When the team from Tobacco Journal International asked us, Van Heertum Design VHD, to take up the challenge with our design team and create a cover for the World Tobacco Expo 2011 in Munich, we didn’t have to think twice before saying yes.
This project marks the fifth time that we have done a cover project for TJI.
The first thing in this big challenge was to assemble a team of companies willing to join us and participate in the project. Of course it was important that they would bring as much innovation as possible. We have built up a network of these companies over the years. We wanted to be ahead of our competitors and therefore made it one of our main priorities.
Too many clients are confronted at the end of the design process with the problem that designs agreed upon cannot be produced. They are presented with designs on glossy prints or shiny screens. When things then go wrong production is blamed, and everything gets done all over again. This results in a waste of expensive time and money.
We keep in mind the technical possibilities during the design process and can guarantee that our designs will be no problem in the production phase – no surprises at the end and, most important, satisfied customers. After visiting the selected companies within our network and talking to their people, we made up our inventory list. This gave us a first draft of the possible production processes.
Design Proces
We made a rough layout for the design phase. We chose two designers from our team and offered them a ‘playground’. They got the four A4 pages on the front of the cover to show and interpret the highlights of the city of Munich. Possibilities included recognizable points, architecture, culture, sports or events such as the world famous Oktoberfest. The back of the cover we wanted to use for the explanation of the materials used.
VHD Designer Marieke Chatrer started at the left side and her colleague, Martin de Weijer, started on the right side. When they reached the middle, they could take the design aspects of the other designer and work them into their own design. Annemarie de Brouwer, art director, and I, Frans van Heertum, creative director, followed the process and gave our opinion from time to time. We took, with numerous pauses ranging from a day to several weeks, a couple of months to go through this process. Eventually we reached the point where we wanted to be. The design was ready.
Technical Aspects
Now it is time to put our technical wish list on the table. We looked at every possibility and what would be the best way to fit them into the design. Were there enough items in the design for every specific aspect we wanted to show?
Next we invited every participating company to come together for a meeting to view the results. We explained the design and the optional solutions we had in mind. Everyone was allowed to give their opinion and their thoughts on the most successful way to reach the best result. Also discussed were the consequences the methods chosen would have on the remaining process. As an example, the use of Iriodin in the gravure process would give a certain result if we printed over it in offset, but using Iriodin after the offset was printed would give a totally different outcome. The surface would have a different roughness in the first case and the direct effect would be hidden more in the image. You can see that in the Bavaria statue. It creates a metal effect. If you look at the gold on the front page you will see the effect when Iriodin is used without printing over it. It gives more brilliance to the colour.
Sitting together with participating companies we could search for the best options and the output and bring a lot more to the table. Together we made a production plan and a giant list of possibilities to work into the design. Everybody was very enthusiastic and eager to start with the production.
Now it was time again to do our homework. With our team we built all the different options of technical highlights into the design. After that our people from DTP (desk-top publishing) prepared the whole document for production. We’re talking about a document that was already 2 Gigabytes in size. This document was delivered to TSO. They translated the file into ArtPro preproduction software and selected the parts for gravure that went to GRT. They prepared the file for the production of the cylinders. The rest was worked out at TSO for the offset.
Production
We started with the first runs on the Moog gravure press. Run #1 was Iriodine Rutile Sterling Silver, a pigment from our partner Merck. It gives a metallic look to the ink that is printed over it in the offset stage. The second run #2 was Iriodin 6103 Icy White together with the Securalic 6103 GT. The first gives a pearlescent effect and the second one is a hidden pigment and is only traceable with a special infra-red light or with a special sound meter. This pigment is often used for Brand Protection. Run #3 and 3a was the gold colour on the front side. We used a combination of Iriodin 323 Royale Gold Satin and 325 Solar Gold Satin. To show that the new Moog press is very consistent we did this run two times over each other and printed point to point. Of course the colour intensity was now more than if we had done it in one run.
The next run was a primer for the Metalure Silver of Siegwerk. Thomas John-Zähringer from Siegwerk, who was responsible for all the recipes of the lacquers and inks we used, had advised us to use a primer because we would get a higher result of the metallic effect of the silver. We did some proofs on the press before we started to run the production. This is exactly why these projects are so important and valuable for us. The result was exceptionally high. That’s why we chose that option.
After that run we started the Metalure Silver over the primer. We used the same cylinder for the two runs. Normally you should have two different cylinders for the different materials. But because of a lack of time at that moment we decided to use the same cylinder. Of course this means that you need a professional on the press because you have to improvise at that moment. We had those professionals from Moog under the supervision of Martin Wolf. We succeeded as you can see in the result. So that was runs #4 and 4a.
Now the printed sheets were shipped to Holland, to TSO in Goirle. We started the offset part with conventional ink for printing the back cover in full colour, two process colours and lacquer all over (Runs # 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11). All the materials and techniques used are explained on this side. Because we had to fill in all options (also the ones that would change during the whole process) it is possible that some mistakes are written down.
Back to the front side for the offset part. Now we’ve switched to UV drying inks because we needed to go over the gravure parts (Runs # 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, using six process colours. The next runs #18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 were also with six process colours. After this we switched to the special printing press for the option of the bronze technique. This very old craft is still one of the specialties of TSO and very often used in the cigar industry. The method has been modernised and built on a two colour offset printing machine.
First the image is printed in glue, Run #24. Then in the second machine inline the powder is applied, Run 25. The powder is a special mix of different colours of pigments. After a drying period of some days we continued and printed the lacquer/primer, Run #26, over this side. Because we wanted to leave several parts blank we used the Flint photopolymer plates prepared by MediaHouse.
Now the sheets were ready for the next step: hot foil. During the time we were printing the first stages Hinderer+Mühlich was producing the stamping tools for the hot foils, embossing and debossing. The production methods are more and more sophisticated, so solutions available to designers are growing. We are going into nano technology. The 3D effect is evolved which you see in the statue and the kinetic car for example. Also at the same time, Kurz was putting the foil list we had given them in order. We wanted to use different qualities of foil. Some foils are better for use in very thin lines and others are more suitable for bigger surfaces. Foils were flown in from the different producing factories.
Because we used some special colours, Hensen, the hot foil printer, had to make some proofs. If, for example, you take a look at the foil used for the title Tobacco Journal we used a very nice colour combination of red and black. These are brought onto the paperboard by using a combination tool of hot foil and embossing in the same run. Also a specialty of Hensen is the printing of holographic foil images. There are special modifications needed on the foil printing machines to print these kinds of images. They have to register very precisely to cut the image out of the foil. These images are custom-made by Kurz and are used in the world of brand protection and for personalization of security papers and banknotes. In the first stage we did Runs #27, 28, 29, 30. The second stage was Runs #31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. The third was Runs #37, 38. The fourth run, the hologram #39 and #40, 41.
The pallets with the print sheets were carefully packed and transported back to Germany for the last gravure part on the Moog machine. For Run #42 we chose a silver coating that is a new and patented product, from Henkel. MiraFoil is a special silver with a tactile touch. The coating is also available in copper and gold. We had seen some proofs of the material and we liked it from the start. The proofs showed the material brought onto the paperboard through the special photo-polymer plates of the Flint Group. We wanted to do this in gravure and so we did. The image we used, the roof of the Olympic Stadium, was perfect for this option. The result is magnificent.
And off we go again. The sheets were transported back to the Netherlands, to TSO, for the last stages: debossing, the micro relief in the serpentine, run # 43 embossing, the statue, the waitress with the beer, the kinetic sculpture, run #44, and the cutting and creasing of the cover, run #45.
This cover has been produced with the participation of the following companies:
Organisation, Design and Pre-press:
Van Heertum Design VHD, Tilburg, the Netherlands. www.heertum.nl
Magazine and Editorial Team:
Tobacco Journal International, Mainz, Germany. www.tobaccojournal.com
Offset, Bronze, Embossing and Debossing:
TSO, Goirle, the Netherlands. www.tsopp.com
Gravure Pre-press and Cylinders:
GRT Lasertechnic, Hamm, Germany. www.grt-gmbh.de
Sheetfed Gravure Presses:
H.C. Moog GmbH, Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany. www.hcmoog.de
Paperboard:
Iggesund, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. www.iggesund.com
Hot Foil Printing:
Drukkerij Hensen bv, Oirschot, the Netherlands. www.foliedrukkers.nl
Gravure, Offset and Flexo Inks:
Siegwerk, Siegburg, Germany. www.siegwerk.com
Iriodin and Security Pigments:
Merck, Darmstadt, Germany. www.merck-pigments.com
Mirafoil Silver:
Henkel, Dusseldorf, Germany. www.henkel.com
Hotfoil, Embossing and Debossing Tools:
Hinderer+Mühlich, Göppingen, Germany. www.hinderer-muehlich.de
Hot Foil Supplier:
Kurz, Fürth, Germany. www.kurz.de
Pre-press and Supplier Photopolymer Plates:
Mediahaus, Krefeld, Germany. www.mediahaus.de
Photopolymer Plates:
Flint Group, Stuttgart, Germany. www.flintgrp.com
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