. On Tuesday, April 23rd, this year, the celebration unfolded at New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Centre. One hundred leading individuals and other exclusive guests, walked down the red carpet. They included artists, inventors, entertainers, politicians and business leaders.

The prestigious invitations produced for the event, were actually produced here in the UK.

Size of the invitation is 185mm square. As you can see from the above picture, it's very thick! It's printed on our Monoblack 2000microns ...that's 2mm thick!

It has been beautifully hot foil blocked in three colours of foil, matt white, gloss red and metallic silver foils.

The reverse of the invitation with the sponsors logos:

The job is produced by Gavin Martin Colournet and they have made a beautiful job of the hot foiling - it's just totally spot on!

http://time100.time.com/2013/04/23/behind-the-scenes-at-time-100/
www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.08.2013

Annoushka jewellery catalogue



This is a beautifully produced piece of literature from leading contemporary jewellery brand Annoushka. The pieces, which include many types of precious stones, are all produced from 18 carat gold, hence the way gold reproduces in the printed catalogue is incredibly important.

The size is 225x170mm, portrait and is saddle stitched. The 4pp cover is produced on 250gsm silk coated board and as you can see is gloss laminated which gives the outside cover a brilliant gloss sheen. The 28pp text is printed on our Omnia 120gsm

Reproduction of the metallic gold on the Omnia 150gsm is just superb. Excellent detail and a beautiful tactile metallic look without a glossy sheen is what makes this piece...

Design Director at Annoushka is Liz Olver. Print is by Push.

www.annoushka.com

www.push-print.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.08.2013

Edvard Munch - The Modern Eye

This is a private view invitation for The Modern Eye, a major exhibition devoted to a reassessment of the works of the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch held at Tate Modern last year. The invitations which are printed on our Omnia 320gsm and which (as you can see) faithfully reproduces the detail and subtlety of Munch's work.

This invitation is a 4pp, portrait, A5 (210x148mm) format. Unlike the other Tate invitations featured on this blog, which are printed offset litho, this has been printed on an HP Indigo. The colours are strong and punchy and the whole invitation has a matt, tactile look and feel.

The inside of the invite is printed with a flat grey solid with black type. Again, the light grey solid is dead flat, tactile and looks great.

Designer at the Tate is Matt Mear. Print production is by James Parfitt at Westerham Premier, based in Paddock Wood in Kent.

http://www.tate.org.uk/
james@westerhampremier.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.08.2013

Size|Format|Stock - latest edition out now...

The latest, revised, edition of Size|Format|Stock is now available.

Size Format Stock is the booklet that I wrote in collaboration with Zoë Bather at Studio8. Originally written in mind for the students that I give occasional talks to, it has since become a firm favourite with many graphic designers. It is A5 portrait saddle stitched with a 4pp cover on Colorset 120gsm and a 16pp text printed on Offenbach Bible 60gsm. This is now in it's third edition and I've printed and distributed over 20,000 copies! ..through colleges, by post and Eye Magazine.

If you would like a copy, drop me an email and I'll pop one in the post.

 

http://www.studio8design.co.uk/

www.zoebather.co.uk

http://www.eyemagazine.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 19.08.2013

Drawn By Hand - Quentin Blake



Quentin Blake is one of the best-known illustrators of his generation. Drawn by Hand is an exhibition held at the Shiba Gallery of The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The show looks at individual works he has produced in the past decade: book illustrations, etchings, lithographs, drawings and works done for hospitals in various and contrasting media.

As Quentin Blake points out in his introduction, all of the pictures in the catalogue were drawn by hand, though the later printing and dissemination often relied on modern technology - and that's the point of the show, he shows work done by scratchy pens, inks, watercolours, quills, etching, lithograph etc.

 

This is the catalogue for the exhibition by Quentin Blake.  Each section explores a different drawing technique.

 

The publication is produced in a sketchbook size. The size is 210x165mm, portrait and is saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover on 300gsm and a 36pp text on 150gsm. The material chosen is our StarFine Natural White, which is a neutral white, uncoated paper and board range. The paper gives the project the correct look and feel of a sketchbook, sympathetic with the subject without being a pastiche. A particularly lovely touch is the "round cornered" corners - below:

Design is by Burgess Studio. Creative director is Alexis Burgess and the designer on the project is Dan Jones.

The excellent print is by Principal Colour - this is a really neat and tidy saddle stitched job and the round cornering in particular is smart.

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/article.html?3680
http://quentinblake.com/
www.burgess-studio.co.uk
www.principalcolour.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.08.2013