Mitchell Design Teams

Background

Mitchell Press is Western Canada’s largest high speed, premium quality, commercial printer. They specialize in high-speed lithography and digital/web printing.

Challenge

Digital printing is a misunderstood technology. To fix this, Mitchell Press wanted to show off the incredible production possibilities of their digital press, so they came to Carter Hales as their brand design company to help them out.

Solution

The goal behind Design Teams was to dispel quality misconceptions around web printing. Carter Hales Design Lab was commissioned to create a sub-brand (Design Teams), a quarterly magazine, a housing mechanism for the magazine, and a suite of informative, illustrated and beautifully printed support pieces.

The D and T of the logo was inspired by printing rollers and the elegant way in which paper weaves through a press. The ‘weaving paper’ becomes a customizable component and can be emphasized with bright colour, embossing, or metallic ink depending on the application.

To support the brand, Carter Hales created custom typography and illustrated a collection of characters and environments to educate designers about digital printing. Each piece was designed like a classic comic (think Gasoline Alley or Peanuts) and welcomes the reader into the world of digital printing. The quirky, bright, geometric illustrations were designed to be versatile and suitable for any application.

The limited colours used in the housing mechanism and support materials allow Mitchell Press to customize the palette of the package to match an outgoing issue of Design Teams Magazine.