Sometimes I feel like a squirrel with my constant attraction to shiny things. To justify recent impulses, I offer descriptions from a Pantone webinar of how metals are being used now:
• as ephemeral colors with broken shines.
• as material illusions with textured monochromes.
• in ways that are familiar, but new.
Take for example a palette they call Titanium: a bridge to new heights.
Where blues break and mutate, then turn to black. Bursts of overexposed colors create tonal variation. It’s a complete statement in metal with both reflective and matte surfaces.
These two invitations came off the press this past week. Evening Under the Stars is printed on Reich Shine's Onyx. To enhance it's astral qualities, and to make it seem more blue, I specified a pale foil and matching juniper-colored envelopes from CTI's Aspire Petallics. But the colors are fleeting and drift from a variation on the standard black and white event; to a turquoise-infused galaxy hovering over fountains and night-blooming flowers—a complete landscape in indigo, beryl, verdigris and aquamarine.
The Polo Cup invitation for the University of Utah called for foil to add flair to Pat Bagley's signature jockey drawing. In its third year of use, we needed to make it familiar, but new. We embossed the entire illustration contour and foil stamped the line art. I think the foil is honorific of his handiwork. It glints like like pencil lead and like a trophy. Attendees will recall the previous year's flamboyance and whole-charactered cast.
