BLOG: Mark Shields of CPI Colour
Having worked with Steve Edge Design in the past, we were approached to support in the printing a brochure for a beautifully designed new Argent building located in Kings Cross. Central to this print job was marrying a high-end design but with a newspaper style finish that would appeal to a central London tech industry.
The challenge? How to create a flawless print finish with heavy neon pink and metallic inks for a brochure on 100gsm paper.
Part for the requirement was to stay true to the contemporary brochure feel but using paper that wasn’t pure white. Therefore paper selection was a key to the ultimate design here. We looked at several off white recycled stocks and honed our choice down to Cyclus Offset 100gsm. To ensure the fluorescent and gold wouldn’t bleed and that the paper had the right tolerance in terms ink, we did a scatter proof and some dummies and were really pleased how Cyclus performed.
When we came to the actual print, we always knew it going to be tricky because of the amount of ink being used on a 100gsm paper and the challenges of paper stretch, movement or spread. That’s when we decided to print the whole brochure in one go. We used a 12-colour press, printing both sides at once and all in one day to ensure the colours stayed as vibrant as possible.
Despite the challenges, we were thrilled to be involved in this project and are proud to have produced an excellently printed product that allowed both the design and the paper to shine. The paper performed really well and our strategy to print on both sides in the same run gave us a brilliantly smooth and striking finish.
Mark Shields is an Account Director at CPI Colour, the award winning creative printer and leading printers of corporate and annual reports, brochures, marketing materials, point-of-sale and packaging.