▴ Exhibitions and private views in their studio as part of promotion and marketing strategy
▴ Event for launch of mag at Jaguar Shoes Bar in Shoreditch
- Nobrow 2 mag
- Nobrow 6
▴ Book fairs and comics festivals
▴ First book they published, not in small press, using offset lithography was Nobrow Magazine
- Covers were designed by Stuart Volakovich
- Limited colour pallet ties all the illustrator's work together and makes a curated object
- First 5 were limited edition, only printed 3000 of them
- Only 2400 copies of Nobrow 3
- Nobrow 6 consisted of half comics, half illustrations
▴ Nobrow Press - smaller story books
- Opportunity for smaller projects
- Illustrators to produce comic books was unusual
- Received criticism for not using cartoon artists
- Bjorn Rune Lie & co - 'The Wolf's Whistle'
▴ 'Rise and Fall'
- Told they couldn't sell in book shop as it didn't have a spine (a staple bound book that is placed spine facing out basically becomes invisible in the book shop - needs to have the cover facing out)
▴ 'Hildafolk' by Luke Pearson
- Hilda and The Midnight Giant - hard back, cloth spine
- Hild and The Bird Parade
- Produced in co-edition so that it can be sold to publishers in other countries
- Sold to Casterman - the publishers of Tintin
▴ The more copies sold at the same time makes printing prices cheaper
▴ 10 colour offset lithographic press
▴ Always used spot colours - pantone colours
- This means that you will print the correct colours
▴ Chromatography - black os made up of a mixture of colours
▴ German illustrator
- Paints onto drafting film with screen block - maroon colours
- Paints each CMYK colour separation individually
- Use of CMY, with K being dark blue instead of black
▴ Ben Newman
▴ Printed onto tape for holding packaging together
▴ Worked with the illustrator for Adventure Time on 'Forming' book
▴ Flying Eye Books
- Imprint for children's books
▴ ELCAF - East London Comics and Arts Festival
▴ 'Thought Bubble Arts Festival' tomorrow in Leeds
▴ Office in New York
▴ 14th June - ELCAF next year
▴ Andrew Rae - illustrator
- 'Moonhead'
▴ John McNaught - cover of Nobrow 9
▴ Angrelemme comics festival
62 Great Eastern Street, EC21 3QR
www.nobrow.net
I emailed a PGCE teacher at Doverbrookes in Oxford called Rachel Payne, who taught my mum when she was studying for her teaching degree. Her email reply was as follows:
1. How long have you been teaching for?
15 years
2. What area of Art & Design do you specialise in?
I have a Fine Art: painting degree but have also worked in illustration, design and craft. As an academic I teach across art, craft and design in education, and I also teach media studies and film analysis.
3. What inspired you to teach?
A desire to examine and explore the visual world with others.
4. Have you only ever taught undergraduates? Or do you have experience in other key stages?
I have taught 11-18 years in secondary school, Undergraduates, PGCE students and Postgraduate MA students.
5. What methods of printing would you suggest for Key Stage 1? Key Stage 2? Key Stage 3?
KS1: potato, monoprint; KS2: same as KS1 but also with lino (probably adigraf) and collagraph; KS3: monoprint, collagraph, lino, etching/dry point, screen print
6. What do you, personally, teach when it comes to printing methods?
This is a huge question - are you referring to subject matter or printing processes? Either way, each print method dictates a different set of print processes, involves different materials, equipment and activities, different subject knowledge, different management and organisational procedures and consideration of health and safety. Saying that, I don't actually teach print any more, so I'll pass on this question.
7. What are the learning objectives that you need to meet in your lessons?
This is also an impossible question to answer specifically. The learning objectives will differ according to the age of the learner and the activity (or stage of activity) that is being engaged with. So, LO for a Year 4 pupil when monoprinting may well be different for a Year 9 pupil when monoprinting.
8. Do you have any suggestions for what I could include in my info-pack? For example, what types of printing are accessible to anyone? This wouldn't include printing methods such as metal etching, as not every school can apply these facilities.
Basic monoprint, embossing and imprinting are accessible to all ages. I recommend that for an info-pack to be useful it needs to be age appropriate; it needs to include step by step processes which can be represented through visuals - so, for example, by presenting prints in their different stages of completion (stage 1, 2, 3 etc.) together with descriptions using key terminology. You also need to show what happens when something is unsuccessful e.g. applying too much ink. There also needs to be some contextual studies, images of others' work that link to the processes being examined - make sure these are varied and diverse including images by male and female artists, from different cultures and people still alive.
I basically want to focus on the types of printing that every school could teach and maybe the students could practice at home as well - for example any school would be able to teach collagraph printing, and the children could even take this home with them to work upon.
9. Do you think an info-pack would be more helpful if it was aimed at the students or the teachers? Do schools often supply books that the children can work from?
Creating a video of a printing process is really useful, and the info pack could supplement this. It could be devised in a way that supports pupil enquiry and so be aimed at them, not the teacher.
10. Which method of printing would you say is the cheapest? Most expensive?
If you are considering school equipment and resourcing, then monoprint (including potato etc.) is the cheapest, although collagraph is pretty inexpensive, as is dry point. Anything that demands specialist equipment like presses, beds etc. (etching, screen print) will be much more expensive. Choice of paper will have an impact on the quality of prints, but this is optional.
- 129 years old, British company
- Luxury paper company
- Business cards, letterheads, packaging, brochures, envelopes - handmade
- Colour plan paper mill near Kendle
- Berkeley hotel branding
- Made Thought website - designers
- Duplexing
- Smooths paper - cheaper. Designs would be printed on them. Good for publications
- Studio Macgill (Brighton)
- Textured paper
- Gmund beer - paper made from beer mats
- Strathmore book - the paper in the middle is attached to the cover and slots through the other pages. This can then have a piece of paper inserted in to hold the book together. Means the book can be constantly altered after publishing. (Sketch in note book for further understanding)
- 25 sheets of any paper = minimum for printing
- 200 envelopes = minimum
- "Beauty in the making" event
gfsmith.com
colorplanpapers.com
@gfsmithpapers
@scharf_10
After the group crit with Lorraine and Phil, I found that my target audience is a little bit too broad and should be researched into further.
It was suggested that I could think about designing for a particular key stage at school, and so I thought about looking into learning outcomes that teachers at primary schools need to overcome when teaching their students art.
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/primary/b00198792/art/ks1
I thought I'd send some questions to my mum, as she's taught in primary and secondary schools and currently teaches KS3 children, both with learning difficulties and those not.
Her reply was in an email as follows:
To be honest, most Primary Schools don't teach Art very often as a separate subject. It's usually just for 'decorating' topics. So if they're learning about Ancient Greeks, the pupils might make a poster about the Greeks and paint a Greek Urn on it.... Some schools do offer Art once a fortnight as a whole afternoon session.
The Dragon School in Oxford are really good with their Art provision. It might be worth getting in touch with them and asking if their Head of Art wouldn't mind answering a questionnaire for you? Also, Independent Primary Schools often have pupils who want to go on to Senior Schools and get Art Scholarships so they will offer more Art specific teaching than at your normal State run Primary School.
I think your focus on KS1 and 2 Art is an excellent one! OH ALSO......contact Rachel Payne, she's my old PGCE Art Tutor, email below, and ask her! She's BRILLIANT and knows EVERYTHING about Art Education, although she is secondary Art, she knows the right people! (I'll send her a quick email to let her know who you are)
I also asked her 9 more specific questions for her to answer so I had a bit more of an idea of what to ask my next contact...
1. Where else do you think I could go with my idea? How can I narrow this down further? The crit left me a bit scuppered and now I'm just throwing ideas around and not really deciding where to go with them.
Contact Rachel, I've emailed her and she's more than happy to help!
2. What methods of printing would you suggest for children in key stage 1? in key stage 2? and in key stage 3?
Vegetable and poly-block for KS2 really Poly-block and collagraph for KS3
3. Are there any children in your art classes with "special needs"? How do they cope with art? Is it significantly different? Is it something to consider?
Yes, I've got lots! Downs Syndrome, Pre School level (P scale), ADHD, EAL, Dyslexic, Dyspraxia, Deaf and several behavioural and emotional needs! Learning Support Assistants are brilliant but I only have those for pupils who have been 'statemented' like the Downs girl and the Pre School levels girl. You would need to consider these things if you're going to focus on school resources for your final piece.....
4. What do you, personally, teach your classes when it comes to types of printing?
Poly-block, collagraph, etching using acrylic sheet.
5. What paints do schools supply?
We use ink for printing rather than paint. Water based for poly and coll, oil based for etching
6. What are the learning outcomes that you need to meet in your lessons?
Learning outcomes? Do you mean objectives? IE; what are they meant to learn? If so; new skills, processes, colour mixing, composition, using new tools, contextual studies, working with a group, pattern, repeat pattern, mixing media.....
7. When you used to help teach reception, did you find teaching art a challenge with younger children?
No, reception was fun!! just play, play, play!! learning through play :D
8. How did you keep younger children engaged with art?
Young children LOVE Art! But tasks need to be simple and done step by step. Having examples of each step and a finished one is a good idea too!
9. Do we have any potato prints I've done / Lee / Merlin when we were young?
Dunno, I'll have a look
I found mum's reply extremely helpful, as it gave me more of an insight into the kind of practices schools teach when it comes to printing. I was actually quite surprised at how well my mum replied - she's always extremely helpful when I'm stuck with design work, but she's never been one to text or email me much so it was really useful how detailed her explanations were and the fact that she's given me another contact or two.
Asking someone more experienced in the target audience area has definitely given me something to think about.
The Task:
With a focus on stock, substrate and 'special' print finishes, find as many variants as possible for each area:
- Branding & Identity
- Packaging & Promotion
- Publishing & Editorial
- Information & Way-finding
Wherever possible, you should aim to collect physical examples of print as this will help with evaluation.
Findings should be recorded and evaluated.
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Coated paper has a shimmer to it's surface and has a smooth / waxy texture to it. Uncoated paper looks matte and has a rough / grainy texture.
Coated stock used in Publishing & Editorial
You can tell that this publication is coated, because of the shimmer on the pages when photographed. Even though the photographer has lit the pages in such a way that almost removes all that shine, you can still see it on the inside edges of the pages which proves that the pages have been coated. The paper also looks smooth and glossy to touch - you can't really see any texture in the paper. Coating the paper in the publication will help to look after the pages over many uses of the book, and also helps to make the photographs look authentic and even vintage (in the sense that photos used to always be printed onto glossy photo paper).
Coated & uncoated stock used in Branding & Identity
The stock for the business cards themselves looks quite matte and textured, in other words uncoated. However the words "hidden creative" have a shiny surface that is reflecting the light off of it. This is because it has been UV coated (referring to surface treatments which either are cured by ultraviolet radiation, or protect the underlying material from its harmful effects). The UV coating looks a bit like spot varnishing in it's finish. Another positive of using UV coating is that it dries almost instantaneously when placed in UV lighting. Using the coating on the typography will give the brand a feel of being more high-end and luxurious. This is rather like spot varnishing.
Uncoated stock used in Packaging & Promotion
The stock for this Italian Herb Kit has been chosen for the fact that it is uncoated, matte and textured - this relates to the earthly feel of the product and "getting back to nature" when you grow your products. The uncoated feel to the stock also helps the product feel natural, recyclable and as though it has come from a sustainable resource. If the designer had chosen to coat the material, the product would instantly lose it's effect and seem mass produced, un-biodegradable and unnatural.
Uncoated stock use in Information & Wayfinding
The information needed to find your way around this spa has been painted onto the walls of the spa interior. I'd say that this is a way of producing way-finding that is uncoated, because the paint has been applied to the walls surface, which will be matte and textured, and the paint itself doesn't look glossy, from the photographs. This would be an interesting way of producing way-finding for a brand, and is also eco friendly in the fact that they won't use loads of plastic materials to create bulky objects of information to be screwed onto the walls. It would probably be quite cheap to produce as well, yet it leaves you feeling as though the experience in the spa is unique as it's quite an uncommon technique.
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Examples of Embossing / Debossing:
Embossing is the process in which paper has been raised against the background. Debossing is the process in which paper has been recessed from the material (sunken into it), but may have some sort of raised relief on the reverse side.
Embossing used in Branding & Identity
The business cards have had the logo blind-embossed into them (the use of embossing without any addition of colour), which will make the end user interact with the texture and feel of the embossed logo on the card. The cards have also been cut into triangles, which is extremely unusual for business cards - this will help to make the brand stand out from their competitors and hopefully encourage the receiver of the card to keep it as a piece of design to appreciate, rather than just another business card to throw away once they're home. I quite like this idea - I don't particularly like the design aesthetic of the logo or typeface used, but the concept behind it is really appealing.
Debossing used in Branding & Identity
This particular business card intrigued me, because of the debossing used for the logo as well as the diffraction foil fore-edge printing process used on the outside edges of the business cards - this type of foiling creates the rainbow effect that you can see across the cards. I think these are really interesting and well made business cards, and certainly stand out from competitors as I've never seen this used before. I like how the logo has been debossed in a way that makes the H and the J stand out from the debossed circle background. This makes it seem like they have both debossed and embossed the logo. I also noticed that the information on the reverse side of the business card has been debossed as well as foiled - colour debossing. The foiling on the outside makes the cards look almost like glass / holographs when stacked on top of one another.
Embossing used in Packaging & Promotion
Embossing has been used in this 'Kokosboller' packaging as a form of illustrative decoration. It works well, because it helps make the food look appealing to whoever picks up the packaging - consumers buy into how packaging looks, and if a product looks like the packaging was expensive than the consumer will believe that the product inside will be of higher quality and better taste.
Embossing and Debossing used in Publishing & Editorial
The letters were mirrored exactly on the back cover of the book as on the front cover. The front cover was blind debossed and the back cover blind embossed to give the impression of the text having been 'pushed' through the book. The designer says that this ties in with an element of the story in which a man becomes locked in a room and bangs for help on the door, leaving a hand print that would be 'pushed' through. I think that this is a good example of embossing and debossing, as it relates to a clever concept and isn't being used only for aesthetic reasons.
Embossing used in Information & Way-finding
I couldn't find any way-finding designs that used embossing or debossing, so resulted in trying to find something that showed an example of information and came across this calendar. I'd say that this is a form of information design, as it gives you information on the days of the month. The use of embossing has been brought into the design in an interesting manner, as it outlines the generic shape of each VW car. I think they decided to use blind embossing, as the car could be any colour - it seems as though they've left the certain components in colour because of the fact that they probably don't change colour from car to car, for example soft top cars always seem to use black soft top material.
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Examples of Foiling:
Foiling is a decorative type of finishing, where the end product looks shiny, has a waxy feel to it, and almost looks as though it has been spot varnished. However, you can foil in any colour under the sun!
Foiling used in Branding & Identity
Alan Flatt (the owner of this business card) specialises in print finishes and processes, such as foiling, so the fact that his business card has been produced using the types of processes that he can do helps give the audience an understanding of what they could be working with. I thought that it was an interesting concept for a business card, as it is more like a CV in the way that they show the different processes that he can do on separate pages that fold out from one another. But the booklet is still business card size, so it won't be annoying to carry about and could still slot into your purse / wallet.
Foiling used in Packaging & Promotion
Foiling used in packaging, especially food products and wines, makes the end product seem luxurious and expensive. The use of gold foiling adds a sense of richness to the product, as the viewer will associate the colour gold with money and riches or even royalty. I think that foiling, when used appropriately, can really add to designs and make something look so much better than it actually is! With this wine stickering, it helps that the gold foiling hasn't been used in abundance and the designer has selectively chosen which parts of the decoration will be foiled.
Foiling used in Publishing & Editorial
The use of foiling in this publication works well, because they have considered the colour and how it will interact with the other colours of the page. I was attracted to this particular design, because the user hasn't used gold or silver foiling and has gone for a pink foiling instead which is unusual. I noticed that most examples of foiling have been produced with gold or silver. I also liked how they only foiled the title on the front cover, and didn't go over the top with it.
Foiling used in Information & Way-finding
I couldn't find anything that was foiled in this sector... This could be due to the fact that foiling could be distracting and unnecessary for information and way-finding to be read and understood - it is more of an aesthetic and decorative design choice, than something needed to give information.
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Summary of Finishing Processes:
I've found that most of the time it was quite hard to find examples of finishes used within certain areas of Graphic Design, for example when it came to finding foiling used in Information & Way-finding, it was impossible! I found nothing! However, when it comes to Branding & Identity, you can literally find every finishing process under the sun - this is probably due to the fact that designers want to show off when it comes to talking about themselves and promoting their work. They want to stand out from their competitors and make the clients remember them and feel confident when hiring them. Packaging & Promotion design also comes across the use of finishing across their products - this will come from a similar idea to branding. The brand want their product to sell, so will try lots of different relevant finishes to make their product stand out amongst the rest.
Finishing processes are definitely used for aesthetic reasons and to decorate a design. This isn't a bad thing, as the design is meant to attract your eye and be aesthetically pleasing, just as long as there is also a good design concept behind it all too!
I noticed that a lot of art packs that are sold for younger children use velcro to keep them shut. This is an easy and durable way of closing boxes and kids can easily open and close their art packs without breaking the box.
Handles on boxes also seemed to be a recurring theme. This means the child can carry their art books and stickers around with them - they could take it to their friends and draw with them.
A lot of arty things in The Works came with a simple set of useful objects to help them create the images described in the books, for example this particular set came with cheap pens, pencils, a notepad and stickers.
Packs that are for girls are obviously for girls - use of pink and purple was really common for girls art packs. They also had a lot of shiny parts to the designs - kids love shiny stuff!
Whereas when it came to packs aimed at boys, the design instantly changed. The colours were red, green and blue often and the illustrations were of boys and what they like rather than flowers and bunnies. Once again there was a lot of shiny material used.
Sets of books came in easy to use boxes. This kept them safe and harder to wreck.
The front of boxes told you everything you get inside the pack and had relevant illustrations scattered all over the design. The boxes are child friendly in the fact that the images and illustrations are more prominent than the text.
Another use of handle, but a plastic one this time rather than a rope handle - this handle will probably be more durable than the rope one.
The content of the books is highly illustrated. Sometimes you will have double page spreads of large illustrations and then one or two sentences of text to be read. Children at this age have only just learnt or are still learning how to read so the less words the better!
A lot of the boxes came with windows so that you can see what you get inside without having to use text to explain! Again the front is covered in images and examples of what you could make.
Even encyclopaedias written for younger children are very image orientated. There is a lot more text in this book, but this will be because it is aimed at older children - children in year 5 or 6.
The front of this book for older children also seems to reflect the fact that they can read a bit better, yet they still slap a big image on there to attract your attention and lead you in.
The content information on the reverse side of the packs is still very basic. There isn't much text and they've even laid out everything that you get in the pack in an image for children that still can't read that well.
Using a picture of a girl helps to target the audience as girls of a similar age will want to be the girl on the cover and aspire to buy the pack to do some knitting at home - almost makes knitting seem cool!
In contrast to the pack above this one, you can tell that this is obviously aimed more at younger boys. The colour scheme has changed yet again to a more masculine theme and boys tend to love dinosaurs more than girls.
I was a bit confused by the window used for this pack as it doesn't really show anything that you get through it.... The pack is very illustrative and image orientated again. It says in the corner '5+' but I reckon even younger children would be interested in this because of the use of image over text.
A good example of the use of colour to target an audience when it comes to children are these two Lego books. They're both from the same company yet they look completely different! The girl's book uses pinks and purples, whereas the boy's book uses greens, reds and blacks. They are both highly image based, yet the girl lego looks rather different to the boys lego - as if they've redesigned lego to suit a girl audience over the usual lego you would buy instore. The lego blocks themselves have changed colour to a more feminine colour scheme and the characters to play with aren't little yellow men, but are cuter girl characters with more detail.
Disney books are obviously disney as well and highly illustrated. The characters on the book are really friendly, happy and approachable. The way that they have been positioned makes them look really excited about colouring and it will get the child involved as she will think that she will be just as happy as Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck.
The inside of the colouring book contained one sentence on each page that explained something about the picture that you can then colour in. The book is extremely simple and easy to follow, and the pictures to colour in are big enough for the child to colour it as messily or neatly as they wish.
I noticed that a lot of art books aimed at children are ridiculously colourful! They use the idea of primary and secondary colours mainly when it comes to colour schemes, and make everything look like rainbows - bright, colourful and fun!
The inside of this painting book is very clear and easy to follow with step by step navigation around the pages. They've even included some key colours that you could consider using when painting your landscapes. On the right page at the top they've included variations of how your fields could look as well when it comes to painting.
I liked the idea of this colouring in book as the sentence on the page asked you to do something to complete the picture, for example the dog on the right has a blank space underneath his paws and then it says "Draw a bone for the puppy" at the top of the page. I think this is a good idea, as it gets the child to interact with the colouring in book in a different way to usual, where they have to invasion things themselves and use their imagination to come up with a drawing of a bone or a wand, etc.
Stickers were a big thing when it came to children's activity books - I remember absolutely loving stickers when I was younger and had a box where I collected loads of stickers for when it came to making cards for christmas for my family.
A few books came with some free crayons to help give the child an idea of what colours they could use when colouring in the pages. This particular book had pictures on one side of the double page spread, and then a blank outline of the same picture so that you could copy the colours of the other picture when you're colouring in.
This book really reminded me of when I was younger, as illustrations back then were so much more simple and not so 3D and animation generated as they seem to be now! Also the fact it says 'play and learn' on the page gives an idea of how useful this book could be for the child as they learn how to count or letters of the alphabet whilst playing.
I noticed that this book, along with a lot of books aimed at specifically younger children, had really thick stock. The pages were printed onto card so that the book can be thrown around, chewed on and all sorts without resulting in too much damage to the book itself!
There was also a space for a free goodie with this book, however it seemed like someone had stolen it from this one!
Another book that used thicker stock for the pages. However, this time they incorporated this thick choice with the idea that they could have parts of the illustrations cut out of the paper so that you can feel a texture placed underneath it - this page had a section of the leaf cut out with a shimmery green textured material placed underneath. I've found that younger children love to feel things.
Mr Men books are very simple, classic story books. I thought I'd look at one of these as they always have the same layout across all their stories - image on the right with text on the left. These books are a bit more text based than books for very young children, however even the youngest children can engage with them as the illustrations are really clear and fun to look at and their parents can read out the story aloud to them whilst they look at the pictures.
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