Fetch Blog

We love a bit of colour around here. We have even been known to say certain colourful designs remind us of 80s icy poles. These business cards are definitely a reminder of 80s Summer time goodness. These knockout cards were produced by Dom Forde from Famous Visual Services. For Dom, new business cards present the opportunity to experiment with ideas and materials. And experiment he did!

Concept Vellum Radiance was chosen for its ability to handle fluoro ink well. Dom wanted to enhance the vibrancy of the colours and he also knew, on advice from James Taylor at Taylor’d Press, that the stock handles letter press well. Especially the heavy grammage - 352gsm, which can take a robust indentation from the machine. The outcome is a vibrant set of cards with luxurious tactile qualities.

The patience of James Taylor was really important in the process. As Dom explains: “Our idea was to print a slightly different colour shade across the back of each card in the print run. First we printed a solid fluoro yellow on all 250 cards, then we then ran the cards back through the press adding dollops of fluoro red to the press as the cards were running.” The result is a 250 step gradation from yellow to red across the print run. The name details were letterpress printed in black. Now that’s a nifty business card print job if ever we saw one. And yes, he did say 250 step gradation. Amazing!

We're excited to announce Impact is now available in reams of A4 copy paper. We’ve always had a soft spot for Impact because of its robust environmental credentials. It’s a certified carbon neutral paper (from raw materials to our warehouses nationally) and is produced with 100% recycled fibre. Featuring an FSC® certification stating it only contains 100% post-consumer waste, Impact is an ideal choice for offices that place a high importance on sustainability. In fact The World Wildlife Foundation rate Impact copy as an excellent paper choice on their 'check your paper guide'.

Emissions generated by producing Impact are already incredibly low and unrivalled thanks to an 86% usage of renewable bioenergy. Remaining unavoidable CO2 emissions caused by activities like finishing, packaging and transport have been compensated for by promoting controlled emission reduction projects. The lifecycle analysis was audited and certified by ClimatePartner, an independent carbon accountant.

Manufactured without chlorine bleaching, the high whiteness of the paper is achieved thanks to a special converting process for recycled fibres. The paper has high opacity and good sheet formation in addition to maximum ageing resistance. Excellent runnability on all types of office print and copy machines mean Impact is not just a responsible choice but a reliable one too.

Please call your account manager for more information about Impact A4 copy paper.

Two of the team from Esperanto Magazine – Ming-En Koh and Rupert Carr-Gregg, came to see us months ago about their idea to revamp the Monash University, Caulfield Campus student mag. They wanted to create something special in 2012, to showcase different paper stocks for each edition and include educational information on the importance of stock choice in design and business, types of finishings, bindings and embellishments. They had us at 'paper'. But seriously, we love being able to support students in their creative pursuits and getting to contribute our knowledge about paper (which we love) and doing this at the same time was a no brainer.

We spoke to Ming-En Koh, Creative Director and Advertising contact at Esperanto about their first edition. It’s a racy one! We loved it – the humour, layout and content is really well put together. “The theme for our first issue was sex, therefore we wanted the graphic direction to be as provocative and striking as the topic itself. We tend to avoid busy or cluttered design in preference for an aesthetic focused on typography and film photography. Funnily enough we are the first student magazine at Monash University to be perfect bound and embellished.” 

We were particularly excited about the cover. The vibrant red lips pop right off the page with a matt laminate and a spot UV on top to create a visual contrast. HannoArt Silk 300gsm was used for the cover and Sun Offset 120gsm for the text. We chose HannoArt and Sun Offset for this magazine because of their excellent colour reproduction and press performance.

Part of the team’s mission was to create a magazine that could look good on a shelf next to 'proper' published print magazines. They’ve definitely ticked that box. What say you? Does this look like the type of student mag you wish you had been a part of back in the day? A quick poll around the office confirms a yes on that one for us here in Paperland.

Our Maine Recycled campaign has just launched and we're ready to c-e-l-e-b-r-a-t-e! The promotion follows the story of Sarah Langdon (Stallion bikes) who restored a classic Speedwell road racer into a modern day beauty – our amazing Maine Recycled bike. We loved working on this project. The craftsmanship, the passion and enthusiasm by all invloved means we have something to be really proud of. We hope you like it too and join us in the promotion by entering our four week competition.

P.S. If you don’t have a bike then don’t despair, you can still enter our grand daddy prize to win a custom bike of your own. Scroll to the bottom for details.

All you need to do is like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and stay tuned for the entry details which will be released each week. To get a taste of what’s in store, the prizes are listed below.

Week 1 prize: A Busyman Bicycles custom made leather bike seat.
Supply your own bike seat to be upholstered in leather in one of Mike’s bespoke patterns or customise it with your own design. Pretty rad hey? If we were to enter, we’d get ‘paper rulz’ emblazoned across our saddle for sure. The possibilities are endless. Visit Busyman Bicycles for inspiration, or join them on Facebook.

Small print: Leather upholstery and custom design valued at $150.00. Prize requires you to supply a seat to be covered. If you are supplying your own design, limitations apply to work that can be completed up to $200.

Week 2 prize: One year subscription to Treadlie magazine.
That’s four issues of bike riders inspiration for you to read over a cup of tea or two.

Week 3 prize: A Rapha riding jacket.
Who doesn’t want to win this super stylish rain jacket? Even if you didn’t ride a bike you would want to have this little beauty as part of your wet weather gear. One lucky man or lady can win this slick piece of kit. Valued at $275AUD.

Week 4 prize: Back pack and helmet.
For the more social bike riders we have the prize of: 1 Baggu back pack ($35.00) plus one Nutcase helmut($89.00)

Major prize: The big kahuna – your own custom built bike!
Win your own custom bike! Valued at up to $1000.00, this grand-daddy prize is certainly one to win. Entry requires you to supply us with three printed samples of a job you have completed on Maine Recycled. The prize is open to designers and printers and will be judged by Catherine and Nathan Doggett as well as Gary Bowles from Arjowiggins (suppliers of this fine recycled sheet).

We will be looking for the best all round piece, including print, form and design. It can be printed offset or digital, as Maine Recycled is certified for both. Printed samples need to be received by 31 July 2012 to Catherine Doggett in Melbourne (PO Box 8219, Preston, Victoria, 3072). Any Maine Recycled job is eligible and the winner will be announced on 10 August 2012 at midday via Facebook and Twitter. The prize will be assigned to a local bicycle store in your State (of your own choosing if you so desire).

We’re look forward to seeing the samples and giving away a new bike. It feels good to give away free stuff!

This little pearler is called the '100% Melbourne' book. It's beautifully designed (all 272 pages of it), with an enchanting story to match. A collaboration with Berlin theatre makers Rimini Protokol, the City of Melbourne and Famous Visual Services, the book reflects statistics from Melbourne city's research department, contrasted with the story of each Melburnian. The 100 participants were also gathered together on stage to create a living breathing portrait of Melbourne. It was part theatre, part reality and of course ‘100% Melbourne’. Sounds like fun!

The cover is printed on Tablex Freckles 280gsm and the text is on Impact 80gsm. We're really impressed with the use of Tablex Freckles. It has to be one of the best examples we have seen in ages. Impact 80gsm was chosen for its flickability, minimum show through and great environmental credentials. The A6 format ensured the book could be easily carried home after the show. Just the right size to stash in your hand/man bag isn’t it? On the flip side, Famous Visual Services needed the outcome to be robust so they used Tablex Freckles 280gsm for its bookish texture and durability.

This book shows the importance of great digestable design. The aesthetic Famous Visual Services developed for the book highlights the contrast between the formal language of data and passports as well as the informal visual style of hand writing and casual portrait photography.

Dom Forde from Famous Visual Services shared some production insights with us: “A consistent colour treatment was added to every image to soften the hard edge of the digital shots. The colour palette was an important part of the identity and the stock chosen added the same tactile quality we were after. We used a rich black on the Tablex cover which handled that well and held the detail of our illustration really well.” This lovely little Melbourne treasure was finished off with some section sewing and bevelled edges.

Now that the team has had a taste of book binding, they're considering some more lengthy publication projects.

It's not often an AFL football team and one of our specialty papers (Knight Smooth White in this case), appear together in a sentence. Then again, the tagline 'Strength & Beauty' could be applied to to footy! TUSK, a design studio on the Gold Coast, have a long standing relationship with the Gold Coast SUNS and apart from designing their amazingly detailed website, they recently revamped their corporate hospitality collateral using one of our high quality uncoated papers – Knight Smooth White.

The look and feel developed for the corporate hospitality team needed to be distinguishable from the overall club branding but still look like it's part of the SUNS family. TUSK utilised existing branding components such as typefaces and textures, treating and applying these in a way that would be distinct but still recognisable. First piece of collateral to be developed was the brochure. As one of the primary sales tools for the corporate team, it needed to clearly communicate all the relevant information.

The brochure is a 16pp + 4pp cover with the cover printed on Knight Smooth White 350gsm and 200gsm for the text. TUSK opted for a square format to provide visual interest and firm it up, so the brochure feels premium and substantial when someone is holding it. TUSK intentionally designed an understated cover to maximise the impact of the imagery and colour of the internal pages, which are stepped to assist with easy and quick access to the information. The other collateral included a presentation folder which featured a foil, some facility information sheets and an oversized folded DL ticket holder.

Darren Gill from TUSK mentioned to us that they’ve worked with Knight before and have loved it.  “It provides a premium finish without blowing the budget. We wanted a stock that we could use across all the collateral – brochure, presentation folders, info sheets etc. and provide a consistent, high quality finish."

The great thing about having a close and long standing working relationship with a client is that they tend to trust you. The positive about this for TUSK, is that the SUNS know they'll provide a great solution to their brief and meet their budget needs too. The Gold Coast SUNS were chuffed with the outcome of this project which has taken their corporate hospitality marketing collateral to a new level this year. Meat pie anyone?