Field Guides

A Maker's Field Guide to Texture and Color

Words

Mohawk

June 28, 2016

Introducing A Maker’s Field Guide to Texture and Color, an ambitious and comprehensive new printed tool from Mohawk, designed to serve as a hands-on resource for the creative community.

The competition for your audiences’ attention has risen to a fever pitch. They are overwhelmed, bombarded with more-more-more, with less and less impact. What we create needs to make a powerful impression to elevate itself from the endless churn of communication. But, how?

The Maker’s Field Guide will engage, inspire and educate designers and brand owners, while demonstrating how high quality materials, such as textured and colored papers, can transform printed communications from good to great.

“Paper is a powerful tool, on par with copy and design in its ability to deliver, enhance and create memorable impact. Just as food delivers more than simply nutrition, the flavor and presentation of a meal plays a role in how we enjoy and remember the experience.”

Chris Harrold

Vice President of Business Development and Creative Director, Mohawk.

Created by Hybrid Design of San Francisco, CA, this comprehensive resource will be the definitive guide to using texture and color to amplify printed projects, underscoring the importance of using materials as a powerful communication tool.

In the spirit of the Mohawk Maker Quarterly (also designed by Hybrid), the Maker’s Field Guide contains thoughtful content and compelling design and showcasing everyday printing techniques on a variety of distinctive colored and textured papers to demonstrate the beauty and printability of Mohawk’s expansive Text & Cover portfolio.

Featuring stunning photography by Kennett Mohrman and David Prince; extraordinary illustrations by Lab Partners and Olimpia Zagnoli; and printed examples featuring a variety of makers and creatives that have been featured in past issues of the Mohawk Maker Quarterly, A Maker’s Field Guide to Texture and Color will truly become a must-have for anyone who loves working with paper and print.

Designed to appeal to distinct audiences – printers and designers/communicators – the Maker’s Field Guide features customized wraps providing specific information to help each audience maximize its contents.

Content was developed to entice readers to consider new ways to select and use materials to maximize the power of print, focusing on three primary strategies:

Materials- The power of materials as a key component of communication
Texture- Time-tested strategies to get the most out of textured paper
Color- Strategies to heighten the impact of printed projects by using colored paper

“Equal parts inspiration, education, and conversation, the Maker’s Field Guide aims to equip printers, communicators and designers with practical strategies and powerful demonstrations of how persuasive uncoated textured and colored papers can be when fully understood and utilized.”

Chris Harrold

Vice President of Business Development and Creative Director, Mohawk

The design of the Maker’s Field Guide rivals the inspirational content contained within. The tool features a wide array of printing techniques including offset printing, foil stamping, and embossing processes on 32 distinctive colored and textured papers drawn from nearly every Mohawk paper grade, including: BriteHue, Carnival +Via, Loop, Options, Superfine, and Strathmore as well as papers from The Curious Collection.

The Maker’s Field Guide was skillfully printed by Sandy Alexander, Clifton, NJ, using four color printing, 2nd black, 4th white, match blue, match red, match brown, match purple, match pink, match orange and match gold.

Production Notes

Print Process

Die Cutting

The cutting of paper into decorative shapes or patterns using a steel cutting die.

Embossing/Debossing

Embossing is impressing an image in relief to achieve a raised surface. Debossing is pressing an image into paper so it lies beneath the surface. Both can be registered over printing or on blank paper which is called blind embossing/debossing.

Foil Stamping

Foil film comes in a variety of colors, finishes and effects. A metal die is created for each foil color used in the design. The die is heated and then stamped using pressure, sealing a thin layer of the foil to the paper.

Offset Printing

A commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called "fountain solution"), keeping the non-printing areas ink-free.

Ultraviolet (UV) Printing

UV inks produce sharp images because they are cured instantly under UV lights on press. UV printing minimizes dot gain and also eliminates the need for varnish or aqueous coating.

Materials + Techniques

Match Colors

A specified premixed ink color which has been mixed according to a formula. Match colors are more accurate than process colors which use screens and can vary from one print run to the next. Also referred to as a spot color or Pantone® Matching System (PMS).

Metallic Inks

Metallic powders in a varnish base create images with metallic luster. Leafing inks which have metal flakes that rise to the top of the ink mixture have more shine, but increased rub off. The metal flakes in non-leafing metallic inks sink down with less rub off and a little less shine. Non-leafing inks with a dull varnish or aqueous coating perform most reliably on uncoated paper.

White Ink

Opaque white ink can create a unique print effect — it is a non-transparent ink which does not let any of the base color show though. The more hits of white used, the more it stands out from the background. White ink can be used alone, or as the base to print color on top, which allows full color imagery to be printed on dark colored paper.

Bindery

Wire Binding

Individual sheets are stacked together and holes are punched along the binding edge. A “C” shaped wire is pushed into the holes and pinched together to create a circle.