There is a freshness to New York Fashion Week that is as much to do with how quickly it all comes together as to the clothes on display. Print studio Highresolution discovered this for themselves when the famed Ford Models agency asked them to create a high-end catalog of their talent to give to fashion houses just two weeks before the Fall 2016 event.
What they came up with not only demonstrated the tactile power of print, they also managed to turn it around in just four days!
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Ford’s in-house designers were already thinking along the lines of a fabric box with a linen feel in which to package a selection of model headshots when they approached the printer, all to make a sophisticated, tactile impression on the fashion designers. However, their budget and super-tight schedule made this specific approach impossible.
Using Highresolution CEO David Drucker’s philosophy of trading off printing and finishing techniques to achieve a designer’s vision on a budget, the printer instead went with an option to increase the piece’s tactile quality that we sometimes overlook: laminating multiple layers of quality sheets.
A SUBSTANTIAL ENVELOPE
The box like envelope exudes a simple elegance with the Ford name large and proud in Copper hot foil against the White, canvas-like paper: 120 lb. Eames Painting Canvas Cover, to be precise.
To give it a chunky, magisterial feel, 3 sheets of this were laminated together to create a 360 lb. hard-shell envelope that feels almost like wood. To prevent the piece from cracking when opened, the flap was actually scored from the opposite side with extreme pressure. A button-and-tie closure – with the buttons made from the same 3-layer Eames construction and copper colored thread to match the foil stamping – adds a classy touch while also slowing down the whole opening experience to build anticipation for what lies within.
FABULOUS PHOTO CARDS
Many of the models represented by Ford are highly experienced having walked the runways for the likes of Giorgio Armani and other big names, so naturally the agency wanted to communicate this sense of quality in the 20 headshots included in this package.
To give the photo cards a truly substantial feel, Highresolution printed them digitally on two sheets of 100-lb. Mohawk Via Vellum Cover mounted together, placing a slight curve on the images themselves in prepress to boost the contrast and details of the photography. A cover card repeating the foiled Ford logo, and another sheet listing the contact details for the models’ agent, complete the package.
And keeping the user experience in mind, the sophisticated headshots can be posted on a mood board or office wall for easy access and further inspiration.
Sabine Lenz is the founder of PaperSpecs.com, the first online paper database and community specifically designed for paper specifiers.
Growing up in Germany, Sabine started her design career in Frankfurt, before moving to Australia and then the United States. She has worked on design projects ranging from corporate identities to major road shows and product launches. From start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, her list of clients included Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Deutsche Bank, IBM and KPMG.
Seeing designers struggle worldwide to stay current with new papers and paper trends inspired Sabine to create PaperSpecs, an independent and comprehensive Web-based paper database and weekly e-newsletter. She is also a speaker on paper issues and the paper industry. Some refer to her lovingly as the "paper queen" who combines her passion for this wonderful substrate called paper with a hands-on approach to sharing her knowledge.Â