The Field

This is a very simple and well designed little book.

The Field by Gary O'Connor published by Transition Editions, designed by Untitled.

The dimensions are 128x198mm which is a very pleasing size in the hand. It only has 28pp but it is enough text to section sew and has a nice square spine.It is just printed in one colour (black) and is purely typographic, there are no images or illustrations.

The text is printed on Neptune Unique SoftWhite 120gsm which gives it a neutral "book" feel. The dustjacket is on Astralux 1 sided 90gsm with the solid blue printed on the coated side and solid green on the uncoated side and folded up as you can see above.

...and thank you to Glenn and David for the kind note! http://www.untitledstudio.com/

Condensed 04

Like many of you, this morning, I have received my copy of ISTD Condensed 04 in the post.

This is a good read and always something in it to inspire.



In this issue there are:

1. The Art of Lost Words - a review of an exhibition by Studio Zwei by Andreas Pohancenik.

2. Looking backwards, moving forwards an article by Michael Johnson who knits the subjects of Massimo Vignelli, shoulder pads and Akzidenz, together.

3. Peter Dawson writes about the talk given to ISTD members in June by Wim Crouwel.

4. An interview by Jonathan Doney with David Brown, sundial maker and letter cutter.

The spread above shows a job which really caught my eye. I hadn't seen it before today. It is a silksreened map of Iraq, by NB:Studio displaying the words of the speech by Donald Rumsfeld about knowns and unknowns (under the title"Embrangled") It's a very powerful piece...

And now for the paper plug! It's printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm. It's printed in single colour and shows what a beautiful solid you can get on this paper...

It is printed by Gavin Martin Associates (www.gavinmartin.co.uk)

If you aren't already a member, you should really think about joining - there are many benefits, this is just one! www.istd.org.uk

It's not just the big jobs that count....

I don't only want to write about large lavish productions as quite often the best literature is the well considered, nicely executed smaller project.

This job is for the Fulham Horticultural Society and is an A5 size book. There are the entry tickets as well. All printed in one colour.

Simple and lovely. Designed by Jane Chipchase.

The jobs are printed on Colorset Tuscan Brown and Pink Ice. Colorset is 100% Recycled.

And thank you for the note Jane.....

jane.studio@btinternet.com

New Ultrabold

Have a look at this! It's the new Ultrabold magazine, which is the Journal of the St Bride Library - I know a lot of people have heard of St Brides but don't really know much about it -see http://www.stbride.org/


Anyway, we at Fenner Paper have supported this publication for the last three years (by supplying discounted material) and the print is sponsored by Principal Colour. The publication is designed by Simon Loxley and is published by the Friends of St Brides.


In this issue, there is an article about the Hand and Eye press (letterpress printer) based in London and a very interesting article about Rian Hughes' hand drawn magazine and comic lettering.

I am also very fortunate that design duo Debbie Osborne and Andrew Ross (who many of you will know) very kindly produce the Fenner advert which appears on the inside back cover. This has involved trawling the St Bride's library for suitable and diverse "F" (for Fenner) letterforms. Thank you to Andrew and Debbie for your time and generosity.

Below is a picture taken at St Brides, where Andrew Ross is "giving it some welly" on a Columbian press - trying desperately to make an impression!

If you want your own copy, simply join the Friends of St Brides and you'll get one free. Alternatively you could e-mail me and I may be able to find a file copy...

http://www.stbride.org/

http://www.principalcolour.co.uk/

andrewross_studio@hotmail.com

RCA - MA Fashion

Over the years I have been lucky enough to have been involved in several of the catalogues for the RCA MA Fashion course. One particularly memorable job was the 2004 catalogue, the text of which was all on Offenbach Bible 50gsm, made up entirely of French Folded sections.


This year's catalogue is also exceptional. It is a 290x215mm format. It is "swiss bound" [for those of you who are unfamiliar, this is where the text block is section sewn and glued. Then binding tape is applied around the spine and then this text "block" is glued/bound into the inside back cover by a strip of glue running parallel to the spine. The spine of the actual cover is therefore "freestanding" and not glued to the cover so opens and sits completely flat] which is a lovely finish and brings a material/textile feel to the binding.


The book is cleverley divided into five sections using bright divider spreads- MW-WW-MK-WK-AF (Menswear, Womenswear... etc).

Design is by Mark El-khatib (mark.el-khatib@network.rca.ac.uk)


The superb repro and printing is by David Holyday
d.holyday@googlemail.com

...and now for the paper! The paper used for this project is StarFine White - 300gsm for the cover and 130gsm for the text. The colour reproduction is fantastic - although it goes without saying that it is as much to do with the originals and the repro treatment as it is with the paper!

http://www.rca.ac.uk/

Land Securities 2

I've just received the second leaflet in the Land Securities series designed by Hat-Trick and printed on Colorset 100% Recycled.

This is a series of leaflets being produced to promote events over the Summer at New Street Square (details on previous post 20.07.09).

This is the "Ashes" event and is printed on Colorset, Spring Green 120gsm.


Thank you for the file copies and the note Alex!



http://www.hat-trickdesign.co.uk/

Out and about

I managed to get out of the office this week and went to see John Dowling who is based in Newark in Nottinghamshire.

I first met John when he was working at Pentagram in John Rushworth's team and since then he's worked with Sea and Vince Frost before setting up his own studio.

John (pictured left) has a lovely space in a warehouse on the River Trent. He combines running the studio with lecturing part-time at the University of Lincoln.

Whilst at the studio I also met photographer Andy Weekes with whom John has collaborated on work for many years, their work for THE COLLECTION [Art & Archaelogy in Lincolnshire] is well worth a look.

Pictured below is a poster John designed for a talk to Lincoln University (before he became a lecturer!) which features his four business cards from Area/Pentagram/Frost/Dowling.




And here below is a self initiated project (poster- A2 size) by John.


Just goes to prove (what many already know) that there is creative life outside the major cities....

http://www.dowlingdesign.com/
http://www.andrewweekes.net/