Anne Angel wedding invitation design

Title: Foni and Sally wedding invitations
Agency:Anne Angel Designs (VIC)
Stocks:Rives Design
Printed by:Personal Printing (VIC)

It’s often said that the humble wedding invitation sets the tone for the entire event. So we’re left wondering how amazing this wedding must have been given the beautiful invitation package created by Anne Angel Designs! Printed digitally, this stand-out wedding invite is good enough to be a feature on anyone’s mantelpiece.

With a brief from the bride to make the invites elegant, stylish and simple, an icon was created using the couples initials. To complement this, Rives Design 350gsm was chosen as the stock. Anne Angel explains further: “We love the texture and premium look of this stock. We also wanted the contrast of the texture with the smooth foil finish in the deboss to make the initials stand out because we went with a white on white look.”

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ecoChici wraps

Title: ecoChici wraps
Agency: Amy Lewis Design (VIC)
Stocks: Buffalo Board
Printed by: Madman Printing (VIC)

Recently launched label ecoChici is inspired by Furoshiki, the Japanese art of cloth wrapping. It’s gorgeous, easy-to-use and versatile. Amy Lewis Design is behind the packaging and product design. The team have created a suite of purposefully timeless designs that reflect a design aesthetic which influences everything from the textiles through to the branding and packaging. Check out those super cute ribbon clips in picture no.3, wrapped around our trusty Buffalo Board.

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Even better, ecoChici, founded this year by Phil and Amy Lewis, is designed and made in Australia. Most of the production is carried out by a not-for-profit organisation, Radius, whose vision is to provide work opportunities for people with disabilities. Maintaining their ‘use less’ principles, Buffalo Board 280gsm was chosen to package the re-usable wraps. Printed offset with 1 spot colour, we think the contrast of the stock against the beautiful designs is right on the money. On that note, the wrap is good enough to be a gift so that’s a double bonus in our books!

Amy Lewis spoke to us about using Buffalo Board: “Taking a minimalist approach to packaging means the stock needed to have maximum visual impact. Buffalo Board looks and feels great to hold.  It’s an unbleached stock which perfectly complements our unbleached cotton products. It contains recycled content and we were also impressed with the environmental innovations implemented by the paper mill.” Buffalo Board was also used for the gift tags included in the pack and company business cards.

You can visit the official ecoChici website if you’d like one (or many) of these gorgeous wraps for yourself. We like gifts (hint hint), in case you’re wondering who you can buy an ecoChici wrap for!

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ABC Television press kits

Title: ABC Television press kits
Agency: ABC TV graphic design department (NSW)
Stocks: Buffalo Board / Keaykolour Original / Maine Recycled – Silk / Newsprint / Sovereign Offset
Printed by: Advanced Press (NSW) and foiling

Media releases and press kits are mostly standard issue – words plus supporting imagery tends to be the status quo. Not the case for ABC Television’s graphic design department! We have to say, when we first saw these tasty morsels of paper goodness, ‘press kit’ did not cross our minds. Some hot new shows deserved kits that made the journalists sit upright in their uncomfortable office chairs. Clare Goodall, Print Designer from ABC Television, shared some insights into each of these offset printed pieces:

Redfern Now: The inspiration came from the keyart which saw the mustard yellow carried throught out the campaign including online, print and outdoor. Cover: 6pp wrap around on Sovereign Offset 300gsm with die cut text. Text: Sovereign Offset 170gsm.

Jack Irish: The key message of this campaign was ‘Guy Pearce is back on Australian television’. This was boldly stated using a gloss white foil on a contrasting Buffalo Board. Cover: Buffalo Board 332gsm. Text: Maine Recycled Silk 170gsm with spot fluoro orange 804c.

Devil’s Dust: The conflicting nature of this story was represented with the stock. The use of Newsprint 45gsm represented the story which unfolded in newspapers nationally. Maine Recycled Silk 170gsm illustrated the cinematic elements of the production. Cover: Keaykolour Jet Black 300gsm. Text: Newsprint 45gsm (printed black only) and Maine Recycled Silk 170gsm.

We rate the use of print to make an impact and a point of difference. We love the colours and carefully chosen stock selection which tells a unique story for each of these quality shows. ABC has definitely set a standard here!

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McClelland Sculpture Gallery exhibition books

Title: McClelland Sculpture Gallery exhibition books Agency: David Lancashire Design Stocks: Barry Bleach Board / Grange Offset / HannoArt – Satin Printed by: Mercedes Waratah (VIC) Renowned for its outstanding collection of outdoor sculptures and innovative exhibition programs, McClleland Gallery and Sculpture Park is located within 16 hectares of bush and landscaped gardens on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. David Lancashire Design (DLD) in Melbourne have worked with the gallery since 2006 and more recently, they’ve been busy designing and art directing the exhibition catalogues and print collateral using HannoArt – Satin and Grange Offset as their chosen stocks. Sculpture_2 DLD work closely with both curators and artists when producing a full colour catalogue for each new exhibition. McClelland like to push the boundaries which allows DLD more creative freedom. They recently re-freshed the brand, creating a more dynamic, modern look across all print collateral, including brochures, event calendars and exhibition invitations. The suite of catalogues designed differ greatly, along with the subjects and styles within, but maintain an overall identity for the gallery. David Lancashire mentions: “Art direction and using a great photographer like John Gollings, as well as a good printer and choosing the right paper, all contribute to the reproduction of the artwork and a great end result.” We couldn’t agree more! DLD enjoys using HannoArt – Satin for its great printability, cost effectiveness and colour reproduction. Stephanie Mulder, Graphic Designer from DLD explains why. “We’ve found that HannoArt – Satin consistently produces great results, especially important when reproducing artwork. Another bonus is the stock’s environmental credentials, as the studio is always aware of trying to encourage the use of sustainable practice.” DLD have also introduced uncoated paper Grange Offset to contrast with the coated stock. The Sculpture Survey & Award 2012, 18 November 2012 – 14 July 2013 catalogue includes this sheet, chosen for its colour reproduction, ability to hold crisp detail, tactility and bulkiness. The identity and format for this catalogue required special treatment and stock selection to make it stand apart as the event is one of Australia’s most important outdoor sculpture exhibitions. In other words – it’s a big deal! Janet Laurence: The Alchemical Garden of Desire 18 November 2012 – 3 March 2013 and Aftermath: Landscape Photographs by John Gollings from Black Saturday 18 November 2012 – 3 March 2013 (both sewn and burst bound, with matt cello on the cover) are printed on HannoArt Satin and make up the suite of new designs. And for the exhibition invitations, the gallery now uses Barry Bleach Board 210gsm (with a gloss aqueous varnish on one side to make the colours pop and enhance the image detail) so the receiver has something more interesting to look at when the invite comes in the mail. As a whole, we really dig this new design direction. Makes for an enticing reason to drive down to Mornington. Road trip anyone? Sculpture_4 Sculpture_3  Sculpture_5 Sculpture_6 Sculpture_7

High Fangs band collateral

Title: High Fangs band collateral
Agency: Grosz Co.Lab (VIC)
Client: High Fangs
Stocks: JAC Fluorescent / Kaskad / Sovereign Offset
Printed by: Grosz Co.Lab (VIC)

The marketing team has voted. If any of us leave Doggett’s, we’re joining a rock n roll band. In the meantime, we’ll take the use of our stock, uncoated JAC Fluorescent, as the closest link we have to a future in the music industry. Grosz Co.Lab, a Melbourne based design studio, have crafted a graphic language for High Fangs, a Melbourne three piece. A truly original visual aesthetic that encapsulates the band’s DIY rough and ready sound and live performance reputation has been created.

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Just to put the band into context, they’re described as: ‘A fusion of 60s Garage, 70s Power Pop, Stiff Records New Wave, 00s Swedish Punk energy minus an Ikea™ Allen Key’ on their site. Somehow, this explains why JAC Fluoro is such a good choice! The visual language includes a typeface (High Fang irregular), gig posters, packaging and 3D props, logo, icons, illustrations, symbols and graphic patterns. The torn paper approach seen throughout the work provided a communication style totally reflective of the band’s music and work.

As Ben Grosz (designer by day, band member by night) mentioned to us: “We purposefully decided to do the printing ourselves in the Grosz Co.Lab studio. It’s been so enjoyable to get our hands dirty and create every piece of collateral from print to props by hand.” JAC meant Grosz Co.Lab could achieve maximum visual and economic impact, also deciding to use the stickers for guerrilla marketing, merchandise packaging or to giveaway at gigs.

Ben mentioned they had to do lots of tests before choosing to stencil white acrylic paint (using strips created by tearing, scanning, vectorising and printing a stencil to cut-out) directly onto the JAC adhesive. When the sheets were dry enough they manually fed them hrough a very cheap A4 black and white laser printer for overprinting. The fluoro colour ways of green, orange, red and yellow were rolled-out across 300 hand made, tear open record sleeves for the band’s 7″ double A side single ‘heart tearing’ themed release.

Not up for stopping there, Grosz Co.Lab recycled previously purchased and unused poster sized stock, tearing and transforming the Sovereign Offset 120gsm and Kaskad Raven Black 160gsm into electric guitars for the band’s video clip. The paper was stuck on cardboard and foam core frames.

It seems some lateral thinking, a cost effective, individual approach and a glue stick = maximum impact. Our JAC Fluoro never looked so cool. Long live rock n roll!

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The 2013 calendar ‘Salon de Doggett’ is unveiled!

Title: 2013 calendar – Salon de Doggett
Agency: University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) students
Client: K.W.Doggett Fine Paper
Stocks: Envirocare 100% Recycled / HannoArt – Satin / Knight – Textures / Knight – Vellum
Printed by: Offset Alpine Printing (NSW). Embellishments: Gold Craft Embossing (NSW)

The calendar pays homage to art movements and famous artists with canine adaptations. Imagine the Mona Lisa from the Renaissance period looking much furrier than usual! Or Picasso’s abstract Weeping Woman as a pouting pooch. These classics sit alongside dogified originals from the Graffiti Art, Bahaus and Art Deco movements, just to name a few. We’ve been producing the calendar for 26 years, as a gift for our customers. We are still, after all this time, blown away by the creativity and professionalism the students show.

Printed stochastically with 4 colour process and UV inks, the cover is printed on Knight Vellum  200gsm and features a striking gold foil. HannoArt Satin 200gsm, Envirocare 100% Recycled, Knight Linen 280gsm and Knight Vellum 200gsm are all mixed within the 12 months, with a few surprise embellishments too.

A special thank you to Amy Commons, Creative Director of Sai Designs and Tutor at UTS, as well all the students for their hard work and effort in producing an amazing calendar. The students we had the pleasure of working with (in no particular order) are: Carina Lee, Eleanor Cliffe, Jamie Lo, Nikki Lo, Ash Myburgh, Susanne Peng, Lucy Turnbull, Vanson Han, Thiwanka Somaratna, Lucinda Dryden and Yewon Chung.

Your fine paper specialist will be around shortly to drop in your 2013 calendar – where you can see these 12 beautiful (slightly familiar) loveable pooches for yourself.

Cover – Nikki Lo.
January (Futurism) – Jamie Lo.
February (Renaissance) – Susanne Peng.
March (German Expressionism) – Lucy Turnbull.
April (Graffiti Art) – Vanson Han.
May (Bahaus) – Thiwanka Somaratna.
June (Cubism) – Jamie Lo.
July (Art Deco) – Lucinda Dryden.
August (Post Impressionism) – Vanson Han.
September (Ukiyo-E) – Vanson Han.
October (Day of the Dead) – Carina Lee.
November (Surrealism) – Yewon Chung.
December (Pop Art) – Ash Myburgh.
Typography and layout – Eleanor Cliffe
Project management team – Carina Lee, Eleanor Cliffe, Jamie Lo.

desktop’s love affair with print and paper – the November issue

desktop has long been the main go-to magazine for Australian graphic designrs. Rejuvenated early last year with a new look, it’s gone from strength-to-strength with even better visuals and content. And the best has got to be the November issue – a love affair with all things print and paper. Could the day get any better?

It starts with Matt Huynh’s beautiful illustration on the front cover (see above) and carries through to the gorgeous designs showcased across varying print techniques. It’s great to see print and paper celebrated in such style. Everyone that took part in making this edition happen approached it with pride and comittment and of course, a love of print.

All the paper merchants have come to the paper party too. We’re there flashing our wares in the ‘Special Inks’ section with Strathmore Premium Super Smooth Ultimate White 176gsm (formerly Expression) and the ‘Embossed’ section with Rives Design Natural White 120gsm. We’re kind of partial to our sections but they’re all pretty snazzy, so do pick up a copy and take a good look for yourself. It is definitely a keeper and worth every penny of the $9.25. Well done desktop!

Here’s the hit list of techniques and design studios included:
Special Inks: Toben, Deuce Design
Foiling: Babekuhl, Luke Brown
Special Papers: Alter, Work Art Life
Die Cutting: Parallax Design, Leuver Design
Embossing: A Friend of Mine, Pidgeon
Digital Printing: Photo Essay, Retrospect
Stocks: Expression Super Smooth / Rives Design

‘Tough Love’ the 2013 Ask Alice charity calendar

Title: Tough Love 2013 charity calendar
Agency: Ask Alice (coordinated by)
Stocks: Knight Digital – Indigo / Rives Design
Printed by: Bambra Press (VIC)

Ask Alice is a website worthy of being checked out and purchased from. And now with the edition of the 2013 charity calendar titled ‘Tough Love‘, there are more reasons to do some online shopping! This A5 beauty is printed on Rives Design 250gsm (cover) and Knight Digital – Indigo 270gsm (text) and for a lazy $20, you can spend all day admiring one for yourself.

The illustrations, a mix of quirky pooches and cats, are all originals from a range of talented artists like Agata Dudek, Angelique Houtkamp, Anna Martinez Harris, Cat Rabbit,Dieter VDO, Gemma Correll, Liam Barrett, Liam Sparkes, Matte Stephens,Rik Lee and Rona Green. All brought together by Sass Cocker, the woman behind Ask Alice.

And better still, 100% of the proceeds are being donated to the ‘Dog rehabilitation program’ run by the RSPCA of NSW and CSNSW Australia. It brings together dogs from shelters deemed unsuitable for re-homing, with inmates from one of Australia’s prisons located in NSW. The inmates provide behavioural rehabilitaion for the pooches so they can eventually be adopted out to caring families. This in turn provides training for the inmates which assists with employment opportunities when they’re released. Such a positive environment for everyone involved and even more amazing that it’s all about the greater good for the pooches. We heart this project.

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dmzine: Design Management Online

If you haven’t checked out the dmzine website lately (or ever), take some time and explore it. It’s full of great content for a design studio employee or owner, brought to you by Carol Mackay and Greg Branson, principals of Mackay Branson, an independent design studio based in Melbourne. We love this site, particularly for its excellent print production articles, which include such things as greenwashing, why do a press check, what paper costs, and this particular article is all about stochastic screening.

Carol and Greg set up Mackay Branson design in 1984. This innovative and business-savvy duo have often faced a common problem, which was getting their clients to take design seriously. They believe that in part, this is because not all designers are as good at business as they are at design. That designers work in their business but not on the business. To overcome this, dmzine has now published a range of eTutorials through the Design Business Council. Design is part of our community and dmzine is a chance for Carol and Greg to give a little back.

Together, Carol and Greg have gained a great deal of knowledge during the past 25 years about running a design practice. dmzine is about sharing this knowledge. Outside of Mackay Branson design, Greg is also an influential member of the Australian design community with involvement at VCE, TAFE and university levels. He is currently the CEO of the Design Business Council – an organisation that promotes the use of design in business.

Impact paper promotion – Wild Will 2012

Title: Impact booklet
Agency: Thursday Design (NSW)
Client: K.W.Doggett Fine Paper
Stocks: Impact
Printed by: Southern Colour (NSW)

In 2009 we profiled young, up-and-coming boxer ‘Wild Will’. Back then he was preparing for his fight against Samson Percy. The fight was the undercard to the match between Anthony Mundine and Shannan Taylor. Wild Will went on to win that fight and many more since. He now holds numerous belts including the IBO World Super Featherweight title. You might say he has made quite the ‘Impact’ on the boxing scene.

Recently, we tracked Will down. Shown above is a photo of what he currently looks like. The word ‘ripped’ springs to mind plus he looks a little older and definitely has a flatter nose – no doubt the result of the few times he failed to duck!

We have re-printed a shorter version of the original promotion as many of you didn’t get the chance to see it the first time. Next year, we shall give you a new Impact promotion but for the time being ‘take the shot, don’t drop your guard. Make an Impact’. Impact paper is a bright white uncoated paper made from 100% recycled pulp. It is carbon neutral from raw materials through to K.W.Doggett Fine Paper warehouses and is available from light text weights to heavy card weight.

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