Magpie Press

It’s autumn (my favourite season) and we are still working at freshening the website – or at least keeping it up to date – time is moving too fast!

I thought I’d share with you some business cards that have recently been added to our business card gallery on the Magpie Press website. Creating a business card that not only stands out but expresses your business appropriately is a tough job for a designer – I think Leanne from Vanilla Hayes did an amazing job on Pink Poppies business card. It’s rare that you see a business card with a touch of colour, let alone pink! Here are some other standout cards that really showcase the deboss our big old press is capable of:

Just a note: clicking on the image will send you to the designer’s website.

Enough to inspire me on these chilled evenings!

Sarah

There’s no better way to start the year than with a bit of good news.  We were stoked to hear that the brand identity for Williams Warn personal brewers by Studio Alexander has won a gold award in the international Graphis 100 Best in Design and will feature in the 2012 edition of the International Journal of Visual Communication.  We are proud to say that we printed the coasters, business cards and letterhead for this project.  You can read more about it here in Idealog>> This follows hot on the heels of a Silver Award in the Best Awards 2011 Brilliant!

I have been privileged with the task of being a guest blogger. Hi, my name is Sarah. How are you? We have been extremely busy here at Magpie Press (despite and hence the lack of blog posts!) From business cards to wedding invitations, from blind prints to duplex – you name it! Here is a little taste of what we’ve been up to…

Here is a black/white duplex card for Kris at Klim Type Foundry

A lovely love note tag…

And a good blind deboss…

Hope everyone had as wonderful a start to the new year as we have!

Sarah

Two design practitioners and a programmer based in the Ironbank building on K Road recently asked us to print their cards – all three projects took full advantage of letterpress capabilities and the results were awesome.  The Fuman card is on Lettra 600gsm – perfect for the fully debossed pattern on the reverse, while the Creative Organism card was printed on two pieces of Somerset 330gsm which were laminated together and diecut to finish.  We were especially pleased with the print of the illustrative work on both sides of this card.  The Codezilla card is on 610gsm recycled stock.  You can read more about Fuman here>> and Creative Organism here>> and Codezilla here>>

Thought I’d share one of the coolest projects so far this year – a beautiful duplexed card for Donnee Murray of GOOD Design. Each side was printed separately on GF Smith ColorPlan 270gsm paper, then laminated together and trimmed.  We’re delighted with the result, especially with the glowing citrine reverse – just makes you smile!  Go Good!

Delighted!  That’s how we felt printing up this vintage-inspired business card for Amanada Robertshawe.  It was our first print on a new 425gsm cream paper stock and it is a total winner.  The blind (no ink) print came up beautifully – a perfect pairing with the delicate teacup.  Cheers to Amanda Oliver @ Ornament for the awesome design.  Time for a cuppa!

Extra special business cards on the press this week for Wellington-based designer Allison Jochim.  We had a great time not only printing them (on the Lettra 600gsm, giving Superfine a very good impression) but also edge painting the cards afterwards..  check out the results – very fit for a superfine designer indeed!

I was honoured recently when award-winning photographer Sarah Beaufoy asked Magpie Press to print new business cards and matching compliments slips for Beaufoy Imagery.  The elegant cards, printed on Lettra 600gsm are printed in the palest of grey on one side, and blind (no ink) debossed on the other.  Matching slips on Lettra 300gsm perfectly suit the ambience of Beaufoy Imagery – you’ll see what I mean when you check out her website – I had tears welling up when I first visited (in the nicest possible way!).

Well the big news this week at Magpie Press is the long-awaited arrival of a fantastic new paper stock.  The Crane Lettra in bright white has a smooth finish, and is just perfect for double-sided work, or when you want a brighter white than the lovely warm whites we usually work with in the Somerset range.  The first project off the press in the 600gsm is this awesome card for Urban Logic.  Crane is an American company with a great eco ethic (‘green since 1801′) and the Lettra range is made from tree-free 100% cotton fibre, in a mill which uses steam from a nearby waste-to-energy plant.  You can read more about this here> We also have the matching 100% cotton envelopes available in a variety of sizes in stock now.

We printed up these great cards for Nick Cattell recently on Somerset 330gsm.  I’m still not entirely sure about what a ‘matte painter’ actually is, but clearly he has some great practical skills, as we received these shots soon after delivery, of the cards with the corners cut!  Thanks Nick for the update.  (We’re happy to cut the corners for you too – just ask when ordering).