Limited edition of 100, £25 each (+P&P)
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Designed by Steve Price (Plan-B Studio) as part of the 10PlanB Project
Printed by Generation Press on 175gsm Colorplan (Bright Red). Thanks to GFSmith for donating the paper. Fund raising by Lucy Brown for Jack Armstrong.
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I am sure this poster strikes a chord in all of us! Steve Price had mentioned a Charity that had not got back to him on an offer he had made to them, so I remembered that I had recently been reading an interesting Blog from a designer on the subject of Autism, they were also helping raise money for someone with Autism. It was then just a simple case of Steve meet Lucy and as Lucy says; 'et voila!'
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Lucy Brown is cycling 54 miles to raise money For Jack Armstrong and his parents to help aid them in his continued development. Lucy's studio is based just down the road from Jack and his family in Cheshire. She became fascinated with autism in 2008 and continues to research, both through written and experimental work, the many parallels between the visual thought of designers and the characteristics of Autism. "To be ale to see and understand Jack's condition is something very close to my studio heart. Therefore, to be able to also raise awareness and help his family financially through many miles of cycling and the sales of such an apt poster is nothing short of brilliant."
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Jack Armstrong
"Jack Armstrong was born on 19th October 2003. He was a happy and normal baby, although his speech was delayed and at the age of two started speech therapy. Aged three and a half, returning from a family holiday, Jack regressed overnight: he no longer played with his toys, pulled at grass and string, lost all the words he had learnt; he no longer had eye contact and didn’t want to be near people. It took over another year before a diagnosis of Autism was made and Jack started at a special needs school.

At the time of Jack’s fifth birthday, his parents, Natalie and Mark, learnt about the Sonrise programme and, determined to do all they could to help Jack, they converted their garage into a Sonrise play therapy room, recruited a team of volunteers who work to join Jack in his world so as to make him feel comfortable and excited so that he wants to join in with our world and develop social interaction.

Today, thanks to the many hours work from family and volunteers and having just returned from our first trip to the Autism Centre in America, Jack has great eye contact and is making huge strides with his speech and with contact. The aim now is to attend the another Intensive Sonrise course to ensure that Jack’s development continues. Every penny donated will go towards this. Thankyou for your help."
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Generation Press
Steve Price (Plan B Studios)
Lucy Brown
GF Smith
Buy Now

Adopt a Northerner™ has always really meant Adopt a Student!
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They may not be as cuddly as a Panda but they are great to have around!
I would like to introduce you to Anand, a third year student from Yorkshire,
studying at Leeds College of Art.
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I am a Third Year Graphic Design Student From Leeds College of Art, studying on a fantastic course run by Program Leader Fred Bates, Amber Smith and Lorenzo Madge. Generation Press have been a major inspiration to me and my design practice for some time now. As a designer I have a love for print particularly promotions which use specialist print processes. After contacting Paul from GP, I asked if I could pop down for a visit. To my surprise Paul offered me not only a visit but an ultimate print experience. " Your going to be like a kid in a sweet shop", and I can tell you now that was an understatement.
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We even collaborated together to come up with a special promotional flyer based on the visit. "Generation Press Adopt A Northerner". Paul suggested we use litho for this, so I can gain knowledge into the print process. Which was explained to me in-depth by GP's proper quality printer Kevin, in the repro department.
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THEN...Paul gave me complete free range on any of their stocks and processes to create my very first business cards. Which came out a treat, Well Nice! They consisted of a 350gsm Cool Grey & Cool Blue (from the GF Smith Colorplan range) on the front which was duplexed to the Exclusive GP colorplan Barr(y)ie on the back. We also used a range of foils for the job, such as holographic neon, magenta, pearl white and gun metal. Over 2000 were printed, this allowed me to see the Original Heidelberg foil blocking press in action. Richard, who had a drive for perfection on the Heidelberg, ran the press. The cards were then duplexed effectively and efficiently by Kate, which wasn’t so efficient when I had a try, but practice makes perfect.
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Generation Press are without a doubt the best in the business, they have an inspiring team of printers which come from different disciplines and specialist backgrounds within print. They produce work only to the highest standards, with the upmost attention to detail and craft to even the smallest jobs. Lets just say Design is only the beginning, here is where it is brought to life to its fullest potential. This was an unforgettable experience, A special Thank-you to Paul for taking the time to create this amazing opportunity for me, and to all at Generation press who have taken time out to make sure I have the best experience. I am Proud to be the newest member of the GP family.

Making Dad and everyone at Generation Press very proud!
April edition of Wired Magazine

The giggle of embarrassment, do they really mean us, the swelling of pride.
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Generation Press were thrilled to find that they had been selected by the Wired Magazine as one of twenty companies seen as the World's most innovative businesses. Alongside the likes of McLaren F1 and Howies. Sounds great doesn't it!
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A few words from the editor:

"We weren't looking for firms making innovative products -- there are plenty of those in the pages of Wired every month. No, we wanted to discover innovative ways to work -- creative new approaches to motivating staff, or sourcing ideas for ad campaigns, or empowering teams to transform the service they offer customers. The 20 examples that made our final list, we hope, will inspire you to rethink your own approach to how you work. Because who can risk relying on the old rules".
David Rowan, (Editor) more here!
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What is particularly pleasing about this article is that it is about how we do business, rather than the work we have produced with the amazing designers we have been lucky enough to work with up until now. I believe this is about running an honest business, a very talented team, passion and relationships! Thats our innovation.
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Read more here: Wired Magazine article.

Barrie Forrest photographed (above) by Jason Tozer.
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Generation Press have commissioned their very own paper as part of their amazing rebrand.
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Colorplan Barry™ is just a part of the rebrand but really highlights what Generation Press is all about, collaboration with real people with real passion for their craft. Hence it felt so appropriate to name the paper after the colour technician Barrie at Croppers Papermill in the Lake District! Creative license was used when we found out that Barrie spells his name with an (Barr)ie rather than a (Barr)y (we hope he doesn't mind too much).
The rebrand itself started life with a new logo, then developed to work as a piece of coherent communication, from a full set of stationery to this website. The different collateral that we use has all been carefully designed to interact with the customer with a different use of coloured paper and message! The main thing that Generation Press didn't want to lose was the fact that we are independent and a family run business in its 4th generation, so that's the brand!
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Letterhead and matching envelope.
-Invoice and matching envelope.
-Box labels.
-Address labels.
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Now a few words from the designers about the identity...
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We wrote this small piece to set the scene for what has for us been a very interesting journey. It was written as a sort of fancy diary entry cum bit of poetry...
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5:59 Rise & shine! From a dark & cold Walthamstow, Scrub & Michael head out of London & ‘up North’ to Burneside for a rendezvous with Barrie & Mark, colour technicians for Croppers paper mill. Sandwiches in the main office, then over to ‘The Lab’; handshakes shaken, pleasantries exchanged... ’Right, what do you want to do?...’ An afternoon amongst test tubes & bunsen burners in the old schoolhouse with Barrie (& Mark) commenced. The aim? To create a bespoke colour Colorplan exclusively for Generation Press. Yellow? No!...’Green?’. Yes! A little more yellow, a little more green... 42 years of experience put to good use.
That’s it... just right!
As a mark of respect to Barrie and his craft, we named the paper
after him (with a bit of poetic licence). GP Colorplan Barry,
born in Burneside , December 5th 2007.
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GP Colorplan Barry™ is as Scrub says just a part of the Generation Press (GP) rebrand, but an important one. It set the tone for what for us has been a very satisfying project. It seems a very long time since we went up to Burneside to meet Barrie and Mark at Croppers, just over 2 years to be precise. We wanted to really push the boat out with the GP identity, make it really special (and unique), and what could be more unique than their own coloured paper?
Once we had the Colorplan Barry™ stock sorted we then went on to design the identity. Barry™ being half of that identity, the idea being that the Barry green stock became synonymous with Generation Press.
We went through various routes, one was accepted by GP and nearly went to print but we pulled the plug and went back to the drawing board. We then settled on the idea of something that every printer tries to avoid, moiré patterns and line screen patterns. But greatly enlarged, turning them into graphic devices that we then applied to the stationery set and GPs online presence. Typography-wise we settled on a very paired back approach, leaving the over-scaled graphic patterns to really really stand out. Every item of stationery has a different pattern, or formation of pattern. Each piece is printed using a variety of processes, on a set amount of four different coloured GF Smith Colorplan stock.
We designed the GP logo alongside a typeface and a set of environmental icons (which were very important to GP) all based upon the GP mark. Nicola worked closely with Scrub on the tone of voice (an example of which can be read on the GP website), including a rather beautiful poem which we've included below, titled 'Ode To Print'—

Beauty; Tactile Print.

Paper, Ink, Plate; Plate, Ink, Paper.
Simple thinking, complex answers. Years of Learning.

Shimmer ripples sheens, gloss shards of sharp.
Sheets of flips, reams of flops. Handle with care.

To have and to hold it, fold it, stitch it; feel it, sense it, love it.

Breathe deep.

Print; Tactile Beauty.

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Introducing Barr(y)ie competition.
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For the opportunity to win one of 10 special die-cut (shown above) 'Introducing Barr(y)ie' posters, and a set of postcards all you have to do is answer the following question.
'What is Barrie's surname?'
Please send your answer in an email to blog@generationpress.co.uk
The competition closes on 14th February (2010), and will be drawn on the 15th February.

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19 Entertaiment Stationery
By Zip Design

Zip Design got in touch with us to try and crack this beauty, with the combinations of foil and print across all items, this needed a real attention to detail.
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The business Cards are great, with different coloured backs to all the cards, on the front of the cards, each person has their details in white foil on colorplan ebony. Interestingly we duplexed two 175gsm Colorplans to give a nice elegent feel to the cards.
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The letterheads and compliments slips had all the details in shiny black foil, and the rich black reverses printed solid litho on to one of our favourite sheets Zanders Zeta Micro. The micro embossing on these sheets adds that little extra dimension.
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Design Zip Design
Photography Zip Design
Printing: Generation Press

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We are giving away a set of numbered limited edition 'Not For Commercial use' posters this month
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In order to win you will need to follow Generation Press on twitter & then copy and paste the following into your tweet!
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RT #iwantNFCU
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Check out the posters here. Go on to the NFCU web site to find out more about the project.
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Good luck!
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A joint project by Build & Generation Press
Designed by Build
Print By Generation Press