Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone and especially those that are regular readers of this blog. I hope 2012 will be a peaceful year. In the UK, it should be an exciting one with the Olympics being hosted in London and various locations around the whole country. Whatever some people's misgivings, I think that it will be a great event that will be held in the public consciousness for years to come.

Last year, at the DesignWeek awards, I bumped into Bryan Edmondson from SEA. He was kind enough to give some encouraging words about this blog and mentioned that it would be a great idea if I invited other people to occasionally write for it as well.

www.seadesign.co.uk

Having mulled it over (for some considerable time!) I've decided to introduce a "SOAPBOX" piece. Written by an invited contributor, it will be published on the blog at the end of the month (in the same way that "Jobs from the past" is the first post of every month). The piece doesn't have to be about any particular subject, other than it should be of relevance to the type of designers who are interested to read this blog (...also, it can't be libelous, slanderous or defamatory!)

Anyway, that's my new year resolution, so as the idea was his I'll ask Bryan if he'd like to write the first one, otherwise I might have to start ringing around!
Happy 2012.
Justin

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.01.2012 

M&S Invitation - A/W 2011 Collection

This is a very luxurious looking invitation to the launch of the Autumn/Winter collection for Marks & Spencer.

The size of the job is 154x218mm portrait. It uses Flockage Colours 400gsm in Navy.  For those of you which are not familiar with this product, it is a flocked board which feels like a velvety cloth/material to the touch but which remarkably you can actually "flatten" the pile by use of a  "heat de-boss". In this case the square pattern is "heat de-bossed" and it is then hot foil blocked in silver.

Flockage is an expensive material, but because of the small quantity used and the fact that only two similar processes are being used on it (and waste is therefore minimal) a luxury, high impact impression can be achieved for a relatively low cost.

To give these invitations extra weight (and gravitas), they have been duplexed together with a chocolate brown board ( ...from the other well know Hull based paper merchant!) The total thickness is just over 1mm and the edge is edge in silver.

Design and Art Direction is by Iain White at Pure Design. Print is by Push.

 

www.marksandspencer.com

www.pure-design.co.uk

www.push-print.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.12.2011

Ding Dong

This is the clever little festive greeting card (...or should that be parcel?) from Magpie Studio.

Have a look and then I'll explain...

As Magpie see it, posties are the unsung heroes of Christmas. Up early in all weathers contending with impossible addresses and dogs nipping at their heels, this is their tribute to these troopers.

Working with photographer John Angerson, Magpie contrived to getting as many of the posties from around the Shoreditch area and the various routes (or walks as they call them in the PO) as possible ending up with thirteen in total. Words are written by Scott Perry (Bard of Bray).

The outer cover which looks like a package is formed using our Rib-Tone 2 sided 340gsm and forms both the cover and envelope. The fourteen cards are "bound" in using the Royal Mail red rubber bands that we are so familiar with, littering the outside of many front doors and workplaces!

Print, finishing and rubber-banding (!) is by Gavin Martin Colournet. It's also worth pointing out that the Rib-Tone is printed in 1 colour - white - on their new HP Indigo digital press! not silkscreen or hot foil ...it's white ink! 

 

The cards are printed on our Omnia 280gsm, which as you can see from above, prints a solid red, just beautifully and are also printed on the HP Indigo.

www.magpie-studio.com

www.johnangerson.com

www.bardofbray.com

www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.12.2011

RCA Alumni 2010

Current membership of the organisation that represents the Alumni of the Royal College of Art, called AlumniRCA is 5,335. Each year they produce a publication to communicate with and about the Alumni and the current activities/developments at the college.

It is a simple, economical format, easy to use for both mailing and display purposes. The format is a 16pp, closed gatefold. Size is A5 folding out to A2 (420x597mm).

Front Cover:

opening out to...

opening out again to...

folding out to...

Design is by Europa and the designer on the project is Paul Tisdell. The publication is printed on Omnia 120gsm which was chosen because of the tactile feel and the way it would reproduce the images, including the one on the reverse, which is a fantastic photograph by Noemie Goudal  (RCA MA Photography 2010)

The job was printed and finished by Pureprint.

www.rca.ac.uk/alumni
www.europaeuropa.co.uk
www.pureprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.12.2011

New digital installation

I popped in to see London based printer Gavin Martin Colournet last week and they are excitedly experimenting with their new bit of kit, a digital press - an HP Indigo 5500 ...so I took a picture of their new machine:

This new press is their first digital installation and is to compliment with their existing Heidelberg B1 Offset Litho press. The press features a capability to print special colours and opaque white.

Personally I was also excited about their other machine installation, a new Nespresso machine, which Gary Bird was kind enough to operate for me... 

www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk

www.hp.co/indigo

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.12.2011



CIA Calendar 2012

This is an excellent 2012 desk calendar produced by the Central Illustration Agency (CIA). There are 52 illustrations (one per week) and all the illustrations all relate to this year's Olympian theme "The Alternative Games..."

Unusually for a desk calendar, the front sheet is actually a folded poster, printed on Offenbach Bible 60gsm. The Size of the calendar is 140mm square - the poster folds out to 420x560mm

The poster design is by Jonas Bergstrand.

...and now for the calendar itself:

The 140mm square calendar is printed on Omnia Natural 120gsm, chosen so that it would have an uncoated feel but reproduce the wide and diverse illustrations superbly. The "tent card" (which is the commonly used term for the supporting cardboard frame) is made from a sturdy sheet of Trojan Whiteback 510gsm (below pic):

Production (at the CIA) was dealt with by Charlotte Hanlon. Design is by Staziker Jones and print is by Hartleywilprint based in Wales.

http://www.centralillustration.com/

http://www.stazikerjones.co.uk/
http://www.hartleywilprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.12.2011

V&A 2010/2011

This is a superb piece of print - the 2010/2011 Annual Review published by the V&A.  The report is structured in such a way that it literally goes through the year on a month by month basis, showing the exhibitions and the life of the museum in a close up way.

With image reproduction being so important, it was essential that everything reproduced amazingly! The text chosen for the project is Omnia 150gsm - chosen because the print includes solid colours and images of exhibits - and it looks brilliant.

The cover is hot foil blocked in a grey pigmented foil. It is a 350gsm material from the well known, Hull based paper merchant, in Smoke with a morocco embossing. It has an elastic loop which is riveted to the cover - a very nice touch.

Size of the book is 200x265mm, portrait format, perfect bound. The 72pp text is printed in CMYK throughout - beautifully. Additionally, there are 6 tracing paper inserts.

The report was designed in house at the V&A by Nadine Fleischer and Lindsay Pentelow. Since the publication of the report earlier this year, Nadine and Lindsay have left the museum and set up their own design practice called Irish Butcher (www.irishbutcher.co.uk)

The excellent print, foiling and finishing is by Generation Press.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

www.generationpress.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.12.2011