Jobs from the past - Number 115

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 2013.

McQ AW2013
McQ, is a contemporary brand from Alexander McQueen which takes inspiration from street culture "evoking the varied and ever-evolving style tribes that spring up around Britain’s rich music and art scenes. Drawing on references from uniform and the military, core staples of the British wardrobe are re-imagined each season in new guises. Traditional techniques are used in contemporary ways, creating pieces that are both functional and beautiful"

Creative Director of McQ is Sarah Burton (who next month will be receiving an international award from the CFDA - Council of Fashion Designers of America)

This is the look-book produced for the 2013 collection last year and is simply an exceptional piece of design and print.

The format is A3, portrait. The whole publication is printed on our Astralux [1 sided] 115gsm which is exceptionally high gloss on one side and is uncoated on the reverse. The whole design has played with the opposing coated and uncoated printed and plain areas with dramatic effect.

Opening spread - an uncoated spread

Second spread - high gloss

Click on images to enlarge

It is a 32pp self cover and is unbound, so each of the 4pp section can easily be removed and viewed as an A2 size poster. The monochrome images are reproduced in four colour process (CMYK) printed Offset Litho

Centre spread - high gloss

Uncoated spread - note the right hand page, just printed solid black - gives the project a wonderful sense of space.

The remarkable photography is by Roger Deckker. The superb printing on this paper is by Identity Print. One of the tricky things here is to get the consistency of reproduction between the gloss coated side of the sheet and the uncoated reverse. The result is simply stunning. Gloss sometimes faces gloss, sometimes faces uncoated - it plays with the senses.

Spread below is uncoated on the left page and high gloss on the right..

As I hope the below image shows, it creates great contrast between the dead flat mattness of the uncoated and the high gloss...

Click on images to enlarge

Design and art direction was by Charlie Thomas, in house at Alexander McQueen.

The printing and production is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood in Kent and the print quality and repro, in particular is quite simply superb. David Blakeman dealt with the project at Identity and handled the print production.

http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/gb/mcq
http://www.rogerdeckker.com/
www.identityprint.co.uk
www.favini.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.05.2019 

De La Warr Pavilion Events Guide

This is the latest events guide for the De La Warr Pavilion. The De La Warr pavilion is on the seafront in Bexhill in Sussex and is an iconic modernist building by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff which opened in 1936. Following a major renovation in 2005, the pavilion hosts many shows, exhibitions and cultural events.

The finished size is 210x111mm, folding out to 420x553mm and is a 20pp concertina letter fold. Side view.... 

Click on images to enlarge

Below image shows the concertina folding...

This guide is printed on our StarFine White 130gsm which means that rather than feeling like the vast majority of mass produced leaflets printed on a bit of silk or gloss, this has real character and value. The design is such that the listings of the exhibitions, activities and events are all listed on one side (outside)

Click on images to enlarge

...with the inside being reserved for a full size image from the exhibition.

Lucy Orta , Procession Banners 1918-2018

The new De La Warr identity and design (including the website) is by Playne Design who have studios in London and Hastings. Creative Director is Clare Playne. Print production is handled by Simon Hack. You can read more about the creation of the new identity here:
https://playnedesign.co.uk/our-work/de-la-warr-pavilion/#branding-modernist-cultural-icon

 

The project is printed offset litho in CMYK by Empress Litho with Jason Maclaren handling the project - and my thanks to Jason for very kindly sending me some file copies.

https://www.dlwp.com/

http://www.playnedesign.co.uk/
https://www.empresslitho.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.04.2019

Chromolux Swatch

Chromolux is a 'cast coated' paper which has a very high gloss and lustre and has an international reputation for quality. Last year we became their UK stockist and distributor.

 The mill has produced some "fan" swatches which are housed in this foam book cover.

Chromolux 700 is a white premium, super glossy, coated board with an ultra smooth surface. Ideal for luxury packaging applications. The range has excellent flatness and dimensional stability and is direct food contact approved (ISEGA). FSC Certified 

https://zanders.de/en/home.php

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.04..2019

Extreme Imagination

The first ever exhibition of works of art created by artists who have no “mind’s eye” casts new light on the creative brain. Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye features works by people who cannot visualise, alongside works by those who have particularly vivid mental imagery.

This is the catalogue for ‘Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye’, an art exhibition produced by the Eye’s Mind research team at The University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health, curated by Susan Aldworth and Matthew MacKisack.

Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye presents their artwork, inviting us to consider the impact of these phenomena on the creative process. How can someone make anything without being able to imagine what they want it to look like? Is there a distinctly hyperphantasic kind of art? Aphantasia and its opposite teach us about human diversity: the easily-missed, potentially startling differences between individuals’ inner lives. The work of the participating artists – and designers, architects, and writers – demonstrates the diversity of means by which things come to be made, challenging long-held beliefs about what it means to be ‘creative’. Find interviews with participating artists here.

The catalogue is divided in two halves in what I would describe as a 'double-ender' - the catalogue can be read from either side – essays on the art, science and philosophy of ‘extreme imagination’ one way; turn it over and you see artist interviews preceding their work on the other.

Size of the publication is 190x115mm, portrait and is perfect bound. The 108pp text is printed on Chromolux 1 sided 120gsm from Zanders in Germany. Chromolux is a cast coated paper, which is gloss one side and uncoated reverse. This publication has been collated in such a way that the gloss coated is one side facing an uncoated side as you can see in the image below:

The uncoated side is matt and tactile as you can see below...

Gloss spread on left, uncoated on right...

reading the other way, uncoated on left, gloss spread on right...

The cover is printed on the black cover material from that other, Hull based, paper merchant! Below shows the very neat, perfect binding.

Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye ran at the Tramway in Glasgow, from January to March and is now at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, until the 2nd of June.

Catalogue concept and design is by Valle Walkley. Print is by Push.

http://sites.exeter.ac.uk/eyesmind/2018/12/12/extreme-imagination-inside-the-minds-eye/
https://en-gb.facebook.com/thevisualimagination/
http://www.vallewalkley.com/
http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2019

Simply Stunning!

Pureprint are an extremely well known UK printer. They are held in high regard for their work with art galleries, magazines, retail brands and quality commercial printing as well as having an enviable reputation for their environmental accreditation and awards. They are now also one of the largest digital printers and the first in the UK with three B2 size digital presses.

To educate and promote their digital abilities, Pureprint have produced a new 'Digital Special Effects Pack' to show some of the techniques. To demonstrate the use of their white ink on coloured paper, they chose our Colorset 100% Recycled range in an Amethyst shade

Click on images to enlarge

As you can see from the above image, the Amethyst board has been printed using white ink plus a CMYK image printed on to of the white ink. On the reverse (below) is just the white ink printed on the Amethyst shade board

As it says on the card "Simply Stunning Results"!
https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 12.04.2019

Stefano Marinaz Business Cards

From its London base, the Stefano Marinaz Landscape Architecture studio works alongside international architects and designers on projects ranging from small private gardens to larger landscapes, and historical restorations to installations for garden festivals.

These are the most beautiful and beautifully produced business cards I have ever had the privilege to write about on this blog!

Stefano Marinaz appointed Mercer Design for a brand refresh, part of which was the design of new business cards, which as many people now identify are the most important piece of print that most businesses produce.

I shall let the words of Stefano Marinaz explain...
If you know me you must also know how keen on plants I am. My passion for the natural world and understanding of plants started when I was very young sharing some special moments with my grandfather in the glass house, he was growing vegetables to be sold in the shop. More than 70 years ago he started a business in Trieste, Italy, where he was selling seeds and plants to professional and amateur growers. As the business developed further my father and my mum became part of “Marinaz Agraria e Giardinaggio” and after almost 40 years of work they managed to expand the company by selling, throughout Italy and abroad, seeds, plants, gardening tools, machinery and everything else that can assist professionals and amateurs in the gardens and in the fields. The seeds have been the core business of my family since the beginning and I am personally fascinated by their beauty and by the fact they are able to generate new life and endless possibilities for us as human beings as well as in my case for designers. Sometime it is important to see things with a closer look and this is why I have chosen the beautiful pictures by Robert Llewellyn to be part of my new business cards.

I selected nine seeds which I found very interesting mainly in relation to the plants they develop. It has been a very enjoyable design process with the fantastic team of Mercer Design

These gilt edged business cards are printed four colour process one side (seed images) and one colour on the face and are also hot foil blocked on the face in a bronze foil (Foilco Ref: 6732). The gilt edging is in a matching bronze colour.

You may be thinking that these 1mm thick cards are duplexed ...but you'd be wrong! They are printed on our Sumo 1mm thick board - so how are they printed I hear you ask? - they are printed flat bed, offset litho by a very clever company called Avenue Litho, based in Hackney, East London.

One of the reasons that this solution was chosen because the client wanted to avoid the card being 'bendy' which is characteristic of duplexed boards. Because Sumo is 'mill laminated' (a process that uses a lot of pressure and very little glue) the moisture balance is not interfered with, which is why the sheet maintains the correct moisture balance and therefore remains flat.

https://www.stefanomarinaz.com/

https://www.mercerdesign.com/

http://www.avenuelitho.com/

https://www.robertllewellyn.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 09.04.2019

St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose

The Annual St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose takes place next month on Sunday - 19th May

Wayzgoose is a term (unfamiliar to many people) that used to refer to an annual holiday in a printworks and was often an away-day to the coast or some other sort of day out, more often than not, paid for by the firm.

 However, in this instance the St Bride's Wayzgoose is a kind of letterpress 'bring and buy' sale. There are companies selling type, letterpress accessories, ink and lots of letterpress printed books and cards and the proceeds from the event go towards the St Bride Foundation. Why not come along... ? For interest, this is what it was like last year:
https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-4th-wayzgoose-at-st-bride-foundation.html

http://www.sbf.org.uk/ 

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.04.2019