Each book is personalised, with the player’s name, an image of him in his Springbok jersey, a message from that player’s school and photos of him in action on the field back in the day. There was little time between when the team was finalised and when this complex print job had to be printed, bound and presented in personalised packs. Not a problem for MojaNation’s creative director Sivan Portal, whose team worked through many nights for their client ABSA. Lucky for MojaNation’s DTP whizz, Farai Mafurirano, who not only knows design but is also an avid Bok follower and was able to pick up small errors in the content at the last minute!

But this does not make for a simple job. Printing these 35 personalised, leather-bound books within a reasonable - but not limitless - budget meant careful planning from a production point of view. Custom insertions for each book had to be printed together on large sheets to avoid inflated printing costs, but that meant that the intricate pagination of the book had to be worked out from the start. Production Managers spent hours planning the order of the content to make it make sense and work in print. And never one to compromise creativity, Sivan decided to print each message on a transparent paper stock different to that of the rest of the pages – more complexity and sleepless nights. In the end, it took some 76 print-ready PDFs to make this vision a reality.

The books have been a great success, with ABSA’s executives and staff thrilled with the final product. A job well done as the Boks, inspired Victor Matfield to tweet “Thanks to ABSA for a great farewell function and an awesome book with messages from all South-Africans”.

The books were produced for team sponsors ABSA by MojaNation’s design studio in Parktown, Jozi.