Café Royal

This year, Café Royal has re-opened as a 5 star hotel. Still in it's original 19th century building in the John Nash designed terrace in Regent Street, the building has recently been transformed under the direction of David Chipperfield Architects. The hotel now boasts 160 contemporary guestrooms, including 49 suites, five restaurants and bars, two banqueting suites and an amazing well-being centre.

This brochure is A5 size (210x148mm), has an 8pp cover and a 16pp text. Cover is printed on Curious Metallics Gold 250gsm from Arjo. The text is printed on our Marazion Ultra 115gsm - if you're not familair, it's a fully coated paper but it really does have a dead flat MATT surface. There are many papers on the market which profess to be matt (and some which incorporate the word matt in the name, but aren't!) ...but this really is - and if you don't believe me, just ask me for a sample.

The quality of the photography and reproduction is excellent.

Design is by Pentagram in London.

The project was printed by Gavin Martin Colournet (with Mr Gary Bird) and as you can see above, they've made a superb job of it. The brass wire used for the saddle stitches is a really lovely touch - which brilliantly compliments the gold hot foil blocking and metallic cover.

http://www.hotelcaferoyal.com/
http://www.pentagram.co.uk/
http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 17.07.2014

Glory Through Suffering

It is particularly apt to be writing this piece as the Tour de France is in progress. This piece is basically what is often described a 'leaflet' or 'flyer' so what makes it so special and why does it deserve space on this blog? Basically it is simple, well written, beautifully designed and exquisitely produced piece of literature and printed on lovely paper!

Produced by Rapha, the specialist cyclewear brand, it is an essay written by the author and broadcaster, Graeme Fife, who has written many books on cycling and the Tour de France in particular. Titled in Latin 'Ex Duris Gloria' (Glory through Suffering) the essay is about the pain and suffering that road riders endure on their bike.

Size is A5, portrait and it is a 2pp, yes, just a single sheet of paper. Printed Offset litho in two colours, black and a grey special for the background tint which reads 'Kings of Pain'.

It is printed on our lovely Offenbach Bible 60gsm.

It is used, very simply, as a supporting piece of branding that Rapha uses in a variety of ways, including sending it out with online purchases - a very nice touch.

Art direction and design is by the in-house team at Rapha. Printing is by Generation Press.

www.rapha.cc/kingsofpain
www.graemefife.com
www.generationpress.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.07.2014

The power of the paper poster

Today, one of only three surviving 'BRITONS - Lord Kitchener Wants You' First World War recruitment posters has been sold. A London collector paid a record £27,540 in an online sale by Dorset-based auction house Onslows. The incredibly rare poster has become one of the most iconic images of the First World War, although apparently only 10,000 were actually produced which is far less than many other WW1 recruitment posters. Only three original posters are known to survive; one in the Imperial War Museum in London, one in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, and this one.

The powerful image started off life as the front cover of a September 1914 edition of magazine 'London Opinion' (a popular weekly magazine with a circulation of 300,000 copies) which had commissioned graphic artist, Alfred Leete, to design and illustrate the cover. In response to requests for reproductions, the magazine offered postcard-sized copies for sale. The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee obtained permission to use the design in poster form and the rest, as they say, is history....

Interestingly, author and historian James Taylor published his book only last year called 'Your Country Needs You' disputing that these posters were ever even used ( in a similar vein to the eponymous 'Keep Calm and Carry on' posters from WW2)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Country-Needs-You-Propaganda/dp/1887354972

I had a quick look on the auctioneers website (Onslows) and was rather more impressed by the design of this striking poster below.

This is a poster promoting an exhibition of war pictures by CRW Nevinson, the official artist on the Western Front. It's an original lithograph poster 1918 760x 510mm, although I don't believe the designer is credited. Unfortunately it's not for sale.

http://www.onslows.co.uk/home.htm

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.07.2014

R4 Invitation

R4 is the Plastic and Visual Arts Portal on the exciting new arts and media development in the heart of Paris. Île Seguin is a unique place, located in a loop of the Seine in the western part of Paris, forming part of an urban project that is being developed on the site of the former Renault factory.

For this festival, R4 is entered into partnerships with the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies of Harvard University, the Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design (Geneva), the Beaux-Arts (Paris) and Le Fresnoy (Tourcoing), as well as with the Galerie Jousse (Paris), the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, the Centre d’art contemporain Genève (Geneva) and the Swiss Embassy.

The R4 Video Art Festival took place on 26 June at La Pagode experimental art cinema in Paris and these are the invitations for the event.

 

The invitations which are printed on our Omnia 280gsm. They are printed in 2 special colours, offset litho blue and red, with the image produced as a halftone. The red type on the front cover is hot foil blocked in a striking matt red, opaque foil. This invitation is a 4pp, portrait, A5 (210x148mm) format and the result is an invitation with a matt tactile look and feel.

Design and art direction for the this R4 project is by Zak Group, who are a London based studio which works internationally. Creative Directors are Zak Kyes and Grégory Ambos. Printing is by Push.

http://www.r4-ileseguin.com/en/2150/current-events/06-2014-r4-video-art-festival/
www.zakgroup.co.uk
http://www.r4-ileseguin.com/en/
http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 09.07.2014

ISTD Student Awards 2014

Last Friday, I was invited to  the ISTD Student awards ceremony, hosted by Pentagram at their studio in Notting Hill with Pentagram partner, Angus Hyland, presenting the certificates to the successful students and tutors.

It was a beautiful summer evening, and as with all ISTD events it was a very warm and friendly occasion with beer, wine and nibbles all laid on.

This presentation evening was for the main Student Assessment scheme held in the UK and Ireland. Students from Universities and Institutions around the UK and Ireland answered a number of briefs written by the ISTD's Education team. This is an international education scheme and the assessments for other regions of the globe are on-going and in fact on Friday, there were two awards made to students from Sri Lanka.

ISTD organisers and board members, David Coates, Freda Sack and John Paul Dowling (new education director) talked through the judging process and gave their thanks to the tutors, without whom the scheme would surely flounder.

Before the presentation, Angus gave a short inspiring talk about his experiences in graphic design. Each certificate was awarded by Angus Hyland, of which there were over 100 and the students were each given 'goody bags' kindly provided by Cass Art. Fenner Paper also supplied some bags for the tutors (made from our Colorset Lemon 270gsm) which you can see hiding under the table...

Above is Eric Downer being presented with his certificate. Eric is the graduate from University of Portsmouth who won the top award at 'New Designers 2014' that I wrote about on this blog last week - he's had a busy week! (www.eric-downer.co.uk)

My thanks to the ISTD board for inviting me and as I have said many times on this blog before, it's very important to support organisations such as the ISTD and events such as this. A big thank you to all those members of the ISTD who freely give their time for the benefit of others, in particular, Freda Sack, who has been such an important figure in the society for so many years.

www.istd.org.uk
www.pentagram.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.07.2014

Preen Line S/S 2014

This is the Spring/Summer 2014 look-book for Preen Line, which is the "contemporary line" range with the more economical price tag from London fashion house PREEN.

It's a lovely oversize 333x240mm, portrait, saddle stitched format. It is a 28pp "self cover". This means that it is printed on the same material throughout, so the cover is on the same weight as the text. It works well on this job as it feels really substantial. A big part of that is the format and the fact that it is printed on our Omnia 150gsm, which has a high bulk and therefore you really don't notice that the cover is no heavier ...and, most importantly, the text flows nicely in the hand and lies nice and flat.

As you can see from the images, there is lots of rich colour and blue is prevalent - and it just looks beautiful on the Omnia - just gorgeously even and crisp reproduction. In particular the images with CMYK dark areas - with lots of ink going down, looks great on the Omnia, reproducing bright vibrant colours as well and the darker images as well, whilst retaining all the detail.

Design is by Mark and Chris Thomson at Studio Thomson. Photography is by Nick Dorey and the superb print by Push.

http://www.preen.eu/
http://www.studiothomson.com/

http://www.nickdorey.com/

http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.07.2014

New Designers 2014

Yesterday evening, I went to the New Designers exhibition and awards at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

New Designers is an exhibition for emerging design, full of innovation and fresh thinking, covering all aspects from textiles and fashion to product design, visual comms etc. It takes place over two weeks, with each Part focusing on a different set of design disciplines and featuring its own Awards Programme. The show sees over 3,000 of the most talented, newly graduated designers from the UK's leading universities come together to exhibit.

It was a lovely evening and the queue for entry was a mile long!

I saw many of the tutors and part time lecturers that I know who were from the universities and colleges who had stands at the exhibition. Particular mention shall go to Portsmouth University, who not only sent me an invitation, but also used our Colorset and Redeem 100% Recycled for their show catalogue! ...but more about that another time when I have more space to write about it.

Above is the University of Portsmouth stand and you can see all the books stacked up.

...and because I love to associate myself with success (!),  I must congratulate Eric Downer from the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at University of Portsmouth, who won the overall "New Designer of the Year". Fantastic news for him personally and for the course and very well deserved.

Photo of Eric Downer winning his award. Photo courtesy of Dan McCabe

Eric Downer has also won an ISTD award for his piece on Electricity Pylons. I've seen it and it is a lovely piece of work. Here are his words " I don't feel pylons are particularly aesthetically pleasing (a lot of people agreed) but there was always something that made me wonder there is more to them just just pure functionality. My curiosities were rewarded when I discovered the main men behind the pylons past and the role the pylons themselves went on to play in our history. Your have to read the book to find out what and who they were".
So any of you studios out there looking for some fresh young talent ...look no further!

In particular. thanks to Sarah Houghton, Dan McCabe and Michael Harkins at the University of Portsmouth

http://www.eric-downer.co.uk/new-page-1/
www.newdesigners.com
www.port.ac.uk/graphic

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.07.2014