It's Gauguin Day ...today!

Only if you were a hermit living in a remote cave could you have possibly missed the amazing amount of media coverage of the Gauguin exhibition at Tate Modern ...and it opens today!

If you were wondering if this was just a pleasant public information announcement, you'd be wrong! I thought I would use it as an opportunity to show the lovely private view invitations which were printed on our Omnia 320gsm and which (as you can see) faithfully reproduces Paul Gauguin's work!

The invites are A5 size and 2pp. The above pic shows front and back. Designer at the Tate is Michael Windsor-Ungureanu and the print production is by Push.

Original exhibition graphics, catalogue design and typeface by Why Not Asscociates.
http://www.whynotassociates.com/en/tate_gauguin/08.php
...now go and see the exhibition, I am.

http://www.tate.org.uk/
http://www.push-print.com/
http://www.whynotassociates.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.09.2010

It's Nice That #4

Last chance to get your hands on a copy of the exclusive James Jarvis screen print...

With It's Nice That Issue #4 out in shops on Friday, it's now your last chance to get your hands on a copy of the exclusive James Jarvis screen print, which is only available with all orders made online before midnight on Thursday (30 September).
The boys at It's Nice That have produced a short video of Issue #4 that you can see on vimeo (vimeo.com/15327904) and there's the updated flickr set with all the documentation of the issue that you can see on flickr (flickr.com/itsnicethat).

Issue #4 features interviews with Nick Knight, Neville Brody, Miranda July and RBG6 among others, to order your copy now or to see full details please see the shop link below.

...and the actual publication is printed on our lovely Colorset, Spring Green 270gsm and Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm.

www.itsnicethat.com/shop

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.09.2010

Vince Frost on board with D&AD

I've only just caught the news that Vince Frost has been elected to the Executive Committee of D&AD, joining Neville Brody and Mark Bonner on the Design comittee.

Vince is the first Sydney-based member to be elected to the Executive Committee and over the coming three year term, Vince will help raise the profile of D&AD in Australia.

Now I go back quite a long way with Vince and worked on many D&AD projects, so with that in mind I thought I'd do a little retrospective of some of his D&AD work and our paper!

It was in 1995 that Vince designed the highly regarded D&AD Newsletter. The great thing about this series of publications is that they were produced very simply, not in an overblown way and had a disposability about them. Printed in just one colour, all these great images are just reproduced as halftones. Finished size is 315x445mm, portrait. They are unbound and are a 16pp self cover.

Above: Cover image by Matthew Donaldson

Below: Cover image - Cacharel by Jean-Paul Goude

Above: Back cover by Graham Fink

Below: L/H cover image of Malcolm McLaren by Glen Erler  (http://www.glenerler.com/)
 R/H image by Matthew Donaldson

Now everyone seemed to be a fan of this format and loved the use of images, however when it came to review and they asked opinions, apparently (so I heard) the advertising audience didn't think it was colourful enough. Also because it arrived with an endorsment fold (folded in half) some people said they couldn't collect them in pristine condition!

Therefore a new more colourful publication called Ampersand was born in May 1998 and launched for the awards. It contained more colour and industry related features and profiles celebrating the world’s most inspiring creatives. The format was a more conventional A3 portrait size with a 4pp cover and 20pp text and saddle stitched. Below are the covers of &0 (the launch issue) and &1:

Now it was at this stage that D&AD was trying to find sponsorship from printers and paper companies, so unfortunately we got pushed out of the frame by free paper supplied by a company which doesn't even exist now!

However what goes around comes around and in 2004 it was time for a refresh and again our materials were called upon. Vince, working with Matt Willey at Frost in London, produced this all time favourite of mine - &20. The format was reduced to 195x255mm, 24pp self cover, saddle stitched but (and this is the really clever thing...!) the material used was our Clervaux [1 sided] 110gsm which is an uncoated material which is smooth one side and rougher on the reverse. By working with the printer and playing around with imposition, you get a smooth spread, followed by a rough spread etc and then some spreads which are smooth and rough. It works really well.

...and then, yet again, we got pushed out of the frame by free paper supplied by another paper company sponsor - ho hum! Anyway, maybe what goes around will come around again!

Congratulations to Vince on his D&AD appointment - he'll be a valuable asset and an inspration carrying Australian (oops, I mean British) design around the world.

http://www.dandad.org/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.10.2010

UCL Admission of New Fellows 2010

This is a special piece of literature from Studio Special!

This publication has been produced for UCL and is for the admission of new fellows at the ceremony held this summer. The design uses a "rolled up scroll" motif in multiple colours, together with a warm grey background. The cover has been very subtely hot foil blocked in silver foil.

The job is an unusual 180x250mm size, portrait format. It has an 8pp cover with 135mm flaps and a 24pp text. It is printed on Omnia 200gsm cover and 150gsm text which in my opinion is absolutely the right weight  relationship for text and cover if it's an 8pp cover.

Design is by David Lovelock and Sally Oldfield at Studio Special based in Hatton Garden in London. Print is by Calverts in London and it's been very nicely done as that warm grey is not the easiest colour to get consistency with all over the sheet.

And thanks to Sally for the lovely note:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
http://www.studiospecial.com/
http://www.calverts.coop/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.09.2010

Megan re-emerges at Horne's

Many people will remember Megan Simpkins from her days at GF Smith and print managers Cousin. Anyway, after a brief spell at the Chinese paper manufacturer Gold East she has now emerged as Account Director at Paperlinx subsiduary Robert Horne as from this September.

Best wishes to Megan in her new role.

http://www.roberthorne.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.09.2010

Preen Line - Swing Tags

These are swing tags for the new "Preen Line" range by Thornton Bregazzi.

They have been designed by Studio Thomson who do the creative direction for Preen (see previous post: http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2009/11/happy-5th-birthday-to-studio-thomson.html).

To be honest I can't describe it any better than Mark Thomson's note which he kindly sent!

...except to say that the size is 55x85mm and if you're not familiar with Kapok 500gsm, it's a brown "Krafty" looking board (ask me for a sample if you want one).

and thank you to Mark for sending them to me.

http://www.preen.eu/
http://www.studiothomson.com/
http://www.xtraprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.09.2010

Rapha in Norddal

If you are familiar with cycling brand Rapha, then you'll know that they stand for quality and as you might expect their literature is produced in an exemplary way.

I have been sent a couple of jobs printed on our paper which are just superb. The two jobs I show here are part of the same set produced in 2009.  Both jobs use photography taken by Ben Ingham in a remote part of Norway called Norddal.

Firstly there is the lookbook which is a 24pp self cover. The size is 150x195mm, portrait, saddle stitched, produced on our Neptune Unique SoftWhite 155gsm.  The natural shade gives this job a really classic feel and works really well with the four colour black and whites and the muted colours.

Centre spread:

Now this job is paired with a slightly larger job which is produced purely as a photographic piece, all printed in CMYK black & white and what an amazing piece this is too. It is 170x225mm Portrait, has an 8pp cover and 12pp text and is "singer sewn" with a natural colour thread. It is also printed on Neptune Unique SoftWhite but this time all on 250gsm.

and so you can see an uniniterupted shot without a spine getting in the way (!)  here's a pic that's available as a download from the Rapha site:

The designer for both jobs is Ultan Coyle working for Rapha and the superb repro, print and finishing is by Orchid Print.

http://www.rapha.cc/
http://www.beningham.net/
http://www.orchidprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 17.09.2010