What did the job entail?
The book’s designer, Bryan Edmondson of SEA Design, approached The Colourhouse to carry out reprographics and print for 1,500 72-page books. Five hundred were kept by photographer Rankin and the remainder given to Artic Paper, suppliers of the Munken Polar stock used, and the printer.
Edmondson, who has worked on 12 of Rankin’s books since 1998, works with the intention of keeping the photographs as true to the photographer’s artistic intention as possible, meaning that the intensity and lift of the colours had to be exactly right.
How was it produced?
The Colourhouse, based in Lewisham, London, opted for the unconventional choice of uncoated Munken Polar stock from Arctic paper to create the book. Typically, photographic books are produced on coated papers to lift colour and intensify black areas, but the printer and designer collaborated on the decision to go against tradition and in doing so, created a more natural feel to the book, according to Edmondson.
The book was printed using a four-colour process on a six-colour Heidelberg CD 102 press and hard drying high pigment inks to achieve the required colour intensity. Metallic silver ran throughout the whole process as a highlight colour.
The inner 150gsm Munken Polar pages were bound by a 170gsm Munken Polar outer board which was blind embossed on a Kolbus PE 70 to add definition to the feather boa around model Kate Moss’ neck.
What challenges were overcome?
The Colourhouse director David Arkell said the difficulty was achieving high-density colour while also compensating for dot gain on the uncoated stock.
He said: "The challenge was to run up the colours to over Euro standard weights – to achieve dense blacks and strong colour without losing the detail we always run inks heavier than standard.
"This was achieved by excellent supplied imagery and attention to detail on press taking care to keep the dot open and clean in the shadows and the highlights."
What was the feedback?
Edmondson said: "In creating a finished product that is going to make the client happy, the designer has a responsibility to choose good stock, a good printer and great repro guys.
"I hadn’t used Munken Polar before so it was a bit of a leap of faith, but I’m really impressed with the results.
"The uncoated but very smooth surface of Munken Polar meant we were able to achieve much softer and more natural skin tones than is possible with coated papers, giving the photography a more intimate feel as well as a beautiful finish to the book."
