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GSM Blog - read more about print on paper.

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The Message Stick: Carrying the stories of our people

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First Nations stories

Emrhan Tjapanangka Sultan is a co-researcher and the Project Manager for Solid Lines. He has previously worked as a First Nations engagement advisor for a variety of organisations, including Orygen, Relationships Australia, The Salvation Army, Oxfam Australia, and CAAMA. He is also a dynamic artist. Emrhan belongs to the Luritja and Western Arrarnta Nations in Central Australia as well as Kokatha Nation in South Australia. In this issue of The Message Stick, GSM talks with Em about his approach to projects in the commercial world, about carrying the stories of his people. When working as an Aboriginal artist in the...

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Rākau Kōrero – RUN Aotearoa & Storytelling

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RUN Aotearoa

At RUN Aotearoa, we beleive that design is storytelling - connecting people, cultures, and communities. As a Māori-owned globally award-winning agency based in Tāmaki Makaura Auckland, storytelling lies at the heart of what we do.  When we co-founded RUN, it began like many creative agencies—working across a variety of clients without a specific niche. Over time, our direction evolved, driven by both internal reflections and the needs of our clients. Today, our agency spans advertising, design, and cultural storytelling. Much of our mahi is for clients who are Māori-owned or Māori-led. Or organisations with a Māori strategy, or are wanting...

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Quick Chat Print – Caxton, working with design students

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Janice Page Caxton

We recently caught up with Janice Page, General Manager at Caxton, to hear her thoughts on working with the current crop of Kiwi design students. Caxton (formerly The Caxton Press) was founded in Christchurch in 1935 by celebrated New Zealand poet and publisher Denis Glover. The award-winning printery has a long history of producing high quality work and supporting the local industry. Recently, Caxton printed the NZ edition of the BJ Ball Calendar featuring winning entries from our 2024 Student Design Contest. Here’s how it all went down… GSM: Does Caxton have much involvement with Tertiary design schools and their...

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2024 Student Design Contest – Visions of the Future

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2024 student design contest Visions of the Future

Once again, the BJ Ball/Ball & Doggett Student Design Contest for 2024 was a great success and the resulting calendar showcases some of our fantastic emerging talent. The contest theme for 2024 was Visions of the Future—an expression of the future through type and colour. Students were tasked with creating a short saying about how the world may change for the better, and then to create a visual expression of this using type, colour, graphics and/or photography. Students were also required to match their design to a BJ Ball/Ball & Doggett paper stock from a provided swatch of samples. Judging...

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Label Printing

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Label printing

In this Education article, GSM takes a close look at label printing. And, cover how to get the most from your project... There are four main areas of consideration when it comes to label printing. The label stock, the adhesive, the print method, and the print specials & embellishments. Let’s look at each in turn: Label Stocks At a commercial level, most labelling stocks are supplied to label companies as bulk rolls. There are three main processes for label printing. Flexography, offset lithography (referred to in the print industry as ‘conventional’ methods) and digital printing (see print methods). At the...

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‘Find my Flavour’ Wausau Label Promotion

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find my flavour

In 2024, Ball & Doggett collaborated with a group of specialists to produce 'Find My Flavour' - a special promotion showcasing Wausau Coated Labels. The results were simply breathtaking. Find My Flavour Promotion ’Find My Flavour’ was conceived to promote Wausau Coated labels. Wausau is a range of premium tactile stocks specifically produced for high-end bespoke alcohol and beverage brands, available from Ball & Doggett and BJ Ball. The aim of the promotion was to show fantastic creative design, combined with high-quality print, matched to bespoke bottles and closures (caps & corks). Involved in the project were: Melbourne-based specialists in...

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Mr Logo – Ian Kidd

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GSM23 Mr Logo

Dubbed ‘Mr Logo’, Australian Ian Kidd (1941—2022) was one of an early batch of home-grown designers to venture yonder. He returned brimming with ideas and seeing the potential for our industry downunder. Ian Kidd began his professional career in the late 50s. He started with a stint within the in-house advertising team at the Adelaide branch of department store giant, Myer. And, proving that designers not proofreading their work is not a new phenomenon—his first advertisement for the Myer Food Hall included the headline, ‘2 pounds of mice’ instead of ‘mince’. Ian soon attracted the interest of the Clem Taylor...

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Paper Sustainability – Environmental Certifications

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reforestation sustainable

Sustainability and looking after the environment are important considerations when selecting a paper grade for your print project. The environmental credibility of paper is expressed through a series of Credentials covering various aspects of paper manufacturing, such as where the raw material originates from, how these materials have been grown and harvested, the manufacturing process itself, and the general impact of papermaking on the environment. Environmental Certifications can be split into different levels of accreditation as follows: Chain-of-Custody Certifications Mill-level Certifications Product-level Certifications Chain-Of-Custody Certifications Chain of Custody Certifications are applied to paper from end-to-end―meaning; from origin to printing press....

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Paper: The Suitability of the Stock for your Print Project

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BJ Ball Swatch Books

Paper is to print, what canvas is to painting—you cannot have one without the other. As a designer, it is important to know that your choices around paper will impact the final output. The suitability of the stock when selecting paper for your print project includes a number of considerations. Let’s take a look: Types of Paper Paper, how it looks and feels, is going to have a big impact on the final printed result. And as such—should be an important design consideration early on in any project. Paper can be classified into six basic categories as follows: Uncoated Papers:...

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Artwork: Photographic Images

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photographic images

The use of photographic images in artwork creates a few important considerations that should always be checked. GSM investigates; Correct Colour Mode Photographic images should always be set to the correct Colour Mode—CMYK. RGB images used in CMYK-based printing can potentially create problems (including unexpected colour results). The best professional practice is to open any RGB images in an editing app (such as Adobe Photoshop) and change the Colour Mode—go to: Image > Mode > CMYK Colour. Image Resolution Image resolution, as measured in Pixels Per Inch (PPI), is critical to ensuring photos print correctly. If the resolution is too...

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