Secrets of Canadian Benny

Print Action, Oct 2004 by Robinson, Jon

Now in its 55th year, the PIA Premier Print Awards is regarded as the industry's oldest and largest international graphic arts competition. More than 4,400 entries were submitted from around the world, in 93 categories. Of all the awards handed out, a printing company can dramatically position itself in the marketplace by winning the coveted Best of Category Award. This award is better known as the Benny.

Printers from Uruguay, Australia, United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico shared Benny success with three Canadian companies, who won a total of four awards. PrintAction spoke with the Canadian winners to find out what technologies they used and what challenges they overcame.

Metropolitan Fine Printers Inc.

Vancouver, British Columbia

Work: Fashion is Art

Category: Magazines, 4 or more colours

What technology was used to produce the piece?

This project was produced on a 6-colour 41-inch Man Miller TP104, with coater. Ten-micron staccato imaging was achieved using a Creo Trendsetter 3244F with thermal head. The piece was produced on Stora Enso 80-lb Productolith Gloss Cover, printed with 4-colour process flood gloss varnish. In the finishing stage, the 36-page Art of Fashion was saddle stitched with a self cover.

What was the most challenging aspect of producing this piece?

Aware of the necessity to achieve impact with the images, Metropolitan increased all of the colour densities approximately 50 per cent, but they still had to hold detail in the shadows - enabled by 10-micron Staccato.

Hemlock Printers Ltd.

Burnaby, British Columbia

Work: Tools of the Forgotten Art Correspondence Kit

Category: Cards

What technology was used to produce the piece?

The specialty note cards were lithographed 4-colour process with a fifth colour and overall aqueous coating on Hemlock's 6-colour plus coater Heidelberg Speedmaster CD74 press. Using 10-micron stochastic screening technology, the cards present vivid images from a number of British Columbia's emerging artists. Printed on 80-Ib Domtar Titanium Cover.

The envelopes for the cards were lithographed with one PMS colour on Hemlock's 6-colour plus coater Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 press, using 20-micron stochastic screening, on 70-Ib Domtar Titanium Text. These pieces were collated and inserted into a custom collectible metal tin, which also contained a custom Hemlock writing pen.

What was the most challenging aspect of producing this piece?

The cards and envelopes contained tinted hairline rules that were knocked out of a solid background. Keeping these rules open on press could have potentially presented a challenge, but Hemlock's craftspeople are very knowledge and were able to properly use Creo's screening technology.

The DATA Group of Companies

Brampton, Ontario

Work: Great-West Life Fund Application

Category: Business forms

What technology was used to produce the piece?

The piece was produced on a rotary 6-colour, 22-inch lithographic Sanden press with UV drying capability. London Life Insurance Company, which owns the Great-West Life brand, submitted Quark files to which DATA applied finished layout and typesetting. DATA used Kallima 8-point CIS tag stock (coated one side), CB and CFB carbon-less imaging bond.

The piece ran and was collated as an 11-inch deep by 17-1/2-inch wide, 3-part snapset, which was then folded and trimmed to form an 8-1/2 × 11-inch end-bound booklet. The Kallima tag is placed in position three, with the coated side reversed, presenting a semi-gloss surface to provide the outside cover of the completed product.

What was the most challenging aspect of producing this piece?

The principal challenge of the piece was to achieve the colour effect required for the graphics on the outside of the booklet, which prompted a range of screens and shades to achieve a visual appearance close to metallic, using a single PMS green UV ink. Also, the Kallima tag stock is not available as a carbon-less imaging paper, meaning it was necessary to apply CF coating to the reverse of the sheet to create the part-to-part imaging feature required by the product

Metropolitan Fine Printers Inc.

Vancouver, British Columbia

Work: Vedros

Category: Direct-mail campaigns, consumer

What technology was used to produce the piece?

This project used some of the newest technologies in printing today, including an Ultra Violet, 8-colour MAN Roland 700 press, with a 41-inch format and coater. A Creo Trendsetter 3244F computer-to-plate device with thermal head enabled 10-micron Staccato imaging.

The cover sleeve of the piece was produced on 80-Ib uncoated stock, which was 100 per cent post-consumer recycled. The printed cover was produced in a UV 4-colour process. The text pages used 78-Ib Topkote Gloss Cover, printed in a UV 4-colour process, with a touch yellow touch magenta UV high gloss spot matte coating.

What was the most challenging aspect of producing this piece?

The printing challenge came in carefully applying touch plates (boost plates) so as not to over saturate the images. There was also a challenge in gluing the sheets and die-cutting to achieve the piece's 9-1/2-foot continuous French fold.