Discovery
I started to think about what print publications I liked. So Young was at the top of the list. I researched into where they printed their magazine and found the creative art book and booklet printing company, Ex Why Zed.
Looking at their case studies on previous jobs they have worked on was extremely helpful as it provided information on number of pages, paper stock and gsm, trim, binding method, size, ink etc. It showed a wide variety of projects they've worked on.
(https://www.exwhyzed.co.uk/portfolio-category/zines-magazines/)
Samples?
I got in contact with the company who sounded excited to work on printing the project. I asked whether they could send out some samples of paper stock and maybe even see if they could send a printed publication (to get an idea of their quality).
They sent out the following:
- 'House' Uncoated Paper Stock (115gsm, 170gsm, 300gsm)
- 'House' Silk Paper Stock (115gsm, 170gsm, 300gsm)
- 'House' Gloss Paper Stock (115gsm, 170gsm, 300gsm)
- 'Optimism' a fully printed publication sample (A5 Bookelt, 4pp Cover onto 300gsm Uncoated, Matt Lamination to outer), 20pp Text onto 115gsm Uncoated, Four colour print throughout, Wire Stitched)
Thoughts
Having these samples is a massive help in deciding the outcome of my paper as i'm pretty sure that I want to use uncoated paper now as I really like the texture and feel to the ink. I also have an idea of how many pages to aim for to achieve something similar to the publication they sent out.
I also found an informative video where Ex Why Zed look through their collection of printed zines and booklets. Again this was very helpful when thinking about size, gsm and all those other aspects that make a bespoke publication.
(Above, 'Optimism' publication) (Below, 'House' Uncoated Paper Stock 300gsm)