Since we take on client work less every year we have to use our own projects to fulfill the need of creating stuff. Our Brand New Conference, that took place on November 5 in New York, was the perfect opportunity to generate a number of stuffs. We are not ones to let the tail wag the dog but, in this case, the website for the conference dictated most of the look of the printed projects and we basically translated RGB colors to CMYK and PMS colors to get things done. Here is some insight into producing some of the items.
But before that: We have leftovers from the conference and figured someone out there might be interested in acquiring this ephemera so we are making available a package that consists of the items featured here (tote, t-shirt, sketchbook, and program) for $25. The price includes shipping within the U.S. (Priority), to Canada, and Mexico; a $5 shipping charge applies to the rest of the world.
Tote
Once we selected a vendor as there are too many, we went through three rounds of having them ship sample bags to find the right size and color. We never thought it would be so hard to choose a tote, but it is. Ironically, once we chose the perfect size and color, they told us they were out of stock after we had sent files for production. We ended up with the color we wanted but with a much bigger bag. We had originally intended to do all of our materials in two spot colors and have those colors overprint at different tint percentages so that when they overlap they create a third color. But in order to print on the heavily textured tote, the silkscreening has to be done with very opaque ink, so it’s impossible to do halftones. We
went with just a single color.
T-shirt
The overprinting wasn’t possible on the t-shirt either, especially not on a colored stock. So we switched to a single color execution too. Instead of the typical American Apparel product we chose Gildan SoftStyle, which is half the price and is actually really really nice.
Sketchbook
Here we were able to finally pull off the overprinting as it’s the more typical offset printing. Should have probably given it a hit of white underneath to make it pop more but, in the end, we really like the earthy feel. The sketchbooks are the basic offering from Scout Books and you can see some additional pictures of it on their blog.
Program
Since Neenah was one of our sponsors we had access to a great library of paper selections and we wanted to print on something we hadn’t before. For the cover we chose Neenah Esse, which comes in a delicious “Arancio” (orange) color and a rough textured finish. We hit that paper with a purple metallic. Everyone knows that metallics work best on white coated paper, so we knew it was a stretch to think we would get any kind of shimmer and, in essence, there isn’t any, but if the sun hits the program just so it has a tiny bit of that metallic shine. We are white-paper-kind-of-folks when it comes to printing design work, but we opted for an Ivory-hued stock that eats up some of the color of the images but, in return, it gives the images a lovely homegrown, vintage look. The body stock is made with 100% post-consumer waste, so that made us feel good. We would have liked to make the program perfect-bound but we ran out of time to be able to have the printed sheets go out to bindery and back. Unlike most conference programs that go in-depth about speaker bios and sessions we wanted it to be more of a catalog and feature the speakers’ current work.
All the items are purposely designed without big, bold “BRAND NEW CONFERENCE” branding and instead have the more vague inclusion of the words Brand New so that the tote and t-shirt can be used a little more loosely and so that we don’t use people as walking billboards.
Editor of FPO and co-founder of UnderConsideration LLC.
More: Online / On Twitter
FPO (For Print Only), is a division of UnderConsideration, celebrating the reality that print is not dead by showcasing the most compelling printed projects.
FPO uses Fonts.com Web Fonts to render Siseriff and Avenir Next.
FPO is run with Six Apart’s MovableType 4.32-en
All comments, ideas and thoughts on FPO are property of their authors; reproduction without the author’s or FPO’s permission is strictly prohibited
Twitter @ucllc
Mailing list managed by MailChimp
UnderConsideration is a graphic design enterprise that runs a network of blogs, publishes books, organizes live events and judged competitions, and designs for clients.
online
Brand New / Displaying opinions and focusing solely on corporate and brand identity work.
Art of the Menu / Cataloguing the underrated creativity of menus from around the world.
Quipsologies / Chronicling the most curious, creative, and notable projects, stories, and events of the graphic design industry on a daily basis.
Speak Up (2002 – 2009) / Discussing, and looking for, what is relevant in, and the relevance of, graphic design. Archives Only.
Word It (2003 – 2010) / Encouraging creative diversity in the community through monthly, one-word challenges. Archives Only.
Brand New Classroom (2010 – 2011) / Providing a space for critique and opinions on student identity workArchives Only.
graphic design
Department of Design / Designing corporate and brand identities and full development of printed and digital matter for clients.
publishing
The 2010 FPO Awards / 2011, self-published.
The 2010 Brand New Awards / 2011, self-published.
Flaunt: Designing effective, compelling and memorable portfolios of creative work / 2010, self-published.
Events & Judged Competitions
Brand New Conference / A one-day event on the development of corporate and brand identity projects by some of today’s most active and influential practitioners from around the world.
Brand New Awards / Celebrating the best identity work produced around the world.
FPO Awards / Celebrating the best print work from around the world.
Writing
Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design / 2009, Rockport.
Women of Design: Influence and Inspiration from the Original Trailblazers to the New Groundbreakers / 2008, HOW Books.
The Word It Book: Speak Up Presents a Gallery of Interpreted Words / 2007, HOW Books.
Related entries
Studio Constantine Visual Identity Materials
Matchstic Identity
2011 Brand New Conference Materials
Mipmarí Identity & Stationery
theCOUNTERcorps Identity System