At this year’s Pride in Print Awards 611 entries competed across eight categories: Publications, Business, Packaging, Labels, Display Print, Promotional Print, Specialty Products and Industry Development.
Publications
Glossy magazine Urbis stunned judges with a complex multi-fold cover that “raised the bar in New Zealand printing”. Judge Damian Fleming said the magazine caught the attention of everyone who looked at it.
“There are things about this book which are really cool. The front cover folds out to make eight pages and the folds have to be exact to make it work. It is a pretty outrageuous thing to attempt and get right. The attention to detail on the cover includes a matched image where the cover finishes just short of the fore-edge. The result is seamless.
“Inside, there is a tip-in insert which has been printed to match the colour and position of the image on the page beneath. It was printed on different stock, on a different day from the magazine, yet it matches perfectly. This wasn’t some simple glossy advert, but a perforated and complete image match up.
Business
A “stunningly aesthetic” collector’s sheet of stamps made for the Singapore market is a credit to New Zealand for the very fact it could have been printed in any country in the world – but printers here won it on the basis of quality.
The Festivals Collectors’ Sheet of Stamps, printed by Southern Colour Print of Dunedin, won the Business Print category of the Pride In Print Awards. Expert judges in both sheetfed printing techniques and in print finishing were awed by the result.
“All the foiling involved, in green, gold and purple, the holographic effect, and the micro perforations go to create a very high technical result. There is excellent registration throughout,” said judge Damian Fleming. “It deserves special recognition because the job stayed in New Zealand when it could have been lost to many other countries in the world. As expected, these stamps pass a meticulous inspection under a magnifier, and it’s the foil that really shows the craftsmanship.”
Finishing judge Chris Woodhead said that the stamps have to be passed through the foiler multiple times for the different foil colours, thus creating a chance of damage to earlier foils. “There is the risk of undoing some of the good work you have put in. But not with these stamps — they are as clean as a whistle.”
Packaging
A cleverly-designed and perfectly-created chocolate box for Cadbury’s Milk Tray has won the Pride In Print Packaging Award for Amcor Cartons of Christchurch. Entered in the carton board packaging section, the Cadbury Milk Tray 200g box features satin and spot UV coatings, and silver foiling with embossing moulded to the contours of the chocolates.
Packaging judge Laurie Lark said the design concept was to make sure the structural design protected the product at the same time as the graphics appealed to the buyer.
“Good packaging has to be fit for purpose. It has to do the job for which it is intended. This box does just that and it is very well-produced. It had embellishments including embossing and die cuts, and had to go through the press six times. Plus the printers had to get the Cadbury’s purple just right which is no easy task. Excellent registration and very effective design have combined to create a superb piece of work.”
Labels
A wine label featuring a waka paddle, delicately-embellished with gold foiling, has won the Labels Category Award for Auckland company Panprint. The Totara Sauvignon Blanc 2010 wine label was described by judge Bill Ashworth as a very fine piece of stochastic screening, in which the dot size and distribution pattern of the screen yields cleaner and more vibrant colour.
“The stock used is textured and printed in four-colour process. To that has been added embellishments such as the foiling. The whole thing has been done very neatly. It is a very fine and clean example of a good wine label,” he said.
Display Print and Digital Process
A point-of-sale promoting beautiful eyelashes and a backlit display print making burgers look succulent have shared the Display Category honours at the Pride In Print Awards. The Maybelline Colossal Lashes stand printed by APC Innovate of Manukau vied with the Kings Collection Translite Honey Mustard Tender Crisp display created by Admark Visual Imaging Ltd of Hamilton.
The eyelashes stand was created as a point-of-sale marketing tool. It was offset printed on fibre board with corrugated inserts and was couriered out as a made-up stand to individual shops, inclusive of an eyelash brush as part of the display. The board had to have a 3D effect to complete the impact required.
Judge Bill Ashworth said it was a very appealing design that showed no flaws in the transitions between the colours. “There is an amazing match in the purples created by spot colour and in the tricolour mix.”
Judge Chris Knuckey said it was flawless screening and the construction was robust and solid. “It went out to shops already assembled and it all comes together as a very impressive point-of-sale stand,” he said.
Waikato printers Admark Visual Imaging Ltd got their share of the Digital Category honours by making burgers more succulent at the point-of-sale. The Kings Collection Translite Honey Mustard Tender Crisp print – which also won the Digital Process Award – impressed judges by the fact it was done on an eight-year-old Seiko 64S Colourprinter well past its normal life expectancy. It was deemed an excellent job with lovely prepress work.
Admark’s print was designed for backlighting, giving the product an extra lift in the supermarket shelves and making it more appealing to buyers.
Promotional Print
A “faultless, beautiful” book of wedding photographs that was showcased with exquisite binding has won the Promotional Print Category at Pride In Print for Wellington’s Momento Photobooks.
Jennifer and Andrew’s Wedding album, which was originally entered in the one-off presentation work section, was printed by both Kinetic 21 and Momento. It was created by extracting the couple’s files from a website, text was imposed and the design was laid out in PhotoShop.
The cover and dust jackets were printed by inkjet and laminated. The book was hand bound and stitched and the dust jackets fitted using a specialised heat process for optimal fit. The presentation boxes were handmade. Judges rated it a beautiful book on a nice choice of paper stock, finished in excellent colour.
Judge Chris Woodhead said that hard case covers such as that on Jennifer and Andrew’s Wedding album cannot be done by any machine within New Zealand, to the best of his knowledge, and therefore reflected craftsmanship by hand.
“These are handmade and are of excellent quality. Inside, the sheets are hand sewn too. The alignment of the pages is incredible, as is the slip case and dust jacket. When you consider that 200 of these were created, that represents a huge amount of painstaking work that had to be done to a consistent high level of quality. It takes great tradesmen to do that.”
Specialty Products and Screen Process
Seabreeze Fashions of Orewa won the Specialty Products Category with its shirts depicting The Colemans – A Countdown Story, supporting the television advertising campaign which was allied to NZ Master Chef.
The T-shirts were printed in five colours on the front and three on the back and sleeve. A high degree of skills were required and the result was beautifully executed.
Judge Chris Knuckey commented: “It is unusual to see screen printed T-shirt runs of more than 4000-5000 these days. Those types of quantities generally go offshore. But this 12,500 run was produced locally, because the customer required changes and control right up to the last minute, and the printer has shown that we can achieve the very top levels of quality.
“It is fantastic to see a job of this quantity and quality retained in this country. Technically the job would require constant monitoring and adjustment on the fly, indicating a very high degree of skill,” he added.
Industry development
New print industry challenges may have been created by the development of a paint pail that has its label moulded into the product at the time it was produced, making it part of the plastic construction instead of being attached afterwards.
GEON Auckland’s 10lt Solagard Range bucket “spun the wheels of the judges” at Pride In Print to such an extent it won the Industry Development Category. Initially entered in the Innovation Category, the in-mould label arose from a request by the customer to provide a new label solution. That gave rise to an 18-month programme of research and development, with the printer partnering with an end manufacturer to trial the print and a production mould.
Various substrates were trialled along with many inks, fountain solutions and coating formulas. Products had to be sourced worldwide to get the best-possible combination with the printed material. A number of trial moulds were created and during the process it was essential to achieve colour control.
Judge Scott Porter said, “Their efforts have produced a product that has integrity and will last a long time showing no deterioration. It also shows a willingness to develop new streams for a technology that has previously been applied to smaller products like tubs and pottles. That represents a challenge to traditional printed labels that are applied by glue. Now, this is a commercial product in the marketplace. The industry is showing it can develop new challenges.”