Quite often the most rudimentary of production
techniques can be used, but by giving additional thought
to the materials used, or the size of a project, the result
can become something that rises above the commonplace.
By developing a greater understanding of the conventional
off-set litho printing methods, the designer can see how
the system can be adjusted to meet his needs. Two-color
printing can be used to help reduce printing costs and can
often result in a far richer product as the colors are flat and
solid. The pigments are more vibrant than a color achieved
out of CMYK, which is made up of tinted values of the four
process colors. Overprinting two colors can also produce
interesting effects that are unique to the process.
The choice of materials can have a striking effect
on the product. Consideration should always be given to
the substrate. Changing the weight, color, or finish can
achieve a great effect on the finished work. As designers
focus more and more on the screen-based virtual world of
brochure design, it is easy to neglect the tactile quality of
the finished work. Think about the way the pages will be
planned-up on the printer’s plates (imposition). Maybe
some sections of a brochure or catalog don’t need to be
printed 4-color process; perhaps additional special fifth
or sixth colors could be added to certain sections or plates
that will not necessarily appear on consecutive pages in
the final bound document.
What are the effects of printing onto very thin (bible)
paper, or even coated stocks that have a greater degree of
showthrough. This can be used to your advantage; by being
aware of what can be seen, and the density and shape of
objects on the pages following, the design can work to hide
and reveal shapes as the pages are turned.
A creative solution is often possible, whatever the
print budget. By reducing the physical size of a brochure,
the designer can save on printer’s plates and paper costs.
This saving can then be used to cover the cost of a better binding technique, paper quality, or additional colors.
By building a good knowledge of the printing industry,
the designer will gain a clearer understanding of the costs
associated with different printing processes. This will
enable him/her to design in the most cost-effective manner, while creating visually rich designs for print, whether for a 1-color booklet
or a 6-color corporate brochure.
| Design |
Kapitza |
| Project |
What does it mean when a whole culture dreams
the same dream?
|
| Specification |
120 French-folded pages plus 8-page cover
printed as 5 single-color sections
French-folded, perfect-bound
|
| |
For an exhibition of three text-based artists, Kapitza took
charge of the visual manifestation of their written words.
The exhibition was formed by a series of 15 A1 (594 x
841mm/233/8 x 331/8in) posters, each with a text printed
in a single color. The designer worked with just one dotmatrix
font for the entire project. The selected font is
simply constructed from a square base element, which has
the advantage of allowing the typeface to be scaled up and
down and to maintain a relationship with other letters at
different sizes.
The catalog accompanying the exhibition
was simply formed by cutting, folding, and binding the
15 posters, thereby making catalog and exhibition one entity. Five different Pantone colors were used for the
posters, which helps add pace and variation to the bound
catalog edition. The designer has created the posters in
such a way that when they appear in the bound edition
they are still intact and readable. This is achieved by
making the text appear at different scales on the same
sheets, allowing for legibility at different distances.
|
| Design |
Irma Boom |
| Project |
Grafisch Nederland 2005 Kleur
|
| Specification |
168 pages
printed 4-color process plus 80 special Pantone colors
perforated
perfect-bound
|
| |
Based on the theme of "color," Irma Boom was given total
freedom to develop this book for the KVGO (the Dutch
Association of the Graphic Industry). She selected 80
works of art by various artists ranging from Jan Vermeer
to Andy Warhol. Each image was fragmented into a series
of color bars that depict the original painting’s palette.
These abstracted paintings are concealed within the
perforated sections of the book. The pages must be torn
open in order to reveal the "image." On the outside of these
folded sections are a series of flat color fields printed in
a vast array of Pantone inks.
|
| Design |
Karel Martens |
| Project |
Counterprint
|
| Specification |
64-page text section plus 16-page folded cover
printed 4-color process
perfect-bound
|
| |
Featuring the beautiful, self-initiated printed works of the
Dutch graphic designer and teacher Karel Martens, this
book has an unfinished quality to it—the sheets, which are
printed only on one face, have been folded and bound into
the book without the top folded edge being trimmed off.
As a result, the book feels like a collection of seemingly
random elements, with great contrasts of scale and color.
The cover is produced as a large printed sheet, printed
4-color process on one side, with the other printed in black
only. The color work is folded inside the cover, requiring
a degree of care to unfold it to see the full scale of the
sheet without tearing the cover away from the main
body of the book.
|
| Design |
MadeThought |
| Project |
The Piano Factory
|
| Specification |
30 pages plus 8-page cover
printed 4-color process
concertina-folded sections
|
| |
Produced to promote an office development in central
London, this understated brochure plays with black-onblack
printing, both on the cover and inside. The cover
is simply printed in black, with a match varnish used
to create a silhouette of trees and foliage, giving it a
nocturnal quality. Inside, the text pages are revealed as
a long concertina-folded section, with all the text reversed
out in white.
Full-color photographs are used throughout
the catalog, with sections of the images overprinted with
black, which again gives a dark, nocturnal quality to the
brochure. The flipside of this concertina is also printed
in solid black.
|
|
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