North Metro TAFE graphic design students get ‘hands-on’ assembling sketch books for CLEAN SLATE Graduate Exhibition, November 16-19

November 2 2016, 11:53 am | BY Martin Trevaskis | No Comments

CleanSlate_Sketchbooks_BLOG_2.jpgLast week, North Metro TAFE’s graduating graphic design students dropped everything they were working on and became production workers for the day – hand assembling more than a thousand sketchbooks.

The whole CLEAN SLATE crew met downstairs in the print machining workshop at North Metropolitan TAFE in Perth to manufacture the sketchbooks. There are twelve different versions of the books, with each book featuring a couple of great sketches from the projects they have been working on throughout the year.

CleanSlate_Sketchbooks_BLOG.jpgThanks to Brad Burrows, Print Technician extraordinaire, the covers had already been printed double-sided on the Heidelberg GTO 52 Offset Printing Press and creased along the spines on the Heidelberg T Platen Letterpress. So it was up to the students to hand-collate the covers and text pages, saddle stitch, fold and book press, round corners and wrap each book in a very colourful, perforated bellyband.

Everyone quickly assumed a role in the production line and enjoyed the fast-paced work and the feeling of being a part of an efficient team. They all gained an appreciation for the work involved in print finishing, especially for the amount of labour and time involved in hand assembling.

See the production process HERE (1:04).

The sketchbooks are the official invitations to the CLEAN SLATE Graphic Design Graduate Exhibition at Gallery Central, 12 Aberdeen Street in Northbridge from the 16 -19 November 2016.

The idea is that a new sketchbook – a clean slate – is an exciting thing to have; it represents a wealth of possibilities much like the 2016 design graduates.

“A huge thank you to the terrific Kellie Cooke and BJ Ball’s designline team for supplying us with the stock for the covers and the text blocks,” said North Metro TAFE’s Brendan Hibbert. “We used Botany 100% Recycled 230gsm for the covers, for a raw and practical look and Quartz White Onyx 100% Recycled Vellum 100gsm for body pages that are just great to draw on.”

If you haven’t received your invite in the mail, you are welcome to order your free sketchbook HERE.

And in the meantime, meet the graduates and check out their work on the CLEAN SLATE website HERE.