This is a concert programme for a concert held in Paris on 10th December 1998 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the declaration of human rights. The concert features artists such as Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour, Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette and Radiohead to name just a few.
London agency Stocks Austin Sice was briefed with the job - as well as being a programme, the brief was to empower the concert-goer. Contained within the programme were a set of postcards that could be detached and posted to leading government officials and politicians to protest against the unjustified holding of certain campaigners (don't forget, this was the pre-internet/email age).
When I was being consulted about the paper, Marek asked me if there was any binding which would have an industrial look and feel and would reflect the barbed wire used in the illustration (by John See). I suggested an industrial "Box staple". These flat staples are used to hold solid and corrugated boxes together as they are stronger than glue.
These flat staples are "stab stitched" through the whole book as you can see in the images above. Seriously industrial and they work a treat!
The below image shows the opening spread, with the perforated, tear out, postcards which are printed (in metallic ink) on our brown range, Kapok 400gsm.
The flap opens out to reveal a quote by Ken Saro-Wiwa:
The below image shows some of the postcards torn out - it was a really great idea.
Below shows the detail of one of the cards with the neat perforation. The cards were printed in black and two metallics, a silver and a bronze.
The size of the publication is 340x230mm, portrait. The extent is a 22pp text (which you can do because it is made up using 2pp pieces) plus front and back covers and 2 pages of perforated cards. The text and cover is printed on our Optimale Blanc Naturel, 250gsm and 140gsm. This was chosen because it had the right feel but also because it was 100% recycled and the production of the publication was sponsored by The Body Shop, so it had to be a recycled product.
The publication is printed offset litho, CMYK throughout. All the solids are made out of CMYK.
There are 6pp of collage images from the work of Amnesty International over fifty years.
The below images show detail of the box staples. With improvements in gluing technology it means that these box staples are used less and less in packaging, so it's harder to find people who have the equipment and who are prepared to do it.
Reverse side:
The report was designed by Stocks Austin Sice (SAS). Creative Director is Nick Austin. Designer is Marek Gwiazda. It's a superb example of a well executed and crafted piece of literature which has stood the test of time.
So where are they all now? SAS was a consultancy founded when three partners left Michael Peters in 1989 and I remember the three partners setting up their company in offices above a bank in Maida Vale. After sustained growth, they sold out to the
MSL group in the mid noughties (I think).
Marek Gwiazda is now based in Bristol and runs his own studio and you can read more about this project on his website here:
http://www.marekdesigns.com/folio.php?f=12
The programme was printed by Principal Colour, who are still based in Paddock Wood in Kent.
http://www.marekdesigns.com/
www.principalcolour.co.uk
Posted by Justin Hobson 04.12.2017
This is a series of publications produced for Middlesex University by Silver Leopard. The agency were approached to undertake a brand strategy piece of work leading to a revised and relevant visual language.
This concluded in a complete and thorough set of guidelines for print, digital and environmental treatments.
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