10th July 2007

  

Epson Micro Piezo inkjet technology and award winning UltraChrome K3 ink is used to produce 50 Years of Helvetica Exhibition.

2007 sees the 50th anniversary of Helvetica. This well-known typeface was created in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman at the Haas type foundry in Switzerland. Over the years the typeface has been used in a great many applications giving it its own place in design history. From the beautifully implemented New York subway signage system by Vignelli to the lowly ‘EXIT’ sign, the flexibility of the typeface seems to have no boundaries.

Blanka and Candy have invited 50 leading artists and graphic designers to each produce an image to create a visual diary of events over the lifetime of Helvetica, which include lunar landings and the first British nudist camp. In addition to the exhibition, each image is being produced in a limited edition of 50 prints. The prints are being produced using an Epson Stylus Pro 7800 printer and award winning UltraChrome K3 ink. Epson’s UltraChrome K3 ink technology, an eight-colour pigment ink system delivers premium quality prints both in colour and black & white. The full ink set includes cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, light magenta, light black, light light black, photo black or matte black.  Prints are photo quality providing excellent neutral greyscale performance with smooth tonal reproduction. UltraChrome K3 inks offers a wide colour gamut, meaning that even colours such as vibrant orange, signal red and ochre can be achieved. The lighter inks also allow smooth gradations for the printing of skintones and pastel colours. UltraChrome K3 ink offers outstanding durability, so prints will look good for longer on a wide range of paper types. The ink is highly light, gas and water resistant, resulting in a lifespan of up to 75 years in colour and over 100 years in black & white.

Mark Blamire of Blanka comments, “When planning the print of this exhibition, we only approached Epson. Not only is this our number one printer of choice for quality but the company's logo is also set in Helvetica. As the exhibition is commemorating the font's 50thbirthday, it would have made little sense to look elsewhere.

“All the artworks for the exhibition were delivered from the artists in April and I started printing the work out towards the end of June. I have been absolutely blown away by the quality of the prints. After working on the event for three months, I have become familiar with the work but after printing the individual pieces, it was like seeing them again for the first time. This is how they were designed to be seen, with beautiful minute detail and glorious colours. We have circulated the prints to the artists for their comments and the response has been 100% positive. We are really looking forward to the exhibition opening on July 19th. It promises to be a pretty special event for all involved.”

The exhibition of these prints opens in London at the Design Museum on 19th July and runs until 31st August. It will also appear at the Image Now Gallery for Design Week in Ireland.

About Blanka

BLANKA is both an online gallery and permanent visual archive devoted to celebrating the very best in creative communication and print on an international stage. We are an open and enthusiastic co-operative of people from all creative disciplines expressing themselves through exceptional, innovative and inspiring printed items.

www.blanka.co.uk

About Candy

CANDY was set up in 2005 with the aim of showcasing exceptional creative talent in interesting formats and media. Since then it has produced 10 weighty pdf magazines which have been downloaded 100’s of thousands of times worldwide and received incredibly positive reaction worldwide, programmed 24 live creative-to-creative SweetTalk events, featuring the world’s best talent in Ireland, UK, Denmark, Germany & USA and curated major collaborations with Habitat Ireland, PlaystationPortable, Veer and much more besides.

For more information visit http://www.candycollective.com

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