Sopianae Brand Book

This project is a brandbook for Sopianae, which is the most well known cigarette brand in Hungary. This book covers the history and culture of the brand whilst explaining the relationship with the Rountable Agency who are their brand communication consultancy.

 

It is a very large book at 415mmx260mm! It comes with a slipcase and the whole print package is superb and made extra special by the binding.



This is generally described as 'Japanese Binding' as it is in the Size|Format|Stock pamphlet that I wrote, although as I've pointed out in the same publication, terminology is certainly not universal - I doubt if they call this Japanese binding in Japan!

The cover is formed by a 2mm greyboard which is silkscreened in three colours and mounted on the cover. The 64pp text is on a mixture of an uncoated ivory coloured paper (unknown) and our Stardream Crystal 120gsm from Cordenons in Italy.

Now what has made this project particularly worthy of note is that there were not that many copies produced, so in the main, this job was produced on a digital press (HP Indigo). However because of some of the 'throw outs' - such as below, some of the pages had to be printed offset litho as the format of the digital press (in this case SRA3) wasn't large enough.

So the clever thing, from a print point of view, was to get the litho and digital sheets to match! not that easy to do but the end result is superb - as you can see below digital meets litho on the same spread.

The other thing that makes it slightly less complicated is that Stardream is kept in stock as HP Indigo ready, as well as the sheets for offset litho.

Stardream is a pearlescent and metallic range which shimmers and the pic below may give some idea of how it looks:

Design is by the Roundtable Agency. Head of Art is Franco Reda.

 

Printing and the terrific binding - which was all achieved in house is by Zone Graphics. They truly have excelled.

http://www.roundtableagency.co.uk/
www.zonegraphics.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.08.2014

Glassboat

The Glassboat restaurant is permanently berthed on the floating harbour in the heart of Bristol affording spectacular views of the city and harbourside. The Glassboat has a unique interior carefully restored to make the most of the original polished wooden decks, sculptured oak and portholes. The Head chef is Charlie Hurrell. This brochure is specifically for "private hire" clients who may wish to book one of the four different spaces on board.

Size is 270x210mm (a nicely 'squared off' A4 derivative), portrait format. It is an 8pp self cover and is saddle stitched.

It is produced on our Omnia White 200gsm (throughout as it is a 'self-cover'). It is a beautifully simple and functional piece of literature. The exquisite photography works brilliantly with the uncoated finish and tactile mattness of the Omnia.

Nice even solid, out of CMYK, looks superb - flat and even.

Design is by Peloton in Bristol. Creative directors are Karen Bird and Peter Thompson. The excellent print is by Park Lane Press, who are based in Corsham, Wiltshire.

...and an additional thanks to Peloton designer Stacey Martin who kindly lugged up the file copies to London on the train from Bristol for me.

http://www.glassboat.co.uk/
www.pelotondesign.co.uk
www.parklanepress.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 12.08.2014

CSM Show Directory

This is a student directory that provides an index of students exhibiting at the 2014 BA (Hons) Graphic Design Degree Show. Not only does it list all the students but there is also a map and a pocket on the inside back cover to collect business cards.

For interest, I posted about the show here:

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/central-st-martins-degree-show-2014.html

The whole package is held together with a blue rubber band and they thoughtfully provided a pencil! Size of the publication is 148mm square. It has a 4pp cover from Colorset 270gsm and a 16pp text on StarFine White 115gsm.

Printed offset litho in just one colour (black) - a lovely feature is the use of black wire on the stitches. A lovely detail.

The pocket on the inside back cover includes a map which has been riso printed (unfortunately I don't have any further details on that)

6pp concertina map - Riso printed

The course leader is Alan Baines. The print team that produced the publication (all graduating students) are Brian Lo, Isabelle Mattern, Katharina Gilbert and they had help and guidance from Martin McGrath, who's an Associate Lecturer in Design & Interaction.

Printing is by Ripping Image based in London SE1

http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/
www.rippingimage.co.uk/
www.martinmcgrath.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.08.2014

Printing Bike Project

This is a really interesting project I just had to tell you about.

Nick Hand is a graphic designer based in the west of England and has appeared on this blog previously with his work for Howies and the Do Lectures. More recently he's turned his hand to being a letterpress printer and established an open access letterpress project called The Letterpress Collective, which I wrote about earlier in the year:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-letterpress-collective.html

His latest project is a Printing Bike!

Adana 8x5

Through being neighbours at Centrespace workshops in Bristol, Nick and bicycle maker Robin Mather hatched an audacious plan to build a printing bike capable of carrying an Adana 8x5 printing press, together with inks, paper and type. When the bike has been completed, Nick will ride it through the south of England, France and Germany to Mainz, which is where Johannes Gutenberg invented printing with moveable type in 1440. Along the way he will be collaborating with artists, writers and poets, who will describe the journey in illustration and word ...and of course, Nick will also be printing and sending back some print - mainly potscards, I imagine.

The project has been fully funded through Kickstarter and you can see the campaign, together with the excellent film (by Emma Lazenby)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1298088718/the-printing-bike-project

The bike is being built right now and Nick will be setting off in September. Good luck and safe printcycling!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1298088718/the-printing-bike-project
www.theletterpresscollective.org
http://www.departmentofsmallworks.co.uk/
Robin Mather: http://apracticalguide.wordpress.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.08.2014

Jobs from the past - Number 58

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...

Nougat Preview S/S 2005
This is one of those simple pieces of print which is just exquisite. It is the preview piece produced to excite fashion buyers and to let them know at which fashion shows around the globe they will be showing the new collection. From that point of view, it can simply be described as a piece of 'direct mail' but that term is generally applied in a derogatory way and really doesn't do justice to this project.

It is simply a 6pp creased and folded card. Deceptively square, it's actually 150x140mm, portrait. It is printed in one colour on the outside and CMYK on the inside.

So what is it exactly that I find so special about this job? It was one of the first ever pieces to use Omnia and what is amazing is the way it feels so beautifully tactile and uncoated and then the way it reveals the amazing images inside. The outside cover is a continuous vignette as a halftone going from 0 to 100%. This is ingenious as it graduates in a crisp even way across the front cover - the even-ness in part, due to the way the Omnia prints and retains the integrity of the monotone.

The cover opens to reveal part of a stunning image plus reversed out type on a great solid, which is, of course, the continued solid from the front and back cover. Printed on Omnia White 280gsm.

 ...and then opening the right hand page reveals the image in all it's glory:

Below you can see the way the continuous vignette works from Zero to 100% 

 and here is a detail showing the subtlety of the tint:

This project together with the Nougat look-books at this time were designed by BOB Design. The creative partners at BOB were Alexis Burgess, Mireille Burkhardt and Kieran O'Connor. Lexi now runs his own studio in East London, Burgess Studio.

The excellent printing was by Principal Colour based in Paddock Wood in Kent. It's also worth pointing out that this job isn't "sealed, varnished or coated" in any way and this is the main reason that it feels so good - you can actually feel the paper and the ink. Since the time this was printed (2005) there has been a trend to install presses with coaters and most pieces of printed literature are smeared with a coating or sealer which (although making the printer's lives easier) betrays the feel of the paper ...and (what a lot of printers fail to mention) it discolours with age - now that's definitely something worth thinking about!

http://www.nougatlondon.co.uk/
www.bobdesign.co.uk
www.burgess-studio.co.uk
www.principalcolour.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.08.2014

Hatch Interiors

Hatch Interiors is a company which specialises in interiors and furniture for landlords and serves the rental market. Established over 15 years ago, Hatch commissioned London agency 400 to create a new Hatch Interiors brand identity. This brochure is their first piece of print with the new identity and forms a key part of their new suite of marketing materials.

David Coates, designer on the project at 400, wrote the following words: 'Hatch wanted their new brochure to demonstrate a confidence, elegance and sophistication that truly reflects the values of the company and the products and services that they provide. 400 therefore used a combination of Starfine and Marazion Ultra papers, with fore-shortened pages for the inside spreads and a black foil blocked cover to give the identity and brochure the desired impact.'

Size of the brochure is 210x148mm (A5 portrait) and is saddle stitched.

As you can see from the 'birds eye' picture above, the brochure has five short pages which allow text information to interact and overlay the photography of the interiors.

There is a 4pp cover on a dark grey board from that other Hull based, paper merchant! The text is 16pp on Marazion Ultra 150gsm combined with 12pp on StarFine Natural 115gsm - most of which are short pages, except one (below). The Marazion Ultra is printed offset litho in CMYK and the StarFine Natural is printed Offset litho in just one special pantone grey.

Marazion Ultra on left - StarFine Natural on right

It is a beautiful project with lovely well considered production values which give the publication a confident quality. Nice touches, such as the black wire used for the saddle stitching, works superbly with the hot foil blocked cover with a gloss black foil.

Art direction and design is by Hatton Garden based consultancy, 400. Creative Director is Paul Dennis, designer on the project is David Coates.

Print and finishing is by London printer Push.

www.hatchinteriors.co.uk
www.400.co.uk
www.push-print.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 31.07.2014

Glug Brighton 2014

The other Friday, it was another Glug Brighton networking event organised by Bighton based agencies, Crush and Agency Rush. The evening brings creative types together for a few drinks and a natter it attracts all sorts, including animators, designers, illustrators and many others in the Brighton area. - a great way to spend a Friday night!

Speakers include Rapha Racing, Pixelpyros, Si Scott, State of Play Games and Live art events. The Circus Street Market venue is quite large to fill but as you can see from the pics below, it certainly was full! 

There was also "live Screen-printing" by Gary Parselle of The Private Press, a Brighton based screen-printing company who printed a limited edition print designed by Ben Javens for Glug which were given out for free on the night. The prints were produced on our Redeem 100% Recycled 315gsm.

Ben Javens' illustration

Anyway, sadly I couldn't be there but it certainly sounds like a great evening was had by all - thanks to Emma Robertson for the pictures. Photography is by Colin Clay.

So if you live/work in the Brighton area - sign up with meetup now and watch out for the next  GLUG!
www.meetup.com/glugbrighton/

GLUG events were founded in London and now happen at various locations. London events are organised with Studio Output and Made Studio, so look out there as well.

http://www.glugevents.com/talks/
www.crushed.co.uk
www.theprivatepress.org
http://www.agencyrush.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.07.2014