Jobs from the past - Number 102

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 and here's one from 1997.

4th Estate
New Titles Jan-Aug 97

The Fourth Estate is a publishers that many people will be familiar with. Founded by Victoria Barnsley in 1984, Fourth Estate built a reputation as one of the most innovative and eclectic imprints in the industry, with a reputation for publishing a wide variety of critically-acclaimed and beautifully-produced titles including many prize winning authors (Booker, Orange etc).

One of the things that made the Fourth Estate stand out from the crowd was their catalogues - they were simply amazing pieces of design and print! I was lucky enough to work on a few different catalogues in the late 90's and early 2000's. Every single one was different and brilliant. Good designers were commissioned, Bogue & Hopgood, Instinct, Pentagram, Rose Design, Frost, Neville Brody, Tom Hingston to name a few. In line with their reputation for publishing unconventional yet innovative titles, the design of the catalogue was equally eclectic.

This was a one of these very distinctive catalogues. The major difference between this edition and the other catalogues is that this one is A4, portrait, whereas normally they were a more unusual format.

This catalogue is quite simply made up from an artwork of badly made photocopies, which have then been photographed on backgrounds or with appropriate objects.

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The whole publication is printed in just one colour as greyscale - it's worth remembering that this is back in the days when one colour print was significantly cheaper than four color printing. The result is amazingly effective, as I hope you can see from these spreads....

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The 4pp cover is printed on 250gsm and 48pp text on 120gsm. The paper used is our Neptune Unique SoftWhite, which is an uncoated off-white, smooth (yet tactile) text and cover paper - just the right material for black type to look brilliant on.

As you can see from the image below, the 48pp text on the 120gsm sits nice and flat, without 'gaping' in the middle of the book.

The below image shows the spread on the inside back cover, with the credits. Design is by Vince Frost and Derek Samuel at Frost Design in London. Photography is by Glen Erler and printing is by House of Naylor.

So, where is everyone now....

Victoria Barnsley, founder of Fourth Estate, joined Harper Collins as CEO and Publisher in 2000 when it acquired her company. These distinctive publications continued to be commissioned and produced for a few years after becoming part of a larger group. Sadly (and I guess it was just a matter of time) the Fourth Estate became a section within the Harper Collins specialist catalogue.

The House of Naylor went into liquidation in the early 2000's. Vince Frost left for the sunnier climate of Australia in the early 2000's and runs Frost* in Sydney. Derek Samuel worked in London and New York and has returned to his native Australia.

...and Fenner Paper? Yep, we're still here!

Looking through my pristine copies, it still looks and feels fantastic.

http://www.4thestate.co.uk/

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/about-harpercollins/Imprints/4th_Estate/Pages/4th_Estate.aspx

http://www.frostdesign.com.au/

http://www.dereksamuel.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.04.2018

Preen Home

Preen By Thornton Bregazzi was founded in 1996 by Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi, built on an aesthetic of darkly romantic and effortlessly modern, juxtaposing the masculine with feminine and mixing of hard and soft. Their debut collection at London Fashion Week for Spring Summer 2001 established the brand’s essence of punkish sensibilities with vintage elements and hand crafted details

Preen by Thornton Bregazzi has now expanded to include Preen Home – an opulent offering of soft furnishings

Size of the brochure is 330x240mm, portrait and is singer sewn. The text material chosen was our Omnia, which would beautifully reproduce the photography with the delicate patterns and dark colours superbly - without forgetting the fleshtones ...and it looks wonderful! There is a 4pp cover on Omnia 200gsm and 16pp text on 120gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

Unlike many of the look-books featured on this blog, which are printed offset litho, this has been digitally printed on an HP Indigo press. The colours are strong and punchy and the whole publication has a matt, tactile look and feel - in fact I can honestly say, every bit as good as litho!

Although Omnia was never originally developed for digital, we now keep it as a stock item with "sapphire treatment". This treatment is often applied to more unusual papers and provides a "key" so that the inks (which are different to litho inks) work on the paper surface. The great thing is the job just doesn't look and feel like a digital job. Below is a detail shot showing the excellent fleshtone reproduction.

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Below shows the detail of the red thread used on the singer sewing - just beautiful!

Omnia is a very bulky paper, and the 200gsm cover just works perfectly with the format and the singer sewing

The art direction is by Mark and Chris Thomson and the quality of the direction and photography (by Ash Reynolds) is matched by the exceptional digital print by Screaming Colour.

http://www.preen.eu/
http://www.studiothomson.com/
http://www.screamingcolour.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.03.2018

New papers and new processes

Kestrel Press are a family owned printing company based in Irvine in Scotland which was founded over 40 years ago. However, unlike many established printers, this is a company that continues to innovate and explore new materials. Their work has appeared on this blog before here.

We have recently introduced two new materials which Kestrel Press have embraced as they realised their potential with the design community. The first product is our BlackGold which is our new range of intense black from Gruppo Cordenons.

Kestrel have produced some A4 folders using BlackGold 290gsm and they are printed using their "seeing is believing" strapline which they are applying to their promotions to demonstrate their innovations in digital printing.

The size of the 4pp folder is 300x215mm, portrait and is printed using clear digital print, which looks like a cross between varnish and clear foil blocking and works brilliantly on the BlackGold.

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The inside of the folder is printed in white, again printed digitally and the result is really crisp and sharp. Both of these processes have been printed on their Ricoh digital press with the special attachments which make white and clear printing possible. Because these are processes which are produced in the normal pass through the press and not an "after" process, it means they are much more cost effective than traditional processes such as foil blocking or UV varnish.

The 4pp folder has a glued flap with a 140mm pocket and slits for a business card. The business cards are also printed on BlackGold but are triplexed with our Colorset Magenta 270gsm as the middle layer. 

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The business cards are also clear printed on the reverse.

The second material used for experimentation is our new SIXTIES paper, which is 60gsm. These sheets are 320x450mm and is also surprisingly printed in white....

The white is printed on the front, but as you can see from the image below, even though it is printed white, you can still see the show through

This new SIXTIES is 60gsm and is a fine quality, similar to our Offenbach Bible in many ways but with one major difference - unlike a genuine bible paper which has a high opacity, this new paper has the same translucency as a tracing paper - but it feels like a normal paper! ...as I hope you can see from the picture below:

...and this further sheet which is printed in black (and a small amount of red) on both sides of sixties making an image out of type.

The results are truly superb and it is great when a printer takes the time and trouble to examine and experiment with new materials that they then show to their customers.

My thanks to Graeme Ferguson at Kestrel for sending me these samples and for taking the time to experiment with their new processes on these new materials.

http://www.kestrelpress.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.03.2018

Working at RBB

RBB Economics is a specialist in the field of economics of competition law. Attracting and employing the best post-graduate level employees is essential to their business. This piece of literature is designed to inform and attract potential candidates to the business.

The size is A5, portrait and is saddle stitched with a 20pp text. This brochure cleverly works by neatly dividing itself into two, the introduction and Insights It is made around a 4pp cover with a flap on the inside back cover and the cover is cut 20mm short, the first 8pp of text is cut 10mm short and printed with a green band and the Insights section, which is printed solid grey is the full width of A5

This clever format enables the content to be separated, the more formal text of the introduction with the more informal 'insight' section with images and quotes. Very effective. The below image shows the short pages:

The cover is printed on our StarFine White 350gsm, which is an uncoated text and cover range. The cover is printed two specials (grey and green). Text is printed on our Marazion Ultra 135gsm and is printed in CMYK throughout Marazion Ultra was chosen because of it's matt flatness. Marazion Ultra is a simple but effective choice of materials. This project has a lovely engaging feel, the combination of uncoated and coated materials being just right.

Birdseye view showing the short cover, text and flap on inside back cover ....

The below image shows the card inserted in the flap at the back of the brochure showing the global locations. Also printed on StarFine White 350gsm.

Art direction and design is by Hatton Garden based consultancy, 400. Creative Director is Paul Dennis, designer on the project is Andrew Pitchford. Print and finishing is by Pureprint

www.rbbecon.com
www.400.co.uk
http://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.03.2018

Fletcher's Cottage Spa

Fletcher’s Cottage Spa is the luxurious spa set on the Archerfield Estate, which is less than an hour from Edinburgh. The estate features a golf course and several houses which can be booked in their entirety for weddings and celebrations. The spa has been featured in the Sunday Times Travel Top 6 British Spas and the Tatler Spa Guide.

This is the pocket menu, which lists the stunning array of massages and treatments available.

The format is a 14pp, long concertina, held together with a 'belly band'. The finished size is 145mm x 100mm, folding out to 145mm x 980mm.

The birdseye view below shows how it works...

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Above shows the front cover. The clever way this concertina format works, means that you can view it in spreads, as you can see below....

The 14pp concertina is printed on Crush, Corn 200gsm and the bellyband is printed on Crush Coffee 250gsm, which are a perfect combination.

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Below shows the whole publication spread out, so you can see both sides:

Now one of the important things to point out is that this publication is printed digitally ...yes, even though it's 980mm long! It is printed on a Ricoh 5100 by DTP Print in Edinburgh and they have not only made an excellent job of the printing, there are a couple of other details that are worth pointing out too. The belly band is 45mm wide. The icon is beautifully die cut and it registers right over the printed icon ...just perfect!

Also, most bellybands are glued or stuck with a sticker, which makes them impossible to replace! ...however this band has a clever and well fitting die cut semi circle and slit, which works perfectly.

Creative direction and design is by Katherine Scott at Studio Thought Process based in Edinburgh.

 

If you aren't familiar with Crush, it is one of our ranges made by FAVINI in Italy and is made using 15% residues from the industrial processing of agricultural processing. As a result, the paper does have inclusions and a "rustic" feel, which you might just be able to see from the image detail below:

Click on images to enlarge

With thanks to Sonya Beaumont at DTP Print for sending me file copies.

https://www.archerfieldhouse.com/spa/
http://studiothoughtprocess.com/
http://www.dtpprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.03.2018