Tag: Emboss

‘The Spark’ – making the most of your potential

The Spark – Volume One is a publication dedicated to 12 everyday Australians, each with their own individual and inspiring story.

Matt Cowan, Director of Cowan and Partners (the founder of Story Nation), Garth Lidbetter (the creative director), Jeremy Shaw (the photographer) are all behind this beautiful book about a collective of writers, photographers and designers. Their aim – to present powerful stories with a positive social impact. Garth told us: “The idea was to present individuals who have become quite successful in their own right, (but were not yet household names) and bring out the key ‘ah-ha’ moments where they discovered their passion, what they were going to pursue and then going and doing it.”

Only 1000 copies of this limited edition publication were printed, which allowed Garth to put time into each and every book. Printed on Knight Smooth 120gsm, Tablex Salmon 300gsm and Tablex Grey 300gsm, all 1000 of them were individually numbered. Garth felt that with such personal stories in the book, the touch and feel of uncoated stocks fitted best. The Spark logo on the front cover is a big, bold emboss complemented by a pop of colour. He, himself stamped orange paint (mixed with a gloss varnish) over the top with a laser etched stamp. Brilliant result!

“A lot of time went into thinking about the presentation, with the paper band allowing us to highlight the charities and also make a point of the limited edition nature of the book. The black envelope gives the book protection against wear and tear, but also gives a strong presentation and introduction to the book from Story Nation.”

All proceeds of The Spark book sales will be donated to the following charities: Coffee Kids, Love Mercy Foundation, OzHarvest and WorldShare. The Spark series will continue with more Australians who are committed to following their passions and revealing what first led them there.

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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

Owen & Peach stationery

Title: Owen & Peach stationery suite
Agency: Bird Design (Melbourne)
Client: Owen & Peach
Stocks: Knight – Smooth
Printed by: Taylor’d Press (Melbourne)

Newly formed graphic design studio – Bird Design in Melbourne, created a bold, confident new look for Owen & Peach (chartered accountants) and TVA Partners after they merged in late 2011. Corporate stationery is often pretty uniform – you’ve got your corporate colours and a brandmark. And then, when a company throws in a blind emboss or two, you get a corporate stationery suite with a dash of something special. We love a little embellishment – of the print variety that is!

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And who can overlook a strong brandmark? Something that is as memorable as it is simple. Bird Design created an upward blue tick/arrow for the Owen & Peach branding to emphasise growth and positive movement. Combined with the use of bright blue and black, it gives the stationery a much more contemporary feel. Knight Smooth White was chosen as the stock for the entire suite to complement this direction. The suite includes notepads (105gsm), letterhead (105gsm), with comps (105gsm) and business cards (350gsm) printed 2 colour with an embossed brandmark on the business cards, letterhead and with comps.

Bird Design shared some of their thoughts about the print finish on the Knight Smooth White: “The stock held the ink/colour beautifully. A nice flat coverage with the natural fibre of the paper was still visible. An initial concern was how the fine blue lines on the business card would look on the press but the colour held very well and the contrast of the black, blue and the whiteness of the stock is very punchy. The stock held the emboss well too.” We think the business card is particularly impressive with the discreet yet stylish pattern. Who said blue and black should never be seen. We love it!

The Bird Design recipe for success included a thorough understanding of the brief and also the history of both companies which they started to unravel out in the initial meeting. This helped drive and direct choices later in the process including the selection of paper which needed to be bold and contemporary and include suitable stock weights throughout the range. What can be better than a happy client at the end of the day? Bird Design delivered a suite that was on brief and successfully delivered the intention to create a confident and bold stationery suite.

Photographs provided by Albert Comper.

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