Showing posts with label Spectral. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spectral. Show all posts

Tuesday 23 June 2020

Shakies go Green...

James Ellis are a greeting card publisher who have been publishing their own ranges of cards since 1997. Based in Bristol, they actually print and make all their cards in the UK (so no horrible carbon footprint to China!). You'll find their ranges of cards in Paperchase, Waitrose, Harrods and John Lewis and all good card shops! 

They’ve been manufacturing their 'shakies' cards since 2003 and they have undergone quite a few style changes, but items shaking around within the card idea has more or less remained the same.
In an effort to be as environmentally friendly as possible, the latest change has been to ditch the plastic panel on the front of the card which forms the pocket for the shakeable items to move in. By removing the plastic and replacing it with a translucent paper, which is itself printed, the appearance of the card has changed little but is now recyclable. The paper chosen for this job is our Spectral, Digital White 110gsm from the Reflex Paper Mill in Germany.

...and you can see the way the coloured paper discs move around.
The size of the card is 176x127mm and the board which form the cards and the window are from our Dali range. If you aren't familiar with the Dali range, it is a 'felt-marked' paper with a linear effect and a natural, tactile feel. If you click on the image below, you will be able to see the texture in the paper.
Click on images to enlarge
...and you can see (above) the printing on the translucent Spectral. The digital printing is by Pureprint on their HP Indigo presses and the result is superb.

To make the cards as green as possible, they have eradicated the use of glitter, the plastic and replaced the outer bag by applying a peelable pricing label.
James Ellis have also signed up for 1% for the Planet scheme where companies commit to giving 1% of their turnover to environmental non-profit organisations.

This card is designed by Katherine Hartley and my thanks to James for sharing these new samples with me.

https://www.jamesellis.com/ 
https://www.pureprint.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 23.06.2020

Thursday 9 February 2017

Coast Lookbook SS|16

Established in 1996, Coast is one of the leading occasionwear brands for women. Coast now boasts 52 stand-alone stores with 184 concessions and 46 international stores. This is the lookbook forSpring Summer last year and is a really superb piece of literature
The cover is printed on our Astralux board - this is a one sided 'Cast Coated' board which means it has a high gloss surface and an uncoated reverse. The outside cover is completely unprinted and features just the most amazingly executed blind emboss - see the detail below:
The cover is printed on Astralux [1 sided] 350gsm. Size of the publication is 240x170mm (which is an economical size to be printed on a B2/B1 size press). The below image shows the inside front cover printed on the uncoated side of the Astralux opposite page one of text, which is all printed on Omnia.
Click on images to enlarge
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! The 42pp text is on Omnia White 150gsm, printed offset litho in CMYK throughout.
Click on images to enlarge
There are four translucent paper section dividers throughout the publication, printed offset litho in one colour on Spectral, White 130gsm.
Image reproduction is paramount but it was also important that the publication also projected the tactility of the clothes and in the image above and below the detail of the handbag and the extraordinary reproduction of the metallic gold. An ordinary feeling silk or gloss coated paper wasn't an option, so Omnia fitted the bill perfectly.
Omnia is a very bulky paper, so even though it is only 42pp, the Omnia 150gsm gives it a 5mm spine thickness. With most publications of this quality, they are section sewn, however because of the 'tip ins' on the translucent, this book is perfect bound. Below is a close up showing the spine and end of the book:
Another impressive detail is on the outside back cover which is neatly embossed in type which can be no larger than twelve point and which you can see from the image below is beautifully executed - great attention to detail.
Art direction and design is by Coast. Printing, neat embossing and careful finishing is by Identity Print based in Paddock Wood.

Posted by Justin Hobson 09.02.2017