With our highly anticipated event coming up featuring the design legend, Louise Fili (check out our blog post from yesterday), we wanted to fill you in on how we’re able to bring you this wonderful opportunity, as well as call attention to the fact that we’re giving an I Love Design sketchbook to each attendee!

Our generous sponsor, Print Resources, aka PrintJax (printjax.com), your friendly neighborhood print house, is behind it all—and their love of the print and design industry couldn’t be more apparent.

Print Resources loves everything print. They feature a full service resource for printing, promotional products, signs, banners, posters, apparel (screen printing/embroidery); you name it, they’ll get it printed.

Print Resources loves Designers. At PrintJax, they understand design isn’t just a pretty cover, and will happily work with you, the designer, to find the highest quality solutions to your printing needs.

Print Resources loves Design. In fact, they love it so much, they offered to produce an event exclusive I Love Design Sketchbook we’ll be giving away with every ticket, so be sure to register for the event now! If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

True to PrintJax style, the process of creating the sketchbook was fun and collaborative. The cover, designed by Karen Kurycki, features two watercolor heart halves overlapping to form a pen nib to represent Ms. Fili’s hand-crafted style. The design was handed off to Brian Holcomb, owner and lead press-man at PrintJax. After considering a variety of papers, they decided on 100# sundance felt cover white because it works so well Karen’s watercolor style.

Every production decision has a purpose at PrintJax—inside, 70# Mohawk Via text 100% PC cool white was selected because it is close in color to the cover, and with environmental sustainability in mind, it’s 100% post consumer recycled. In the end however, it is simply a fantastic paper to draw on.

Next, they measured the paper to fit the soon to be spine and adjusted the cover art as required. Soon we were press checking the cover, which you may have seen from Facebook, or @printjax on twitter and instagram, but if you didn’t catch it online, check it out here! The inside pages were then cut down and collated, while the cover prints and dries.

Check out this great video of the cover printing!

Finally the binding is set in motion. The cover, which is perfect bound, is scored in-line, glued, and the pages mechanically set in place. It is then folded into book form, pressure applied for the glue to set, trimmed on three sides and, ta-done! We have a complete sketch book!

We look forward to handing them out to each of our guests at I Love Design, so make sure you register soon! Not only will you have the chance to speak with a design legend, but you’ll also receive an awesome Print Resources/AIGA Jax sketchbook to fill up with inspiration, and your love of design.