Look closely at the charcoal cover and the letters G, A, T and C repeat faintly across the whole board, the four bases of DNA used as a texture. Over them, rings of pink, cyan and lime dashes circle small portraits like data orbiting a person. This is Genomics England's annual report, designed by Katy at Inky Creative, and it reached us alongside a smaller job with a big personality: five sets of A6 postcards marking staff work anniversaries, each one wishing the recipient a happy Geliversary. We printed the report A4, with 60 inside pages of 135gsm GF Smith Colorplan perfect bound into a 270gsm GF Smith Zen cover.
A4, after a copy and paste wobble
Katy's first email described a 64 page brochure that "needs to all feel very high quality". Our first quotes went out at A5. She replied that afternoon that the report was A4, and our revised figures came back still headed A5. Michael, Genomics England's marketing and brand director, caught it straight away: "It mentions again A5?" Mike owned it in one line, "well spotted. The magic of copy and paste at work there", and sent corrected prices minutes later. A4 suits an annual report like this one. The contents page runs to more than forty entries, and the full page charcoal section dividers need the width to land. If your spec ever bounces between people, say the trim size in every message.
Uncoated GF Smith, chosen by touch
Katy ordered the GF Smith sample book and asked us which inside weight to avoid. Mike pointed her at 135gsm Colorplan for an uncoated sheet with a slightly textured feel, or Heaven42 and Phoenix Motion for something smoother, adding that 130gsm is the standard inside weight and 170gsm the premium step. She wanted texture. We quoted three combinations side by side: GF Smith Zen with Colorplan, an all Mohawk build, and our house uncoated. Zen and Colorplan won, with the cover trimmed from 300gsm to 270gsm. Uncoated paper makes an annual report feel like a considered object rather than a corporate handout, and these bright pinks and cyans still hold their punch on it. Mike admitted we rarely get to print on GF Smith "because of the cost (despite quoting thousands)", so we were all keen to see this one come off the press.
Staples or a spine for 64 heavy pages?
The original request was saddle stitched. Staples cope with 8 to 72 pages, always in fours, so 64 looks safe, but page count is only half the sum. Folded inside one another, fifteen sheets of 135gsm Colorplan wrapped in a heavy board cover make a bulky fold that will not sit flat under a staple. Harriet flagged it and suggested perfect binding, which Katy accepted within six minutes. A glued spine becomes possible at 32 pages in total, cover included, and at that size it is only 2mm to 3mm across. Sixty pages of Colorplan gave this one 6mm, past the roughly 5mm a spine needs before lettering will fit. Mike drew the 6mm spine into an InDesign template for her and asked for 10mm of bleed at head and foot, so the fold hairlines would show on her PDF. Our illustrated cover file instructions show each step.
Pristine White on backorder, White Frost on the shelf
The morning after Katy ordered, GF Smith told Harriet that 135gsm Colorplan Pristine White was on backorder, with no fresh stock for weeks. Bright White, the obvious stand in, had gone too. The only Colorplan available in every weight was White Frost, and the switch would touch the postcards as well as the report. Katy chose White Frost that afternoon: "I don't think anyone but me would notice anyway." The paper arrived the following Wednesday, the day after her final proof approval, and the reports were delivered to Genomics England's London office under four weeks after her first email.
Gold foil for the tenth year only
The postcards needed writing on, so Katy chose uncoated 350gsm Colorplan, single sided with blank backs for the team's messages. Years one, three, five and eight carry full colour artwork on saturated blue, pink, lime and cyan grounds. The year ten card carries no ink at all: just gold foil rings and lettering on bare white board. Mike warned Katy that foiling alone takes about five working days. He also passed on a postcard rule worth borrowing. Our trim tolerance is 1mm, so a 3mm white border can come out at 2mm on one side and 4mm on the other; make any border 5mm or more and the movement disappears. Our postcard printing options include foil.
"Wow so great to see thank you Mike, many a sleepless night ... I'm sure they will be thrilled!"
Katy, designer, Inky Creative
Katy first pointed us at the Wirewax annual we printed with a spot UV Colorplan cover as the kind of colour she wanted. If your organisation's year deserves a report people keep, start with our annual report printing page, then have us post you the papers so you can choose with your fingertips.
PaperbacksA5, 44 pages, perfect bound£246for 100
Product cataloguesA5, 28 pages, stapled£166for 100