A food pouch that answers perfectly the main role of food packaging – giving its contents meal appeal to the supermarket shopper – has taken out the Supreme Award at the 2015 Pride In Print Awards, held over the weekend in Wellington’s TSB Arena (before a large audience, we are told).
The Farrah’s Multigrain wrap, printed by the Branston Street, Christchurch, branch of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, was announced best of the best because, in the words of awards chairman Scott Porter, “it went straight to the taste buds of the shopper”.
The wrapper was designed to give the impression the photograph of the food contents is actually in front of the food pouch, sitting on it. In turn the wrapper appears as if it is sitting on a coloured table cloth.
Judge Scott Porter praised the tactile feel applied over some areas such as the recipes, to enhance the experience of the buyer. “These guys have found a way to stop work of this calibre going offshore,” he said. “It rocks!”
The wrapper also won the Packaging Category prize.
The awards aim to recognise and applaud the innovation and technical mastery of the print industry, and how printers, designers and companies are working together in the marketplace.
This year’s awards campaign theme, Power of Print, highlighted the impact the printed media has on everybody’s lives, through every sector of New Zealand’s many industries. This was reflected in the work of the various category winners:
Mag job ‘as good as it gets’
The judges said the Pro Photographer magazine entered by McCollams Print Auckland was “as good as you can get as an ambassador for the New Zealand publications sector”. Senior judge Darren Gallot said the outstanding feature of magazine was the intensity of the colour. “It’s the kind of thing that would catch the eye of a consumer browsing in the airport news stand.”
A job that looked simple, but had every component done perfectly, landed the Business Print Category prize for Spectrum Print of Christchurch.
The Market Gardeners Ltd Annual Review 2014 was “a masterpiece of print perfection” the judges said.
Judges hooked
Clever innovation was also displayed in the Labels Category award. When the Department of Conservation wanted to produce an easy-to-use measuring guide for anglers fishing for trout in the DOC Taupo Fishing District, it turned to Mesh Print of Petone for a solution.
The label had to show the legal minimum length of 40cm for the fish from the tip of the nose to the V of the tail. DOC had to be sure the finished decal would not shrink, as any shrinkage would mean it was not showing the correct legal length, nor could the printing fade.
Mesh Print’s solution to these challenges was to take a polyester self-adhesive label and use a screen print to apply the image of a trout at full size, with the legal length shown clearly. The decal sticks on to an easy-to-assemble wooden measuring block, for which assembly instructions were included.
Screen printing was the only process that would print successfully on to the polyester surface. Senior judge Richard Noakes said: “It is all done by hand – no machines at all. To come out with a result like this, is quite frankly staggering.”
3D spider in Nikes
Innovation was also to the fore in the stunning 3D window display of a large plastic spider holding a pair of Nike running shoes as its pointed fangs, which won the Display Print Category for Big Colour Imaging of Auckland.
The 3D spider was a multi-level window display which replicated a spider’s body, legs and web. The focal point was the brightly-coloured Nike shoes, to which the eye was drawn in the centre of the backlit display. It was used in shops in both Australia and New Zealand.
Senior judge Symon Yendoll said: “The Nike Magista Spider is an excellent example of point-of-sale innovation.”
Wine labels toast World of Wearable Art
The famous World of Wearable Art (WOW) fashion show got a boost from wine labels from Auckland’s Panprint that in themselves had a WOW! factor for Pride In Print Judges, who called the show world-class.
The Brancott Estate World of Wearable Art Campaign wine labels carried off the Promotional Print category of the Awards with their extraordinary and classy finish – nicely reflecting the garments that grace the catwalk at WOW.
The sets of labels feature foiling and high-build embossing, giving them a tactile feel to attract the eye and touch of the wine buyer.
Judges praised the crisp and clean approach: “A wine label has to be eye-catching in order to have instant appeal to the customer,” they said. “It is what makes them stop in the aisle, reach for the bottle and begin to browse. It is the label that gives the wine producer that competitive advantage in the marketplace.”
Art & print in harmony
Art met print in the Tawharanui Waves limited edition print that won the Specialty Products category of the Awards.
Artist and printer worked together, in harmony, to produce fine art of a breathtaking quality. Artist Matt Payne worked with Artrite Screen Printing of Onehunga on site to get the print colours just right, so that he could faithfully recreate his original painting in a limited run of prints on cotton art paper that went for sale in the Matt Payne Galleries.
In all, 27 colours were mixed under the artist’s direction, with a single screen print pass for each in turn, until the artist was sure his original acrylic painting was being perfectly reproduced.
Awards manager Sue Archibald said this represents a “fantastic use of screen print and merges craftsmanship with old and new technology”.
Eco ink catching on
Companies with an environmental conscience have had a new avenue of print buying opened up to them by the Pride In Print Industry Development Category winner Live to Print.
The boutique Whangarei printery came up with the concept of a screen printing ink so environmentally-friendly that screen printing is presented in a new commercial light. Its Screeners Choice selection of vibrant colours prompted senior judge Angelique Sparnaay-Martin to say the commercial flow-on benefit of the inks is that they opened up screen printing to companies who previously had not considered it for their products.
“The main users now are schools of fine arts but many companies keen to do screen printing have been put off in the past,” she said. “They are environmentally-friendly firms and don’t want to use chemicals. Today, this product has given them a new choice.”
The numbers
The awards recorded a 20% increase in the number of entries from 2014 (777 entries in total). “This indicates that the New Zealand print industry has fought through tough economic conditions and is now emerging with higher quality levels than ever before,” said Sue Archibald.
“For over 20 years now, the Pride In Print Awards have been the key to raising the bar in quality standards, of showcasing the best that the New Zealand print industry has to offer and in so doing, demonstrating world-class quality.
Other stats this year:
“The number of Gold Medals awarded annually as a percentage of entry has remained consistent, cementing Pride In Print as a sound and robust industry benchmark,” Archibald said.
PRIDE IN PRINT WINNERS 2015
Supreme Winner
Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific: Farrah’s Multigrain Wrap
Category Winners
Publications: McCollams Print (Pro Photographer Magazine June/July 2014)
Business Print: Spectrum Print (Market Gardeners Ltd Annual Review 2014)
Packaging: Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific (Farrah’s Multigrain Wrap)
Labels: Mesh Print (Trout Measure for DOC Taupo Fishing District)
Display Print: Big Colour Imaging (Nike Spider)
Promotional Print: Panprint (Brancott Estate WOW campaign wine)
Specialty Products: Artrite Screen Printing (Tawharanui Waves)
Industry Development: Live to Print (Live to Print – Screeners Choice)
Process Winners
Web: DSP Print Group (Translite)
Heatset: Webstar (Metro Jan/Feb)
Coldset: NZME (Bite)
Flexo: Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific (Farrah’s Multigrain wrap)
Finishing: Fuji Xerox (La Fleur)
Digital: Fuzed (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Screen: Artrite Screen Printing (Tawharanui Waves)
Inkjet: Big Colour Imaging (Nike Spider)
- See all the winning work (+ Highly Commendeds) here
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