Responsibility Matters

Shire plc is a leading specialty biopharmaceutical company. The company has grown globally, through acquisition, recently completing a series of major transactions that have brought growth and diversification in a company that employs over 5,000 people. Bostock and Pollitt have been working with Shire for ten years on brand communications. This piece of literature is mainly intended as an internal piece of communication and as such has a 'newsy' look and feel.
 

The format is 410mm x 285mm, portrait, has 8pp and is 'loose bound'. The paper used is Offenbach Bible 60gsm which is a lightweight material and lends itself to a newspapery feel. It has also been 'endorsement folded' (ie in half, as the above pic). The colour reproduction, in particular the illustrations by Giordano Poloni, are superb. Printed offset litho in CMYK throughout.

Art direction and design is by Bostock and Pollitt. Print is managed by Urban Life Support.

www.shire.com
www.bostockandpollitt.com
www.urbanlifesupport.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.04.2013

Nao Matsunaga

 

This is a catalogue for Japanese born artist Nao Matsunaga who studied at the University of Brighton (1999-2002) and the Royal College of Art (2005-07).

The publication has been very thoughtfully designed taking into account both language versions. The finished size of the catalogue is 210x140mm, portrait, saddle stiched. It has a 4pp cover and a 20pp text - and here's the clever bit -  the front cover, together with the first 6pp and last 6pp of text are cut short at 115mm wide, with the English text at the front and the Japanese text at the back.   

 

This picture, below,  hopefully gives you the best idea of what I've just described:

It is printed on our BrandX FSC 115gsm (this is part FSC virgin fibre and part recycled) which is matt coated. The material was chosen so that it would not be bright white reflecting the natural look and feel of the ceramics being shown but still be able to reproduce the images well. The cover is printed on Conqueror 300gsm and is hot foil blocked with opaque white gloss foil. Another really nice touch is the light red wire used on the saddle stitching.



Centre spread

Showing short pages in the back.

Design and art direction is by Luciana Newell of LBN Design based in Hackney. Photography is by Victoria Ling.

Print and production is by Will Pretty at Healeys Print Group who have done a beautiful job both in terms of the actual printing and repro (given the fact that some of the images are quite tricksy!) and the finishing, which is nice, clean and square.

www.naomatsunaga.com
http://www.marsdenwoo.com/matsunaga/nm1.htm

http://www.lbndesign.com/

www.healeys-printers.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.04.2013

UAL 2013

Just the cover makes the difference...

Here's a job that's definitely worth a look at because it uses paper (in this case the board used for the cover) to increase the quality and feel of the whole project.

This is the 2013 guide for the University of the Arts London which includes Camberwell Colege of Arts, Central St Martins, Chelsea College of Art and Design, the LCC, the London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art. The size is 240x170mm, Portrait, perfect bound with a 96pp text

As you can see, the black is predominant in the design and it was important to have a deep black, which often would require a coated material. However the look and feel of the whole catalogue called for an uncoated stock that was tactile and engaging but still requiring a dense black to be printed. Omnia 200gsm was chosen because it had the right feel and would reproduce the black almost as good as a coated paper. The material for the main catalogue was a printers "house recycled uncoated offset" - which was a choice dictated by cost.

 

This is an excellent example of using a material for a part of a project which can just lift the whole look and feel and make a piece of literature feel special. The Omnia has given this job a quality feel and keeps it miles away from the look and feel of a naff "glossy" type cover which can often be used for a prospectus.
 

Art Direction is by Pentagram. Design is by Benedict Richards (a UAL alumni). It was produced in conjunction with Simon Goode at the Department of Communications and Development at the University of the Arts and thank you Simon for sending me copies.

It was printed by Tradewinds who are based in Peckam in South London.

 

http://www.arts.ac.uk/

www.pentagram.co.uk

http://www.benedictrichards.co.uk/

http://www.tradewindslondon.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.04.2013

Storm Thorgerson

It's rare day when you hear the term "graphic designer" on BBC Radio 4, and rarer still when it's on the main news, but this evening came the sad news that Storm Thorgerson, graphic designer, died today aged 69, having been ill with cancer.

His work was synonymous with the band Pink Floyd and he was a childhood friend of the band members. His most famous album cover artwork was almost certainly Dark Side of the Moon with the cover showing a prism spreading a spectrum of colour but he also worked  for Led Zeppelin, The Alan Parsons Project, Peter Gabriel, Muse and the Cranberries amongst many others.

Design: Hipgnosis   Year: 1973
Art directors: Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell
Artwork:George Hardie

He began his career with UK design group Hipgnosis, founded in the late 1960s and his distinctive style made him one of the music industry's most recognisable artists. He later ran his own design group, Storm Studios.

Our thoughts and best wishes go to his family and friends.

www.stormthorgerson.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.04.2013

Waddesdon Wine

Waddesdon Manor is the historical country seat of the Rothschild family in Buckinghamshire and home to Waddesdon Wine, the official distributor for the Rothschild collection of wines.

This branding project includes a bottle wrap, printed using reproduction maps of the vineyard areas.  The material used was our Offenbach Bible 40gsm, which is light enough to be used as a lightweight, tissue type wrapping material and yet can still be printed offset litho in four colour process.

The identity for Waddesdon Wine was done by Paul Belford Ltd and includes a wide range of printed collateral, including boxes and a brochure and features this W device.

Design and photography is by Paul Belford Ltd with creative direction and photography by Paul Belford and Martin Brown. The Offenbach Bible 40gsm was printed in CMYK by Robert Young at R.Young & Son.

www.waddesdonwine.co.uk
http://www.waddesdon.org.uk/
www.paulbelford.com
http://www.ryoungprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2013

Transformation

This is a particularly nice piece of literature for an award winning architects Shepheard Epstein Hunter and showcases their work where they have redeveloped and transforned existing buildings in an imaginative and positive way.

The overall size is 215mm square with an 8pp cover and a 28pp text. However, it is put together in an interesting way as the saddle stitched text is 210mm square and it is glued into the inside back cover with freestanding spine - imitating what is often referred to as 'swiss' bound (although that is a perfect bound finishing process). This is a simple but very effective solution when well finished and has the added advantage of creating a spine where there would otherwise not be one on a saddle stitched brochure. If you click on the image above, it should enlarge and you can see what I mean.

The Omnia has taken the solid green beautifully, giving the cover a lovely tactile feel. The images and CGI renderings, all printed in CMYK work superbly as well. Cover is on Omnia 320gsm and text is on Omnia 150gsm.

Design is by London based consultancy, Found Design. Creative director is Paul Spencer. The job has been beautifully printed and finished by Orchid.

http://www.seh.co.uk/
http://stevenpidwilll.uberflip.com/i/96522
www.founddesign.co.uk
www.orchidprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.04.2013

Mucho

Today, new Mucho has been launched, together with their website. This new creative agency is the result of Mucho combining with Dowling Duncan.

The partners are Marc Català, John Dowling, Pablo Juncadella, Rob Duncan, Tilman Solé with their respective studios in New York, Barcelona, Berlin, San Francisco and London. It's a tight network of smaller, more boutique, studios with a global outlook.

I've been fortunate to have worked on projects with Rob and Pablo back in their Pentagram days and more recently with John Dowling who's work for Robert Welch and the University of Lincoln has also appeared on this blog.

 

Congratulations and best wishes to all the partners for the future.

http://www.wearemucho.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.04.2013