The new It's Nice That...

Just received the January Newsletter about the tweaks on the "It's Nice That" site including the new listings section ...check it out: http://www.itsnicethat.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.01.2011

Jobs from the past - Number 15

Happy New Year!

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. ...here's the first post for 2011.

Merchant Handbook - 2002

Merchant is the corporate reporting arm of global PR firm Brunswick. In the 1990's years they used to produce a report called the Merchant Handbook, showing FTSE listed companies and which agency did their reporting and who printed it etc. - it used to be quite interesting reading. By the 2000's the burden of collating this information was too great and the Merchant Handbook became a yearly publication of relevant articles about reporting, CSR and investor relations.

At that time Merchant managed the production and design and used a collection of independent studios to do the creative work. This report was designed by NB:Studio.

The report contains articles on six different subjects and each one forms it's own booklet. Each booklet is designed in a completely different style, either purely typographic, illustrative image based etc. and to emphasise the difference, each booklet is on a different material. Some are printed CMYK, some 2 colour and 1 colour plus silkscreen.

Each individual booklet was saddle stitched and they were then 'double-sided' to each other (back to front covers) along the spines only allowing each booklet to open freely but giving the appearance of a neatly stacked pile of different booklets from the front. The overall size of the job is 225x280mm portrait (cover size) with a 14mm spine.

The materials used were Episiode IV 115gsm, Alga Carta 90gsm, Millennium Real Art 170gsm, Dali Neve 160gsm, Neptune Unique 135gsm, Appledawn Cream Velvet 150gsm, some of which are now defunct.

One of the crucial factors that contibuted to the success of the job was the selection of the board for the cover. Being a 4pp cover but with a parallel creased 'freestanding' spine and all the weight being stuck into the inside back cover, it needed to be a substantial piece of board. Our Aerographic Twin 500gsm was used with a gloss lamination on the outside cover and it really works.

Creative directors on the project at NB: Studio were the three partners (Nick, Ben and Alan) and the designer was Nick Vincent. This is just a lovely piece of printed literature - it is extremely engaging. However from memory I don't think it was nominated or won any awards which was a shame and a bit of a surprise. The  2003 Handbook (also designed by NB) was nominated for illustration at D&AD and was also on our paper, so maybe I'll write about that some other time!

The publication was produced under Managing Director, Robert Moser's watchful eyes and the project was managed by Leonie Dixon. Russell Thompson oversaw the print production and finishing (most importantly) of the job which was printed by Impressions in Wimbledon, who (like many printers from that era) don't exist anymore.

So where are they all now? Russell Thompson is production director at Merchant, Nick and Alan remain at the eponymous NB:Studio (http://www.nbstudio.co.uk/), Ben Stott now works independently on his own projects (http://www.benstott.com/) and  Nick Vincent set up his own studio (http://www.vincentdesign.co.uk/) ...oh, and I'm still at Fenner Paper!

http://www.merchant.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.01.2011

Best of 2010 Xmas/New Year pieces

Thanks to all those people who very kindly sent me Christmas cards and some exceptionally fine and humorous Xmas and New Year promo pieces.

Here are two of the best:

BOB Design http://www.bobdesign.co.uk/

A beatifully packaged and well presented pair of Red and White Christmas socks. They were mailed in a bespoke envelope shaped wallet (made using Colorset, Bright Red 270gsm) and held together with a 'seal' shaped sticker. The pair of socks with the 'warm wishes from Bob' tag is hot foiled blocked (on Matrisse 200gsm) and held on by red ribbon and a lovely little gold coloured safety pin. The attention to detail is fantastic.  

Mytton Williams http://www.myttonwilliams.co.uk/

Again, this is a piece which is produced with fantastic attention to detail (and it's not even produced using our paper!). Simply (but very nicely) wrapped in brown paper, there is a well produced white box inside which when opened reveals the number of the limited edition snowball and the message "catch you in the new year". Inside is a lovely snowball (fake, but very realsistic) and some loose snow! Really excellent production:  

...and what about the rest?

The above pieces are just two that I thought were worth highlighting because of their exceptionally high production values but I also received some other excellent cards, calendars, bookmarks and novelties. HOWEVER, I also received some items which those design companies should simply be ashamed of - especially if these were the same items as were sent to clients or potential clients. Here are three examples (names witheld!):

• An item where the wrong postage amount had been put on it so it arrived with a postage to be paid sticker (if mine was wrong, so were all the rest).
• A fairly well produced notebook, the effect of which was ruined by it being put into a 'jiffy' bag together with a compliment slip which had a greeting laser printed onto it.
• Beautifully silkscreened tea towel and lovely tag, badly let down by being sent out in a wrongly sized, bog standard C5 "Office Depot" business envelope!

The point to be made here is to only send something out into the market that represents what you can do best. If an item is let down by incorrect postage or a badly thought out envelope or content, it won't impress a new client and might even make an existing client think again. If you aren't going to see it through and produce something of the same quality and production values that you would be happy to produce for a client - my advice is, don't do it!

Posted by Justin Hobson 31.12.2010

Adidas F/W 2010

This is the latest collection of Adidas 'Training clothes' with the Fall/Winter 2010 collection. It is a pair of brochures, Mens and Womens and as I'm sure you can see from the images, they are beautiful pieces of literature using vibrant punchy colours.

Art Direction, design and production is by Made Thought. The superb photography is by Andrea Spotorno. I can't say too much more about it - look at the images below, they speak for the job...

Womens:

Below pic shows the clever 6pp, a slit holding the CD in the fold:

...and this is the Mens:

Each brochure is a 4pp cover with a 44pp text, saddle stitched. There is a loose 6pp insert which list the international distributors and which cleverly holds a CD and this is held in place with a white elasticated loop - a clever idea and really well executed. Size is 275x200mm portrait and it's printed on Marazion Ultra which gives it that dead matt/flat look but with great reproduction. Cover is 300gsm, text is 150gsm and 6pp insert is 300gsm. Print is by Push.

http://www.adidas.com/
http://www.andreaspotorno.com/
http://www.madethought.com/
http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.12.2010

Celia Stothard 1949-2010

Today I received the sad news that Celia Stothard died on 8th December (because of the snow, I only received post today sent on the 13th December which is why this announcement is quite so late).

My sincerest condolences go to her husband and partner Alan Kitching.

It was barely a year ago that I was invited to a private view in London, celebrating the work of Alan Kitching and Celia Stothard at The Typography Workshop. Derek Birdsall paid tribute to Alan and Celia's fifteen year partnership. In his response, Alan touchingly referred to his having been rescued by Celia from his former 'vagabond' life camping out at the Chelsea Arts Club!

The cover of the 2010 Fenner Paper diary was designed and produced by Alan at The Typography Workshop and Alan and Celia were genial hosts when I popped in with mock ups and proofs and most forgiving when the printing and binding of their copies ran later and later...!

She will be sadly missed by all that knew her.

Below is a picture of Celia and Alan working together at the Typography Workshop.

Photo taken by Phil Sayer for Eye Magazine.

http://blog.eyemagazine.com/?p=387

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.12.2010 

2011 Fenner Paper Diaries - out now!

It's that time of year again when we are busy packing up and sending out our popular Fenner Paper diaries.

If you normally receive one but haven't yet, DON'T PANIC! The snow and ice have taken their toll in delaying both the production and the mailing, so it should be with you soon.

 

This year's diary follows the same style and format as previous years - 153x232mm portrait and has the 'month to view' format which is what many people like. There is also some information about finishing and formats (as above).

This year the cover is printed on Flockage Litho 250gsm [our litho printable flocked paper] in three colours and the text is on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm in just one colour. We're very pleased with it ...and I hope you'll like it too!

They are in the post but if you haven't received your copy by early January, please drop me a line.

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.12.2010

Happy Christmas to one and all!

Thank you to everyone who has sent me cards, e-cards and other jolly xmas stuff. Rather sadly for the first time ever, I think I've received more e-cards than printed on paper ...sad but true!  Anyway, thanks to all for your good wishes.

And here's one of my favourites so far this year from Sandy Suffield:

http://www.sandysuffield.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.12.2010