The Way We Live Now - Terence Conran



Terence Conran/1950's

Photo: Ray Williams

Terence Conran’s vision, energy and achievements have shaped the look of our world and influenced how we lead our lives. His drive to make good design part of our everyday life has arguably had more impact on popular culture than that of any other designer of his generation. As his 80th birthday approaches, the Design Museum in association with Tate Modern is hosting a talk to celebrate his achievements.

Chaired by Design Museum Director Deyan Sudjic, this evening of presentations and discussion draws together leading figures from the various worlds that Terence Conran’s parallel careers have influenced and informed. Fiona MacCarthy, Christopher Frayling and Stephen Bayley will each discuss an aspect of Conran’s way of seeing the world.

It's also worth mentioning that there is a Terence Conran exhibition at the Design Museum opening in November.

This event is on Tuesday 20 September, 6.30 - 8pm at TATE MODERN, Starr Auditorium, so hurry up!
See you there...
For more details, follow the links:
The Way We Live Now: An evening celebrating Terence Conran is on Tuesday 20 September 2011, 18.30–20.00
The Way We Live Now at the Design Museum is open 16 Nov 2011 – 4 March 2012

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.09.2011

Soundwave Festival Programme 2011

I'm sure that many of those reading this will be familiar with the Soundwave Festival held in Croatia (I wasn't, I guess I'm just not groovy enough!) Now in it's third year, the festival is bigger and better than ever. The line up included Bonobo, Roots Manuva, Little Dragon, Zero 7 with DJ's Mr Thing and Jenna G. Another feature of this festival is the hosted boat parties - a truly unique facet of this event.

...and this post is about the programme ( -on our paper of course!). It's a very comprehensive piece of literature which has been designed to convey the look and feel of the festival.

Above is cover showing Gloss UV varnish which is a subtle but effective use of the Soundwave mark and which works really well on Omnia.

The programme is an A5 portrait format, saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover on Omnia 200gsm and a 64pp text on Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm.
The programme is produced by Beatnik. Editors are Sven Carlsson and Ali Raymond. Creative Directors are Rachel Crowther and Ali Raymond. Design and production is by Ali Raymond.

Print was Handled by Rob Squires at Pureprint. As you can see from the final spread, they have worked hard (and succeeded) on the readover which is printed on two very different materials.

...and with the wonder of modern technology, you can see the programme page by page:
http://vimeo.com/30493809
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StkKN9T25JY

www.beatnikonline.net
www.soundwavecroatia.com
www.pureprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.09.2011

London Design Festival 2011

Just a reminder that next week is the London Design Festival: 17th -25th September 2011.

We are supporting one of the events organised by Graphic Birdwatching: http://www.graphicdesignwalk.com/#1765696/Graphic-Design-Walk

Have a look at all the forthcoming events:
http://www.londondesignfestival.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.09.2011

CN Originals

This is an interesting job which is effectively a look book for Cartoon Network’s Originals, which highlights how brands can licence and apply the crazy original characters to create retro merchandise with attitude. So the items displayed are not available, it's setting the look and feel of possibilities.

The book is 280x195mm, portrait. Binding is "singer sewn" with yellow thread. 4pp cover on our Neptune Unique FSC 250gsm and 28pp text on Neptune Unique FSC 120gsm

The designs incorporate Cartoon Network characters - Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo and friends and the characters are used on everything from clothing to mugs, pictures, cereal bowls etc.

The book is encased in a bespoke yellow envelope with a lovely "disc and string" closure - lovely! - see pic below. The piece was commissioned to be used at the International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.

For those that aren't familiar with the term "disc and string" - here, goes!
Basically, it's a fairly self explanitory term. A pair of small discs of board - in this case the same material that the envelope is made from (so it's colour coordinated) is cut out and riveted onto the envelope. A piece of thin string (in this case black) is then riveted/glued under one of the discs. The string is then wound in a figure of eight pattern around the discs. It's a lovely idea and solves the problem of permanently sealing with glue, an envelope which may need to be re-opened several times.

Design and Art Direction is by CRUSH based in Brighton. Print production is by Print-Source, who it's worth pointing out, made a superb job of the "disc and string" envelopes

http://www.cartoonnetwork.co.uk/

www.crushed.co.uk

www.print-sourceuk.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.09.2011

Flockage with real Swarovski Crystals

Here's a fantastic luxury greetings card range called TU&Co produced using our Flockage Colours. The cards are beautifully foiled and have Swarovski crystals stuck onto the cards by hand.

Not only is this a truly lovely range but the designer responsible, Phan Tu has been nominated (and is a finalist) for "The most promising Young Designer or Artist at the Henries Awards (The Henries are the Awards for the greeting card industry)

www.thehenriesawards.co.uk

 

The cards are produced by Abstract Greetings and are made in the UK. They are hot foil blocked on our Flockage Colours -Anthracite, Black and Bright Red in 400gsm and Flockage Litho White 300gsm.  They are really lovely and good luck to Phan at the awards on 11th October.

http://www.abstractgreetings.com/AGL1/HOME.html



http://www.thehenriesawards.co.uk/categories.html#YoungDesigner

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.09.2011

A sad end for FS Moore

This is the report that appeared in Printweek, yesterday, about the demise of London printer FS Moore, which I reproduce below...

FS Moore owed almost £2m when administrators appointed
By Adam Hooker Tuesday, 06 September 2011

East London printer FS Moore went into administration owing almost £2m to creditors, according to the administrator's report.

The Bank of Ireland was the largest creditor, owed £517,000, but a number of paper companies, print finishers and trade printers were also included.

One paper company was hit for £137,000, while another two were each owed just under £50,000. One finisher included in the creditors' list was hit for as much as £70,000, although most were owed £10,000 to £20,000.

The company also left £250,000 owed to HMRC, around £50,000 of which was for VAT. Redundancy claims accounted for £182,000. Insolvency practitioner BDO was appointed as administrator on 28 July, before selling the business and assets to DG3 Europe in a pre-pack deal the same day.

The report reveals that the business was bought for £140,000, comprising £135,000 for plant and machinery and £5,000 for stock. DG3 also agreed to pay 1% of annual turnover from FS Moore up to £1m and 2% over £1m annually for a period that has yet to be agreed.

According to the report, FS Moore saw turnover drop by around £800,000 in the two years leading up to its administration, from £4.2m in 2008 to £3.4m in 2010.

Initially the directors planned to sell the company in November 2010, however the deal fell through when HMRC refused to defer the repayment of its debt.

It's a real shame when companies which have a good reputation, such as Moores (who's work has appeared before on this blog) hit the buffers. However, it is indicative of the current state of the print and paper market.

You can read the article in full on the following link:
http://www.printweek.com/news/1089465/FS-Moore-owed-almost-2m-when-administrators-appointed/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.09.2011

Robert Welch Catalogues

Here's a lovely suite of literature produced for tableware designers and producers Robert Welch Designs.

For those that are unfamiliar with Robert Welch, here's a quick CV. He trained as a silversmith at the Royal College of Art and in 1955 set up his studio in Chipping Campden. The company blossomed and has become a household name for quality cutlery and tableware, all produced with strong design principles. Robert was made and MBE and a Royal Designer for Industry. He passed away in 2000 but since 1993, the company has been run and managed by Robert's son Rupert and daughter Alice.

John Dowling has been designing their catalogues and promotional material for the past seven years which has given the brand a consistency and uniformity across it's promotional activity which many companies struggle to achieve.

Robert Welch normally produce one catalogue but this time they produced three, to emphasise the different areas in which RW products fall – Kitchen, Dining and Living and the production of an all encompassing folder.

The folder is produced using our Plexus 350gsm which is a 100% recycled board in a mid brown shade (reflecting the traditional cotswold colour) – and contrasts with the coated material of the catalogues and high gloss UV varnish of the three front covers. The "generic" folder picks up on the history of Robert Welch and illustrates the working of the studio and showcases the newly refurbished shop in Chipping Campden, designed by architect Lorenzo Apicella at Pentagram.

The three brochures are a variety of paginations in a concertina format, folded 297x155mm, printed on our Millennium Real Silk 200gsm. The cover page on each is varnished with a gloss UV varnish.

Design is by Dowling Duncan. Art direction and design was by John Dowling working closely in association with Alice and Rupert Welch - and as you can see, it is based around the beautifully commissioned and art directed photography combined with the simplicity of the folder. Print is by Gavin Martin.

http://www.robertwelch.com/

http://dowlingduncan.com/

www.gavinmartin.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.09.2011