Typographic Circle Talk

Yesterday evening I was invited to a Typographic Circle talk at the JWT offices in Knightsbridge. The talk was by Studio8 with the title "Collaboration in Type & Print" and Zoë Bather went through a number of the studio's projects culminating with their identity work for the Central School launched earlier this year.

What was particularly interesting was the way she showed one project leading to another and the way that a friend, contact, previous colleague (etc. etc.) lead to another project and so on. It was cleverly illustrated as follows: 

All the work featured in the talk is on their site: http://www.studio8design.co.uk/

Anyway, it was an all round excellent evening and there was FREE BEER as well!  - thanks to the Typographic Circle sponsors, who are : JWT, Pentagram, Neoco, GF Smith (that's them not us) and the Wynkyn de Worde society.

Here's some pics (...that's Joe Sharpe from Applied Works (http://www.appliedworks.co.uk/) staring at the camera)

The next talk is on 24th June by Airside - book now or risk disappointment.

http://www.typocircle.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.05.2010

& SMITH - new website

Have a look at their new site: http://www.andsmithdesign.com/

It's a new site showing some of their great projects. One particular project which  I love (and worked on, with them) is their project for the PR company, Mission. It is a series of broadsheets folding to A5, printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm, and all the images are stunning - here are a couple of pics but have a look at their site to really appreciate the project.

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.05.2010

2010 World Cup Poster - made with no trees at all!

Here's a World Cup poster for the typographic purist! (...and no trees were hurt in the process)

The A1 size poster has been designed for a wine merchant with two shops, Wine One Hundred (Oxted)and The Secret Cellar (Tunbridge Wells)

Design is by Em-Project (http://www.em-project.com/)

The poster is very simply produced in one colour litho and is printed on a brand new paper our ours which is made without using any trees at all! It is part of a new range which we are launching called SHIRO from Italian paper manufacturer Favini. This particular product is called Shiro, Tree Free 120gsm (the clue is in the name - Tree Free means it is made from annual plants such as bamboo, cotton or bagasse ...there is no tree content at all!)

So there you go, you heard it here first! I will be putting a post on the blog about the new papers in this range but if you have a project on the go and you think this might be an interesting option, then get in touch and I can get you some some samples now. I will be mailing out new swatches soon.

In the meantime I have file copies of this lovely poster (that's me holding it up) so if you would like one, please e-mail me (justin@fennerpaper.co.uk) and I'll put one in the post to you.

http://www.wineonehundred.co.uk/

http://www.thesecretcellar.co.uk/
http://www.em-project.com/
http://www.favini.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.05.2010

Lee Goater - Design, Art Direction & Branding.

Lee Goater has decided to take the plunge and branch out on his own. Lee has been Creative Director at Leeds based agency Lowd & Klea (L&K) for five very happy years. During this time I've worked on some lovely projects with them including pieces for the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Craven College.

Lee is now working on his own projects and as a freelance art director. Good luck and best wishes to Lee and I know everyone at L&K will miss him.

http://www.leegoater.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25452188@N07/
http://www.lowdandklea.com/
http://www.landkbrand.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.05.2010

Typeface - The Movie

This Wednesday evening, I went to watch a film! I was kindly invited to the screening of a film called Typeface which was screened at the London College of Communication at the Elephant and Castle in London and hosted by Alex Cooper and Rose Gridneff at the Letterpress workshop at the LCC.

The film is directed by Justine Nagan and is about a rural US midwestern type museum and print shop. The museum is based in the old Hamilton Company's wood type manufacturing factory in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

It is a fascinating film which not only gives a great insight into the roots and manufacturing of woodblock type and it's increasing use as a design and artistic medium but also documents life in small town America.

Follow this link to read about the film: http://typeface.kartemquin.com/

After the screening, there was a tour of the Letterpress workshop and some drinks!

Below is Alex Cooper talking to letterpress legend Bill Naylor.

It was a most enjoyable evening and great to see so many students and practising designers there.

Sandra Kemp, Head of College, is very supportive of the Letterpress Workshop and announced that they will soon be running Summer School courses which I think will attract a lot of interest amongst graphic designers.

Thank you to all those involved, especially Alex Cooper, Rose Gridneff, Sandra Kemp, Les Claridge and Millie Langlands.

http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/

http://typeface.kartemquin.com/

http://www.letterpresslcc.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.05.2010

New Brook Buildings

Here is a job which that just exudes fantastic quality of both print and finishing (oh, and of course a pinch of all right design as well!). The project is a brochure for a property called New Brook Buildings.

Size is 240x330mm. Key points of interest is the fantastic de-bossing on the front cover (which if you enlarge the pic below, you should be able to see). It is also "swiss-bound" (explanation below) and the text is stepped with divider pages (printed with mono imagery).

Below pic shows the Swiss binding. For those that are unfamiliar with this type of binding, it is essentially a section sewn or perfect bound binding method which has a "lip" of about 15/20mm of cloth wrapped around the spine. The cloth covered spine is stuck flat on the reverse of the text block with a strip of glue into a 4pp cover with a "freestanding" spine which means that the cover (which can often be very springy with normal adhesive binding) sits very flat.

The text is stepped and is very tricky from a production point of view, especially with this type of binding. This has been done exceptionally well.

Below is the opening spread - inside front cover on left, stepped text on right.

Some of the spreads below: 

Design is by London design agency dn&co who specialise in property branding. Creative Director is Ben Dale.

Print production is by Push and very nice it is too. Both "ink on paper" and finishing is superb.

Oh and I suuppose I'd better mention the paper! It's printed on our Omnia 320gsm and 120gsm which gives the job a tactile and engaging feel. As well as reproducing the images superbly, it has a high bulk and as a result, the deboss works superbly.

http://www.newbrookbuildings.com/

http://www.dnco.com/

http://www.push-print.com/

Post by Justin Hobson 20.05.2010

Poly Records use Deep Orange

Here's a really simple, effective job that's clear, clean and really well produced (and I also have a point to make at the end of this post...).

These are A4+ capacity folders produced for an US record label called Poly Records. They are produced on Colorset Deep Orange 270gsm and are silkscreened in white only. 

Design is by Maddison Graphic based in Ely and silkscreening is by Screenprint Colourworks.

Now, the point I want to make is that I get many people who won't look at less than 300gsm for a folder (many people want 350gsm plus) and the biggest problem is they won't actually look and feel different materials for themseleves and often make incorrect assumptions about how it will feel. It is quite true to say that a 300gsm silk coated probably could be a bit flimsy for a folder such as this. However using uncoated materials such as Colorset (and especially Colorset which has a very high bulk) means that lighter weight can and should be considered. Colorset 270gsm has a bulk of 370microns! This also serves as a good reminder about why it is worth getting a dummy made so you can actually get the look and feel of the end job - here ends the sermon!

http://www.madisongraphic.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.05.2010