Thursday 9 April 2015

Workshop evening

Last week, I organised for a small group of designers from a variety of different studios to spend the evening in the print workshop at the St Bride Foundation.
 
There were about twenty of us in all and after a briefing by the technicians, Mick, Bob and Peter, the group were encouraged to have a go at setting type, inking up and printing.
For those not familiar with the St Bride Foundation, it was established in 1891 to fulfil social needs in the Fleet Street printing area. Facilities included a library, baths and a swimming pool (as hygiene was poor) and a printing school which was the forerunner of the LCP. Nowadays, this historic building houses a world renowned printing library with a large letterpress collection, a community theatre space, a bar, print workshop and meeting & conference rooms.
  
As well as printing, wood engraver, Peter Smith demonstrated lino-cutting and many people had a go. Peter had selected an engraving which was divided into 12 pieces which were individually cut by different people over the course of the evening.
At the end of the evening the pieces were re-assembled into the image and then placed on the Vandercook proofing press, below:
The superb printed result was printed on Shiro Alga Carta, Ivory 250gsm and it's just beautiful!
In the Layton Room there was an exhibition on display by Designer Bookbinders. The exhibition shows 58 bindings, spanning the career of Trevor Jones (1931-2012), a founder member of Designer Bookbinders. Jeanette Koch from the society was on hand to talk about the exhibition and his work.
http://www.designerbookbinders.org.uk/

It was a really fun evening, where everyone got a chance to have a go and join in. We had some food and a few drinks laid on and most of us made it to the Bridewell Bar downstairs afterwards!

My thanks to all the staff and friends at the St Bride Foundation with special thanks to Mick Clayton, Peter Smith and Bob Richardson who made the evening really good fun.

Posted by Justin Hobson 09.04.2015

Tuesday 7 April 2015

Jobs from the past - Number 66

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...

Meyouheshehimherthings - 2000
This is a project produced as a student promotion for the Salvation Army Trading Company.

The 'Meyouheshehimherthings' promotion travelled nationwide to student fairs to draw attention to Salvation Army charity shops, tempting students in to buy second-hand clothing for prices much lower than high-street retailers. Peter & Paul (at DA) created this perforated postcard book as a giveaway, to highlight the clothes and to give students something to write to friends and family on (in this pre-digital age!)
The finished size of the postcard book is A5 portrait (210x148mm)
It is formed of 6 panels, making a 12pp concertina folded booklet, with images one side and space for writing on the reverse.
Click on image to enlarge
Below are the spreads as they appear in the book:
Front Cover
The cards are perforated horizontally and vertically to produce A6 size cards. It is printed on our Neptune Unique SoftWhite 250gsm, which has a neutral whiteness and just suits this piece of literature perfectly.
A clever feature of these cards is to include a discount card. This is a perforated credit card size card which punches out  and when presented with a valid NUS card, gives the holder a discount. Of course, these days, there'd be an app for that!
A particular feature that is worth pointing out, is the perforations. As you can see from the below picture, perforations can look great, even beautiful. As I have pointed out on this blog previously, these perfs only look this good because the designer took the time to explain what they wanted to the printer it's worth asking the printer to show you different types of perforations that are available - it doesn't cost a penny more!
 
This project was designed at a now defunct agency called DA in Leeds, but the creative directors on the project and the two people who drove the project are Peter Donohoe and Paul Reardon and the project is attributed to Peter and Paul who went to found their agency under that same name: http://www.peterandpaul.co.uk/. Unfortunately I can't find it in my records who printed the project.
 
Interestingly, this project was the overall winner in the 2001 DesignWeek awards in the Print Design category. Interestingly this piece won the award over a commended entry by The Partners and other shortlisted entries from Pentagram, GBH, Addison, Salter Baxter and Lippa Pearce ...and I still have the awards supplement!
The fact that it won the overall winner is testament to this piece of print design. As it says in the DesignWeek awards supplement 'Bright colours and bold typography gives the design direct impact, appropriate for the student market  - who said charity work had to look worthy?'
 
Posted by Justin Hobson 07.04.2014

Thursday 2 April 2015

Sad demise of Paperlinx in the UK

Yesterday it was announced that the Paperlinx group companies were placed in administration (in common parlance that means gone bust). Staff have been sent home and the phones are not being answered. This is not an April fool joke.
Paperlinx is the Australian company which owns three UK paper merchants that you will be familiar with: Robert Horne, Howard Smith and The Paper Co.
You can read more about it on the Printweek website:
http://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1150685/breaking-deloitte-appointed-at-paperlinx-uk-most-branches-closed

Regular readers of this blog may well remember that I had a bit of a 'run in' with Paperlinx and their solicitors after posting a hyperlink (with allegedly defamatory remarks) when I wrote about Toby Marchant's 'golden goodbye' departure:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/toby-marchant-exits-paperlinx.html
Sadly, Graham Critchley, who ran the website exposing the shananagins at Paperlinx (and who's blog I linked to) passed away in January 2014. The financial troubles at Paperlinx have persisted resulting in this rather final and drastic action for the UK division.

It is very sad for our industry and for the near one thousand staff working in the UK for the group. Although this may have been a chronically mismanaged company, it sadly highlights the bad state that the paper and printing industry is in. Definitely no laughing matter here.

http://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1150698/merchants-move-to-plug-paperlinx-gap

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.04.2014

Tuesday 31 March 2015

Curious Iconic Craft

This is one of the most stunning projects produced last year on our paper. Read on and be amazed....!

For anyone interested in magazine design, Little White Lies and Huck would be two independent magazine titles that you'd be aware of and would probably collect. The agency The Church of London was founded on 5 January and Little White Lies first hit the shelves on 12 March 2005. After eight years, the founders Danny Miller, Rob Longworth, Paul Willoughby and Alex Capes stepped away from the agency and the titles. Danny Rob and Paul formed a new creative agency called Human After All.

Their leaving present to their fans was to produce a limited edition publication packed with insights into how the two titles have been put together, a fantastic resource for those interested in magazine design. The book is titled  Curious Iconic Craft.

They decided to fund the project by Kickstarter and you can see their entry on the link below - needless to say it was overfunded!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/humanafterall/curious-iconic-craft-designing-magazines-that-peop?ref=nav_search
The size of the publication is 245mm x 200mm portrait with 4pp outer cover, 2x2pp 'end papers' cover, tip ins and a 96pp text. The publication is what I would describe as a 'double-ender' - the cover and text read one way and then you turn it over and it reads the other way. The image below, shows the way the cover works:
The cover is printed on Omnia 320gsm, with a 'soft touch' film lamination and is hot foil blocked with a gloss black foil - looks and feels beautiful!
 
The reason for the book being produced like this is that one half the book is about Little White Lies and one half is about Huck.
 
The LWLies text section is 40pp and is printed offset litho in CMYK with a fluorescent pink pantone special. End paper (l/h side) is printed in pantone silver on  Zeta Linen Embossed,150gsm
The text pages are printed on Omnia White 150gsm and the result is simply stunning. Whether a photographic image, illustration or just solids, this paper really has performed - it is truly remarkable.

In the centre there are two 'tip ins' on Colorset Nero 170gsm section printed in silver PMS 877. Looks fantastic just printed in one colour silver and the line illustrations just work amazingly. Additionally there is a 16pp section printed in one colour on a light green 160gsm uncoated paper (Papago) for the 'learning section'. The whole publication is full of key insights and attention to detail, including: how to create a cover illustration, how to design a custom typeface, original sketches and behind-the-scenes work.
Birds eye view (click on image to enlarge)
The HUCK text section is also 40pp and is printed offset litho in CMYK with a fluorescent green pantone special. End paper (l/h side) is printed in pantone silver on  Zeta Linen Embossed,150gsm.
The publication is section sewn using black thread. Another lovely detail.
Curious Iconic Craft is published and designed by the studio by Human After All. Creative Directors are Danny Miller, Rob Longworth, Paul Willoughby. Production handled by Hannah El-Boghdady.
 
The book was printed and produced by Jigsaw Colour. The complexity of the publication with the endpapers, soft touch cover, with foil and "tip ins" made this a truly challenging project to deliver, but the print and finishing are both absolutely superb.

http://www.humanafterall.co.uk/
www.jigsawcolour.co.uk
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/humanafterall/curious-iconic-craft-designing-magazines-that-peop?ref=nav_search
http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/curious-iconic-craft-human-after-all
Posted by Justin Hobson 31.03.2015

Thursday 26 March 2015

Collection 002

Faye Toogood is a British designer who's work has appeared on this blog before. Her work covers interiors, installation, furniture, fine art fashion and more!


This is the literature produced for the launch of their unisex outerwear collection. Eighteen unisex garments, all manufactured in Britain. Materials used are tough cottons and hardwearing linens. With names like the 'Farmer Jacket' 'Oilrigger Coat' and 'Plumber Overall' these garments hanker back to our hardworking industrial past.
 
This promotional literature is a small folded up piece measuring 70x100mm, folding out to 280x600mm.  
Beautifully concertina folded.
Folding out to...
Click on image to enlarge
It is printed Offset Litho in four colour process, one side only, on our lovely Offenbach Bible 60gsm, giving it a lightweight feel but with a beautiful quality.

Creative Director is Faye Toogood and the designer on the project is Catherine Acornley. Printing is by Chadbon Printing based in London.

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.03.2015

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Johnson Banks 21 years #2

To mark their 21st birthday, Johnson Banks has produced a series of four brochures. Johnson Banks was established in 1992 and is now a studio which has an international reputation.  I wrote about the first brochure titled 'Blue Chip and Commercial projects' here: 
 
I'm writing about each of the four brochures individually. This post is about the one titled 'Charity and not-for-profit'.  As you can see from the images below, over the last two decades, they have worked on a wide range of large charity branding projects, advertising campaigns as well as working for some smaller charities.
Size of the publication is 148mm square with a 4pp cover with a 32pp text and is perfect bound. It is printed on our StarFine White 300gsm and 150gsm. The spine is 4mm thick.
As you can hopefully see from these images, the printed result on this StarFine uncoated text & cover paper is superb. The whole project is all printed digitally on an HP Indigo press by Pureprint - simply a stunning printed result.
StarFine is not a 'digital' paper but it has been "sapphire treated". This treatment is a pre-coat and is often applied to more unusual papers and provides a "key" so that the inks (different to litho inks) adhere to the paper surface. If you would like to know more, you can read about it here:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/what-is-sapphire-treatment.html

This project doesn't have a 'digital' look and feel like many digitally printed projects in part, due to the materials chosen.

Creative director is Michael Johnson, designers on the project being Kath Tudball and Julia Woollams.
Posted by Justin Hobson 24.03.2015