How do you handle take the spec as given, and the copy too?

The client supplied the whole spec up front — 4″ × 4″, rounded corners, 530gsm Gmund Heidi, letterpress deboss in black on both sides, copper foil on one or two sides — plus the exact copy for both faces. Treated all of it as fixed. A strong brief gives spec, copy and reference at once, and this one did. The only genuinely open question was how much copper, which the client explicitly left to design.

How do you handle match the finishes, not the layout?

A coaster is square, four inches across, and gets set down on a bar. A business card is a hand-held rectangle. Copying the card's layout onto a square would look like a stretched card. Carried the materials and finishes across — same stock, same black letterpress, same copper — and let the format drive the composition. The reference the client showed was a pub-style ruled menu coaster, so the front took a ruled menu structure the card never had.

How do you handle spend the copper deliberately?

Copper foil on one side or two was the design's call, and each side costs a pass. Decided by what each face is for — the menu side is read at a table, the back is the brand moment with the logo and the QR. Foil earns its place where someone looks once, not where they read six lines of prices.

How do you handle 530gsm, and let it be thick?

A coaster has a job — it absorbs, it sits flat, it takes a wet glass. Card stock doesn't do that. Gmund Heidi at 530gsm, which is roughly double a heavy business card. It also takes a deep letterpress bite without the impression showing through, which on a two-sided piece is the whole reason to use a heavy sheet.

Case study · coasters · Gentleman Farmer Wines

Desenhar uma base para copos que acompanhe um cartão de visita

A Gentleman Farmer já tinha impresso um cartão connosco e adorou o resultado. O pedido era uma base para copos com a mesma linguagem (a mesma família de papel, os mesmos acabamentos, a mesma contenção), com um menu de seis petiscos para vinho numa face e um QR para a loja na outra. Igualar uma peça existente é um desafio mais difícil do que começar do zero, porque cada decisão é comparada com algo que o cliente pode ter na mão.

Duas bases para copos Gentleman Farmer em tom osso quente: Gmund Heidi de 530gsm, emblema em impressão tipográfica preta e monograma em foil cobre, cantos arredondados, uma de pé e outra deitada.

FoilDeep Copper · 115-2 TécnicasLetterpress, Deboss, Copper Foil, Rounded Corner PapéisGmund Heidi Used White 530gsm TintasPANTONE Process Black

A ideia

A maioria das gráficas teria copiado o layout do cartão para um quadrado e chamado a isso um conjunto. Aqui, a decisão foi manter os materiais e deixar o objeto definir a composição.

Four rules

01Seguir a especificação e o texto tal como estão
02Combine os acabamentos, não o layout
03Spend the copper deliberately. Decided by what each face is for — the menu side is read at a table, the back is the brand moment with the logo and the QR. Foil earns its…
04530gsm, and let it be thick. Gmund Heidi at 530gsm, which is roughly double a heavy business card. It also takes a deep letterpress bite without the impression showing…