The Concrete Society
Set for life
Founded in 1966, The Concrete Society is an independent membership organisation dedicated to supporting the use of concrete..
What they're looking for
Constancy in both quality and cost effectiveness is a corner stone to their requirements, irrespective of the numbers being printed.
With 8 lithographic presses, 15 folding machines and 3 saddle stitching lines we can reassure editors that we have the capacity and skills to ensure we meet all production and turnaround needs as well as savings on everything from delivery to postage.
Opening to new design
After five years with its existing design, the layout of Concrete magazine the editors decided it needed a complete refresh with both external and internal stock also being revised. We introduced them to The Graphic Design House, also part of the Bishops group and following a competitive tender they won the project.
The Graphic Design House reviewed everything from the masthead, to fonts, use of imagery, colours and layouts carefully balancing a new contemporary look with the regular inclusions, technical details and favourite pages. They created a more’ architectural feel’ magazine with hero images and articles spaced to pace the reader and encourage them to pause rather than a strictly technical publication.
Working with The Graphic Design House was both easy and hugely enjoyable, they were very attentive to all our requests, including changes to initial design drafts. We looked forward to our weekly meetings to see how the magazine was being transformed and are delighted with our new design.
James Luckey, Editor
The importance of paper
Having invested in a re-design we wanted to make sure the physical magazine mirrored the change and continued to deliver quality and cost effectiveness.
The original print specification was Silk cover and 100 gsm uncoated text pages. After discussions and receiving various paper samples and a wet proof of key design elements they decided to move to Gloss paper. This added a vibrancy to the solid colours. To further support the luxury feel we marginally increased the weight of the internal pages to 115gsm, which still enabled us to stay within the overall postage threshold