Paloma Pineda: 82 Portraits, released in 2018, is a fan-bound publication showcasing portraits by photographer Paloma Pineda, designed by the Paris-based graphic design and art direction studio My Name Is. Founded in 2007 by Alexandre Bouichou and Thomas Ibars, My Name Is has worked on print and digital projects for clients such as Adidas, Centre Pompidou, Fondation Van Gogh in Arles, Sony Music and Standard magazine.
For 82 Portraits – which was nominated for the Fedrigoni Top Award 2021 – My Name Is used an HP Indigo digital press at ADM printers in Paris. ‘We opt for digital printing for small runs and very small runs,’ Bouichou says. ‘For certain projects, we have even printed just a few copies.’ The ability to print limited copies economically – and use white ink at no extra cost, another advantage of digital printing – was specially useful when making 82 Portraits. The publication, which is constrained in form but expressive in production, comprises 90 pages, 82 of which feature a single image, printed on Fedrigoni papers, including Sirio Black, Symbol Freelife Satin and Materica Kraft.
A similar attention to print and material can be seen in the agency’s 2017 visual identity for the French cabinetmaker and carpenter Marine Dietrich. Bouichou and Ibars’ responsive identity, which uses bitmap typography to render Dietrich’s initials, was printed on twelve business cards and twelve cartes de correspondance, each at a different scale. The cards were digitally printed at Falck & Co, a family-run printer in a Paris suburb, using a Canon C10000 VP on Fedrigoni Constellation Snow Vicenza to reflect the delicate craft of Dietrich’s work. As Bouichou says, Fedrigoni’s Constallation Snow Vicenza has a ‘very particular embossing, which subtly echoes the wood and its touch.’