One of my colleagues sat with his boxed lunch from the Noodle Canteen reading a book on his kindle. I was intrigued from a distance, but not wanting to appear to zealous, we chatted about the functionality of the device and how it feels like a traditional book. How now the physical act of reading a screen could be more like the act of reading a book, reclining back, rather than leaning in.

Now I don’t wish to start a debate on the end of print or the environmental benefits (or lack of) moving to electronic publications. I was looking through an old project and reminded of the playfulness and tactility you can achieve through the print process. The online space has different ways to engage and entice readers (like the recent Esquire magazine – see below)

This project may have just touched me nostalgically. A project with a fairly open brief. A collaboration of writer, James Francis, photographer, Bruce Connew, and designer – where each was invited to add their there own touches, contribute their talents.

The profile for Wellington printers, Format, takes the reader through a written story about the often unseen workings of a printing firm, punctuated by visual and typographic puns.

The title is embossed and then a UV varnish is applied

Instead of hiding the deboss with a flap it's worked into the design

A visual pun where the word 'invisible' is printed with varnish rather than ink

An interactive element is added, where the reader needs to reveal the what goes on behind closed doors at a printing firm

The perforated 'zipper' revealing the full colour section

Once inside, Bruce Connew’s documentary style photography takes you through the ‘life of a job’. The grainy nature of the 35mm added to this sense of fly on the wall.

Grunty 35mm shot by Bruce Connew

One of the only mandatory requirements from the client was to showcase a new process they had employed for printing metallic inks, which we applied in moderation to elements that were already metallic in nature; discs, machinery etc.

The DVD image is printed using metalfx, a CMYK process with added metallic

Then there’s the little subtleties that were added, like deliberately slipping the plates and using a default font on the maintenance page.

Visual play is created with the colour plates deliberately being shifted

The irony to all of this is I’m trying to explain all these nuances of print, the craft of the printer and the sensory experience of touch through digital jpegs.

As for the future I’m feeling inspired by the possibilities of augmented reality and here is that Esquire piece I mentioned earlier.

But maybe I’m thinking about this the wrong way. I’ve managed to define my interactions with the online world in nicely compartmentalised formats; Twitter for sharing cool links/random musings/celebrity worship. Facebook for pictures of the family for the family and keeping in-touch with friends and Linkedin for me to wear my professional hat.

Do I even have another side to my personality that would require this long format to express myself.

Time will tell