HP has teamed up with design magazine Wallpaper to create almost a quarter of a million unique posters for the publication's 20th anniversary celebrations this month.
The project - a ground-breaking campaign that reinvents digital poster production - used HP Indigo’s SmartStream Mosaic technology to create 220,000 unique commemorative posters, two of which will be distributed with each issue of the publication this September.
Based on brand new designs from esteemed studio Spin, the customised posters are set to reach 93 countries worldwide. The designs have been produced in collaboration with print and communication specialist, F.E. Burman, at the company’s state-of-the-art production facility in London on an HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press.
“The idea to collaborate with HP came from a brainstorm with F.E. Burman, who has been our printing partner for many years now," says Sarah Douglas, creative director of UK-based Wallpaper*. “For Wallpaper* magazine’s landmark 20th birthday we wanted to create something special and unique that would impact each of our readers on a personal level.
"As soon as the Burman’s team presented us with the Mosaic concept and its extraordinary possibilities, we connected with it. It’s a designer’s dream to be able to create this many original artworks and to push digital printing as far as we have with HP Mosaic. Working on this project with HP Indigo has been incredibly exciting and has inspired us to totally re-think our attitude and approach to print technology and the printing process.”
Tony Brook, a graphic designer known for his work with brands such as Nike, Design Museum and Christie’s, was asked by Wallpaper* to create the exclusive designs for the project. Brook and his team developed 12 original source designs of varying patterns, colours and shapes, enabling each set of posters to honour Wallpaper*’s legacy of design innovation. “We had to organize two decades’ worth of images and captions to bring together the idea that it was a celebration for the 20 years,” says Brook. “We used HP Mosaic and played with the numbers ‘96’ and ‘16’ as the main features, changing the gradations and colours in the background to keep them moving thoroughout the project. It was important for us that each poster had its own character, but that overall they hung together.
"The flexibility of the HP SmartStream Mosaic software enables designers to create a rich visual language to portray a brand’s identity, while the superior print quality of the HP Indigo 10000 enabled the designs to be translated perfectly on to paper. What really impressed us was the quality of the print with HP Indigo. It is remarkable how even flat colours are, particularly light tints, and how smooth vignettes are without feeling mechanical.”