High-Impact Photobook Printing for Undercurrent by Jimi Herrtage

270x200mm Books
4pp Cover onto 300gsm Silk FSC Certified
Matt Lamination to outer
76pp Inside pages onto 130gsm Silk FSC Certified (5mm spine)
Trimmed, collated and Perfect Bound

“Thanks for all your help with this, much appreciated – patience of a saint.”

Undercurrent is a vivid, high-energy photobook from photographer Jimi Herrtage, celebrating skateboarding, surfing and late-night city life. Printed at 270 x 200mm in a landscape format, it gives every image room to hit at full force. Our team worked with Jimi from first quote through to file set-up and final proof, refining the spec and binding so his hard-hitting visuals landed exactly as intended.

About the Book

Undercurrent is a lush mix of lifestyle, skate and surf photography shot through with saturated colour and movement. Vision, motion and impact run through the sequence – from tattooed skaters carving concrete to surfers framed against blazing sunsets and club crowds lit by deep red light. The wide landscape page gives Jimi’s images a cinematic feel, with full-bleed spreads placing the viewer right in the bowl, the break or the dancefloor.

For readers who gravitate to urban culture, boardsports and vivid documentary work, this photobook feels like a long summer condensed into 76 pages.

Print Specification & Materials

We produced Undercurrent at 270 x 200mm – close to A4 but slightly more compact – so the book feels substantial without becoming unwieldy. That generous surface area suits the project’s bold, full-bleed photography.

The cover is printed on 300gsm silk with matt lamination to the outside. The coated stock keeps colours crisp, while the lamination adds protection and a smooth, modern finish that stands up to repeated handling in galleries or pop-up shops.

Inside, 76 pages on 130gsm silk carry four-colour images throughout. Silk is ideal for this sort of high-contrast photography – it preserves detail in darker shadows and keeps the rich blues, oranges and reds punchy without glare. Uncoated stock would have absorbed more ink and softened the shadows, so silk was the right call for Jimi’s aesthetic.

The book is trimmed, collated and perfect bound with a 5mm square spine, giving it that bookshop-ready profile.

Design Details That Make It Sing

On the cover, a tattooed skater drops into a concrete bowl, captured from above. The title “UNDERCURRENT” is set in small, centred type following the curve of the bowl, with Jimi’s name grounded at the bottom edge. It’s a simple structure that lets the image do the talking while still feeling composed.

Inside, the sequence leans into double-page spreads. Typography is used sparingly – bold words like “VISION” and “MOTION” punctuate the flow rather than competing with the photography. The book moves from skateparks to surf breaks to crowded parties and festivals, with the silk stock helping every colour-drenched frame hold together from spread to spread.

Perfect binding keeps the spine neat, but the relatively slim 76pp block still opens comfortably for full-bleed imagery across the gutter – essential for those wide action shots.

The Client’s Print Journey

Jimi first approached us looking at a stapled booklet, but his page count pushed beyond what wire stitching can handle neatly. We walked through the limits – explaining that stapled binding maxes out at around 72 pages on this stock – and suggested perfect binding for a 76pp book instead.

We quoted both options so he could compare costs, then helped refine the final spec and print run. Once he decided to go ahead with 100 perfect bound copies, our team supplied a custom InDesign cover template with the correct 5mm spine built in, plus clear guidance on bleed so he could position his artwork with confidence.

There was also some back-and-forth on files: we asked for inside pages as single pages in reading order and flagged that his images were in RGB, explaining how these would translate to CMYK and suggesting adjustments if colour accuracy was critical. A final PDF proof gave Jimi one last chance to check colour and layout before pressing “approve” and sending Undercurrent to print.

How Ex Why Zed Helped

Throughout the project we focused on three things: binding advice, colour-conscious paper choices and easy file set-up.

• Binding guidance. By outlining the pros and cons of saddle stitching versus perfect binding – and the practical page-count limits – we helped Jimi choose a more durable, professional finish without losing the feel of a skate mag. 
• Paper and finish decisions. We recommended silk for both cover and text stock so the deep shadows and saturated tones in his photography stayed rich and defined, supported by a matt laminated cover for extra resilience. 
• Hands-on file support. From sharing cover templates and video guides to checking bleed, page order and colour space, our team stayed close at each step. That meant fewer last-minute surprises and a smoother path from Dropbox link to finished stack of books.
  

Takeaways for Your Next Photobook Project

• Choose a slightly oversized landscape format if your work relies on wide action shots or panoramic scenes.
  
• Consider silk stock for image-heavy books where strong shadows and high contrast matter.
  
• Keep covers visually simple so one powerful image can represent the project and stand out on a crowded table.
  
• Decide early whether you want a stapled zine feel or perfect bound “book” feel – your page count and paper weight will heavily influence that choice.
  
• Build in time for a proper proof check; looking at your spreads in a browser-based proof is a different experience to checking them in your design software.
  
• Ask your printer for spine templates and file set-up guides – they will save you hours of guesswork.
  

If your images are in RGB, discuss colour conversion with your printer so you know how the palette will shift in CMYK.