The presentation to guests included a CD of a special tribute piece written by Vangelis. The booklet and other collaterals were all digitally printed.

 

Digitally-printed items produced with the UK’s first Xerox Iridesse press were part of the memorial service for Stephen Hawking held at Westminster Abbey on Friday 15 June.

Various print items including invitations, envelopes, a booklet, CD booklet, security documents and  certificates of authenticity for gifts for VIP guests, were designed by central London agency Glazier Design and printed by IPW1, the UK beta site for the recently introduced Xerox Iridesse, using the new machine’s metallic colours to achieve fast turnarounds and high quality.

Director Ben Glazier told Digital Printer, ‘For us the Iridesse has meant exceptionally high quality printed collateral, for a VIP event akin to a state funeral. Our timescales were very short, sometimes only having a day or two to design, print and deliver. All the items were turned round by IPW1 in the fastest timescales to meet the deadlines of the Westminster Abbey service. The quality was so high that we didn’t need to use any litho processes in any of the collateral, saving us days.’

Professor Hawking’s ashes are being interred near those of other famous British scientists Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. A public ballot attracted 27,000 applications for 1000 places – of which 500 were allocated to schoolchildren – to join 1100 VIPs, including actor Benedict Cumberbatch and astronaut Major Tim Peake, and family guests.

Glazier Design has worked previously with the Stephen Hawking Foundation to design its branding, including a logo representing Hawking Radiation, one of the late physicist’s key theoretical predictions that was subsequently confirmed by cosmological measurements.

‘Over the years we have done some wonderful work, but perhaps our greatest honour has been working with his daughter Lucy to produce the collateral for his interment service at Westminster Abbey,’ added Mr Glazier. ‘Glen [Robins, director], Jeff and the team at IPW1 have been amazing and we know that the Foundation and the family have been very pleased with the results of what we designed and Glen printed.’

‘The Iridesse has created a buzz and excitement and opened up a whole new market to us,’ confirmed Mr Robins.