Friday, 15 March 2019

Size | Format | Stock is 10 years old!

The publication Size|Format|Stock was first published ten years ago. This is the booklet that I wrote in collaboration with Zoë Bather at Studio8. Originally written to leave with students after I've given a talk, it has since become a firm favourite with many graphic designers both in the UK and abroad.

The 2019 edition is the fifth printing and in total I've printed and distributed over 30,000 copies! ..through colleges, by post and also through Grafik and Eye Magazine.
The booklet is A5 portrait saddle stitched with a 4pp cover on Colorset, Chilli 120gsm and a 16pp text printed on Offenbach Bible 60gsm.
If you would like a copy, just email me and I'll pop one in the post to you: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.03.2019

Tuesday, 12 March 2019

Charleston Press No 1

Nestled in the South Downs, Charleston was the country meeting place for the writers, painters and thinkers known as the Bloomsbury group. Now run by the Charleston Trust, the house is an excellent museum and visitor attraction, presented to look as it did when the family lived here in the 1950's. The walled garden was created by the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant to designs by Roger Fry and features Mediterranean influences with plants chosen for their intense colour and silver foliage. These became the subject of many works over their long residence at Charleston.

Charleston Press is a new publication published by the Charleston Trust and includes includes newly commissioned essays exploring the themes, artists and stories of the exhibitions and programmes at Charleston, as well as articles marking important Bloomsbury anniversaries and events.
For this first issue, there are two different cover designs.
Size is 220x170mm, portrait and is perfect bound. The publication has an 8pp 'dustjacket' around the cover as you can see from the birdseye image below...
The below image shows the book (with the magenta cover) out of the dustjacket plus the wrap-around belly-band.
The 4pp cover is produced on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Magenta, 270gsm and is unprinted, being simply, but beautifully, embossed. 
Click on images to enlarge
The 84pp text is printed on our Omnia 120gsm. The reason that Omnia was chosen is because it would beautifully reproduce the wide variety of different media, the artworks, solid colours and dark photography and most importantly feel special - with the reproduction that you would expect on a silk or gloss but with a natural tactile uncoated feel.
...note the solid colours, not a special, made out of CMYK.
Charleston is hosting the first museum display of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s Famous Women Dinner Service since it was created for Kenneth Clarke in 1932. After this the plates disappeared from public view and their whereabouts were unknown until very recently. The plates were created by Bell and Grant when they lived at Charleston and each plate depicts one famous woman, featuring figures as various as the Queen of Sheba, Sappho, Nell Gwynn, Emily Brontë and Elizabeth I. You can read more about the Dinner Service HERE.
Click on images to enlarge
Below image shows the 6mm spine, the perfect binding. The jacket is printed on Omnia 150gsm.
The wrap around bellyband (70mm high) is printed on our Sixties, 60gsm and because of the translucency, the background images show through.
...you can see the level of show through in the detail image below.
The reproduction on the Omnia is just something else, the level of detail and reproduction is superb as you can see the image below.
The publication is designed by Playne Design who have studios in London and Hastings. Creative Director is Clare Playne with production is handled by Simon Hack. Print production is by Pureprint. This is just an excellent example of a beautifully designed and well executed piece of print, entirely right for the subject.

The publication is available for sale HERE

https://www.charleston.org.uk/
http://www.playnedesign.co.uk/
https://www.pureprint.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 12.03.2019

Thursday, 7 March 2019

Progress? On the evolution of Arabic type

Next week, the Justin Howes Memorial Lecture is being delivered by Titus Nemeth at the St Bride Foundation.

The history of typography is also a history of technologies. As the means of multiplying texts evolved through time, different tools left distinct marks on letterforms. This dynamic accelerated from the late nineteenth century, as technological developments began to radically change the making and setting of type. At increasingly shorter intervals new machines and techniques shaped how text was represented and multiplied. Arabic typography is no exception to this, but its history is shorter.

Only when in the West, print was industrialised began Muslim printers to use letterpress printing on a large scale. In consequence, the mechanisation of Arabic typography occurred at an earlier evolutionary stage, lending machinery a key role in its development.
In this talk Titus, discusses this history from the perspective of progress: He will present key moments and contributions, consider drivers and motivations, and query if and how new technologies really did result in advances for Arabic typography.
Titus Nemeth is a type-designer and typographer with a special interest in the Arabic script. An alumnus of the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at Reading, Titus has pursued an independent career for over ten years. He has taught in France (ESAD Amiens), Morocco (ESAV Marrakesh), Qatar (VCUQ), and the UK (Reading). His doctoral research formed the foundation for Arabic Type-Making in the Machine Age, recently published with Brill Publishers.
The talk is next Thursday, 14 March 2019 from 7–9pm at the St Bride Foundation. Tickets are a bargain at £8–12.50 - this is a fascinating subject, why not go and stimulate the grey matter!
You can book tickets HERE

https://www.sbf.org.uk/whats-on/view/the-justin-howes-memorial-lecture-progress-on-the-evolution-of-arabic-type/
Posted by Justin Hobson 07.03.2019

Monday, 4 March 2019

Jobs from the past - Number 113

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. This project is from the year 2000.

RIBA - The Value of Architecture
This book published under the 'RIBA Future Studies' banner. They published a series of papers and this one 'Context and current thinking' is written by Eric Loe. It examines how economic models have developed over time to define the boundaries of cost and value in building.
The book is A5 (210x148mm) size, portrait. It is section sewn giving it a 7mm spine. The book has a 4pp cover printed on our Matrisse 280gsm and a 62pp text on our Matrisse 160gsm.
The book is printed offset litho in just two colours throughout.
There are few images, which are just reproduced as halftones and the design of the publication is one of typographic clarity.
Image showing the section sewn binding (7mm spine)
Cover photography is by Richard Learoyd. Design is by Cartlidge Levene ...and as I think you can appreciate from the images, this is a very beautiful piece of typographic design.

You can read the document here:
https://docplayer.net/28035983-The-value-of-architecture-context-and-current-thinking-eric-loe-ribafuture-studies.html

The book was printed by Principal Colour, who are still based in Paddock Wood in Kent.

http://cartlidgelevene.co.uk/
www.principalcolour.co.uk
Posted by Justin Hobson 04.03.2018

Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Beyond East West Street

East West Street is a book by the author Philippe Sands QC which was the winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction.

Beyond East West Street is a publication based on the Baillie Gifford prize lecture delivered by the author at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
This small booklet is published by Edinburgh International Book Festival and printed in Edinburgh by Stoneberry Press.
 
The size is 198x128mm, portrait. The cover is printed on Remake Smoke 380gsm and the 24pp text is digitally printed. Remake is a range from Favini made using 25% residues from leather processing.
The cover is letterpress printed in grey and looks just wonderful. The 'Singer Sewn' binding is just perfect.
Below image shows the detail on the back cover...
Published by the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Design, print and production is by Evgenia Kochkina at Stoneberry Press in Edinburgh.

http://stoneberrypress.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 26.02.2019

Thursday, 21 February 2019

Begg & Co - Home

Begg & Co have been making beautiful scarves, wraps and stoles in Scotland since 1866. The small coastal town of Ayr has been at the heart of the brand for well over a century, when founder Alex Begg opened his first mill and began working with skilled local weavers. Begg’s original ethos is maintained thanks to the modern-day team of dedicated craftspeople, who continue to source the best quality yarns in order to create timeless, versatile products that are heavenly to touch and a delight to own.

This is the lookbook for last year's Home collection showing the range of throws, stoles and travel blankets. The finished size of the publication is 266x145mm and forms a 24pp broadsheet, folding out to 798x580mm.
The above image shows the front and back covers. The format is a "parallel gatefold" as you can see from the image below...
Front cover...
First spread...
folding out to the next spread....
The whole publication is all printed offset litho on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm ...and it looks and feels absolutely gorgeous - it flops and folds in a delightful way when handling the publication as I hope these images demonstrate. The below image shows the way it concertina's from top to bottom (vertical folds) before folding horizontally
 Image showing the full sheet
 ...and the other side:
Creative direction and design is by Studio Small. Photography is by Josh Hight.

Printing is by Push and the reproduction on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm is truly excellent.
Posted by Justin Hobson 21.02.2019

Tuesday, 19 February 2019

Freda Sack

Last week it was announced that British type designer Freda Sack died. Freda had a long career starting at Letraset in the 1970's followed by a host of other groundbreaking type design companies. Eventually Freda went freelance and then collaborated with David Quay setting up The Foundry together. Over her long career, Freda is credited with a large number of typeface designs which I shall not attempt to list here.
Freda was deeply involved in education, both as a governor and external examiner. From the mid 1990's she was heavily involved with the smooth running of the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) in a variety of roles, culminating with being President from 2006-2010.

Last Summer, Freda was made an Honorary Fellow of the ISTD in recognition of her significant contribution to the Society and the typographic industry. The award was made at the ISTD 90th anniversary, which I wrote about here and where I took the rather over-exposed picture above.

It was a pleasure to know Freda and she was a tireless worker for the causes she was involved with. She was always giving and yet so appreciative to others for their efforts. Freda was a fellow member of the Wynkyn de Worde Society and I was honoured to have her as my guest at last year's Summer party, where she kindly gave me a wonderful 'sign of the sun' brooch, which I treasure.

You can read more about Freda's life here:

Freda touched many lives and will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

https://www.istd.org.uk/
http://www.foundrytypes.co.uk/about-the-foundry/the-foundry-partners/freda-sack
Posted by Justin Hobson 19.02.2019