Our 2015 calendar ‘Underdogs’ is a homage to rescue dogs

Title: Underdogs.
Design: Marta Roca from Four&Sons plus Caroline Beard and Anthony Stephens (RMIT grads).
Photography: James Geer and assistant Tom Blachford.
Pre-production: Visual Thing (VIC).
Copywriting: Samantha Guthrie.
Stocks: Cover is Rives Tradition Poison Black 250gsm and text is Strathmore Premium Super Smooth Ultimate White 176gsm.
Printing specs: UV offset printed by Immij (VIC). Cover screen printed by STS Creative Printers (VIC). Binder: Marvel Book Binding (VIC).
Finished size: 350 x 590 mm.

Next year marks our 40th year in the paper biz, so we called in the big guns to create our 2015 calendar which is given to key customers as a gift and a thank you. We assembled a team of poochie lovers that set-out on a collaboration that took nine months to complete. The result is a set of doggie portraits, fashion inspired images of 12 underdogs. The misfits and true Aussie battlers from the wrong side of the tracks.

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The team of poochie aficondos was made-up of Marta Roca, Creative Director from online and print magazine Four&Sons along with some students which we found via a shout-out on desktop. The wonderful Caroline Beard and Anthony Stephens, two recently graduated RMIT students from VIC made the cut. They recently wrote to us saying how much they loved the experience, had loads of fun. That the project intensified their love of print and beautiful paper even more and they thanked us for the friendship and guidance provided. We think you guys rock! Ok, enough gushing.

When Catherine Doggett contacted Four&Sons to be a part of the calendar project, Marta says she: “Felt a sense of serendipity. From the KWD team, to the graduates Anthony and Caroline and James Geer, everyone got in sync with the underdog concept straight away. We all wanted to pay tribute to the unsung heroes and to give something back for all of those years of constant inspiration.”

To find the poochie models, we ran a doggy talent search among our VIC clients and customers. The criteria specifically asked for dogs that have been adopted or rescued. Each person submitted a photo and a bio of their dog. We received over 200 entries. A great response and so many great dogs! Marta, Anthony and Caroline chose the final 12 to appear in the calendar.

One camera shoot, one day and a lot of pooches coming and going from the studio in Melbourne’s leafy suburb of Elsternwick. We took the dogs for walks, helped them make friends and let them roam around in the hope we’d capture their true spirit which James did so brilliantly. We gave them lots of attention. It was a big love-in of our furry friends. “Maybe it was the treats, maybe we were just plain lucky. Or all of the above. Whatever the reason, magic just happened! We couldn’t have asked for better models,” said Marta to us recently. And internationally renowned photographer James Geer captured that magic.To say thanks for their hard work, we donated money to Pet Rescue Australia.

That’s it friends, we’re done for another year. We often joke that maybe, just maybe, one day, we will make the calendar about cats instead. Possibly even change our name to Cattett Paper. But we’re pretty keen on the dogs for now, so not just yet. Enjoy the 12 months of canine inspiration! Until next time…

Printing tips…
Using the UV offset press (on an uncoated paper profile) means instant drying times and a slight sheen to the ink is created. The darker images were printed using a 225 line screen which gave us a richer black and even ink lay down. The lighter images were printed with a 175 line screen as there was more contrast between the lighter and darker areas. The cover is screen printed with two hits of white to give a bold ink lift.

The paper for the text pages is Strathmore Premium Super Smooth. Being a premium paper, it is ideal for high end photography with even ink lay down. Nice solids and sharp reproduction. It makes the images look great. The Ultimate White is slightly ivory in colour and does add a small amount of yellow to an image (you can compensate for this on press or when setting up artwork).

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