Basic Information
Title: Richard Avedon Immortal: Portraits of Aging, 1951-2004
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Author: Richard Avedon, Paul Roth, Adam Gopnik, Vince Aletti, Gaëlle Morel
ISBN: 9780300279160
Format: Hardback
Dimensions: 280mm x 240mm
Pages: 208
Brand: Phaidon
Printer: Artron Print
PRODUCTION NOTES
"Not Just Printing, But Restoring" – The Dust Spot Removal
The Challenge
Richard Avedon’s work is renowned for its stark white backgrounds and razor-sharp details. The production notes explicitly flagged pages (e.g., P148, 155, 158) containing "black/white spots and stains" inherent to the vintage source files.
In minimalist portrait photography, even a microscopic dust speck is amplified, destroying the artistic purity. The challenge was not just printing, but performing digital restoration without altering the authentic grain of the film.
Our Solution
Pixel-Level Cleaning Protocol: Instead of standard automated filtering (which blurs details), our pre-press technicians performed manual, pixel-by-pixel removal of the specific artifacts listed in the instruction sheet.
Contrast Preservation: We utilized high-resolution digital proofing to verify that the removal of "dirty spots" did not compromise the delicate skin textures or the high-contrast lighting essential to Avedon’s style.
Geometric Obsession – Tipped-in Sticker & Debossing Alignment
The Challenge
The client rejected previous samples due to millimeter-level geometric failures:
Sticker Cut: The black borders on the cover sticker were uneven (visual center vs. physical center mismatch).
Debossing Misalignment: On the French edition, the debossed "PHAIDON" logo and the author's name "RICHARD" were slightly misaligned with the printed ink.
For a design-driven publisher like Phaidon, these imperfections are fatal.
Our Solution
Visual-Center Die Cutting: We recalibrated the cutting die for the stickers. Instead of centering physically, we adjusted the cut to ensure the top and bottom black borders were optically balanced as per the client’s specific design grid.
Secondary Optical Registration: To fix the debossing issue, we created a transparent overlay template for the production line. This allowed operators to verify the registration of the copper debossing die against the printed text in real-time, achieving a <0.1mm tolerance for both the English and French editions.
