UAL 2013

Just the cover makes the difference...

Here's a job that's definitely worth a look at because it uses paper (in this case the board used for the cover) to increase the quality and feel of the whole project.

This is the 2013 guide for the University of the Arts London which includes Camberwell Colege of Arts, Central St Martins, Chelsea College of Art and Design, the LCC, the London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art. The size is 240x170mm, Portrait, perfect bound with a 96pp text

As you can see, the black is predominant in the design and it was important to have a deep black, which often would require a coated material. However the look and feel of the whole catalogue called for an uncoated stock that was tactile and engaging but still requiring a dense black to be printed. Omnia 200gsm was chosen because it had the right feel and would reproduce the black almost as good as a coated paper. The material for the main catalogue was a printers "house recycled uncoated offset" - which was a choice dictated by cost.

 

This is an excellent example of using a material for a part of a project which can just lift the whole look and feel and make a piece of literature feel special. The Omnia has given this job a quality feel and keeps it miles away from the look and feel of a naff "glossy" type cover which can often be used for a prospectus.
 

Art Direction is by Pentagram. Design is by Benedict Richards (a UAL alumni). It was produced in conjunction with Simon Goode at the Department of Communications and Development at the University of the Arts and thank you Simon for sending me copies.

It was printed by Tradewinds who are based in Peckam in South London.

 

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

www.pentagram.co.uk

http://www.benedictrichards.co.uk/

http://www.tradewindslondon.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.04.2013

Storm Thorgerson

It's rare day when you hear the term "graphic designer" on BBC Radio 4, and rarer still when it's on the main news, but this evening came the sad news that Storm Thorgerson, graphic designer, died today aged 69, having been ill with cancer.

His work was synonymous with the band Pink Floyd and he was a childhood friend of the band members. His most famous album cover artwork was almost certainly Dark Side of the Moon with the cover showing a prism spreading a spectrum of colour but he also worked  for Led Zeppelin, The Alan Parsons Project, Peter Gabriel, Muse and the Cranberries amongst many others.

Design: Hipgnosis   Year: 1973
Art directors: Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell
Artwork:George Hardie

He began his career with UK design group Hipgnosis, founded in the late 1960s and his distinctive style made him one of the music industry's most recognisable artists. He later ran his own design group, Storm Studios.

Our thoughts and best wishes go to his family and friends.

www.stormthorgerson.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.04.2013

Waddesdon Wine

Waddesdon Manor is the historical country seat of the Rothschild family in Buckinghamshire and home to Waddesdon Wine, the official distributor for the Rothschild collection of wines.

This branding project includes a bottle wrap, printed using reproduction maps of the vineyard areas.  The material used was our Offenbach Bible 40gsm, which is light enough to be used as a lightweight, tissue type wrapping material and yet can still be printed offset litho in four colour process.

The identity for Waddesdon Wine was done by Paul Belford Ltd and includes a wide range of printed collateral, including boxes and a brochure and features this W device.

Design and photography is by Paul Belford Ltd with creative direction and photography by Paul Belford and Martin Brown. The Offenbach Bible 40gsm was printed in CMYK by Robert Young at R.Young & Son.

www.waddesdonwine.co.uk
http://www.waddesdon.org.uk/
www.paulbelford.com
http://www.ryoungprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2013

Transformation

This is a particularly nice piece of literature for an award winning architects Shepheard Epstein Hunter and showcases their work where they have redeveloped and transforned existing buildings in an imaginative and positive way.

The overall size is 215mm square with an 8pp cover and a 28pp text. However, it is put together in an interesting way as the saddle stitched text is 210mm square and it is glued into the inside back cover with freestanding spine - imitating what is often referred to as 'swiss' bound (although that is a perfect bound finishing process). This is a simple but very effective solution when well finished and has the added advantage of creating a spine where there would otherwise not be one on a saddle stitched brochure. If you click on the image above, it should enlarge and you can see what I mean.

The Omnia has taken the solid green beautifully, giving the cover a lovely tactile feel. The images and CGI renderings, all printed in CMYK work superbly as well. Cover is on Omnia 320gsm and text is on Omnia 150gsm.

Design is by London based consultancy, Found Design. Creative director is Paul Spencer. The job has been beautifully printed and finished by Orchid.

http://www.seh.co.uk/
http://stevenpidwilll.uberflip.com/i/96522
www.founddesign.co.uk
www.orchidprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.04.2013

Mucho

Today, new Mucho has been launched, together with their website. This new creative agency is the result of Mucho combining with Dowling Duncan.

The partners are Marc Català, John Dowling, Pablo Juncadella, Rob Duncan, Tilman Solé with their respective studios in New York, Barcelona, Berlin, San Francisco and London. It's a tight network of smaller, more boutique, studios with a global outlook.

I've been fortunate to have worked on projects with Rob and Pablo back in their Pentagram days and more recently with John Dowling who's work for Robert Welch and the University of Lincoln has also appeared on this blog.

 

Congratulations and best wishes to all the partners for the future.

http://www.wearemucho.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.04.2013

Batch by Faye Toogood

New York Times Blog July 2012
Photo: Marius W. Hansen

Faye Toogood is a British designer and one that will not be pigeonholed. Her work covers interiors, installation, furniture, fine art and influences fashion and trends in a way that is unusual in a world which appears to require individual specialisms. Her furniture and objects are made using carefully condsidered materials and are handmade by small-scale fabricators with traditional methods.

BATCH is a furniture collection based on the concept of Batch production rather than one off editions, making them more accessible. Batch is made in Britain using solid Ash.

The BATCH catalogue is 280x210mm, portrait and is saddle stitched. It is a 40pp 'self cover' all printed on our Marazion Ultra 135gsm which has a matt look and feel which works superbly with the style of photography and especially the pale ash and subtle grain of the wood.

Outside front cover

Design is by Studio Toogood. This is a beautifully simple piece of literature which perfectly shows the items and conveys exactly the right look and feel which engages the reader with the products themselves. Print is by Pureprint and it is a beautifully produced, clean and tidy piece of printing and finishing.



...and thanks to Rosalind for kindy sending me file copies and a lovely note.

www.fayetoogood.com.

www.pureprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.04.2013

 

Jobs from the past - Number 42

Regular 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 and here's one from 2008.

The Ghost in the Fog

This project is the ghost of a book. It documents corrections made by the editors, translators and contributors to How to Address the Fog: XXV Finnish poems 1978-2002. Published in 2005, the original went through five sets of amendments. This book documents those changes. Only the corrected text, the marginal notes and the proof-readers' marks remain, forming a different kind of poetry - one of an accidental, concrete kind. It is a book of absences. (all I've done is repeat the original text taken from the jacket - I really can't improve on it! J)

The size is 195x128mm, portrait and is section sewn. It has a 4pp cover with an 8pp 'dust-jacket' wrapped around it and 128pp text. The text and jacket are all printed on our lovely Offenbach Bible 60gsm. The text is mainly printed in two colours (black and red) with specials used on the 'endpapers' - yellow and on the jacket. The materials have a beautifully light and ethereal quality and with just the faintest hint of showthrough, it works with the ghostly subject, perfectly.

In 2009, this project won an ISTD premier award an this is what the judges said about it ( ...and in particular note what is said about the delicate stock): The idea of a book that only includes the corrections and observations of the authors and proofreaders is unexpected and unusual. Using typography that suggests concrete poetry, the rythmical pattern through the pagesgives the sense of a musical score. The tactile quality of the delicate stock reveals and documents the changes through layers of amendments, allowing the reader to only sense the actual text. Fittingly titled, The Ghost in the Fog is a ghost of a book. It really is, as the designer describes it, 'a book of absences'. An intriguing book that is a delight to handle  ___Freda Sack

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/istd-awards.html

Art direction is by Barrie Tullett & Philippa Wood at The Caseroom Press. Design and production is by Barrie Tullett. Print is by The Short Run Press based in Exeter.

The foreward is by Ken Cockburn and the corrections, observations and alterations of the original publication are all made by Ken Cockburn, Anni Sumari, Robin Fulton, David McDuff, Donald Adamson and Robyn Marsack.

www.the-case.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.04.2013