Maritime New Zealand is the Crown entity responsible for keeping our maritime sector safe — from recreational boaties to port workers operating in some of the country's most demanding environments. When they came to us, they needed a workplace safety communication tool that workers would actually pick up and use. The solution was a 52-card custom playing card deck, each card covering a specific safety topic under the campaign banner Be Prepared to Work Safely.Lifting operations, confined spaces, fatigue, working near water, hazardous substances. All distilled into a format that's tactile, familiar and far more likely to end up in someone's hands than a poster or a handbook.

The project came to us at concept stage, which meant navigating evolving artwork, internal approval processes and a few technical challenges along the way. Supplied files required RGB-to-CMYK conversion, which we handled in prepress and some assets needed resolution improvements before print. We also identified that a slight card size adjustment to 63 × 88mm would align with production tooling, ensure cleaner finished edges, and make the cards sit perfectly inside the custom tuck-in cartons. We provided carton templates to support correct file setup and suggested a design refinement to the packaging artwork.

Cards were printed on our Konica Minolta AccurioPress C4070, with its inline IQ-501 system checking every sheet in real time for colour accuracy and consistency. Stock was 300gsm Pro Digital Silk, matt laminated both sides and die-cut to size with rounded corners. Cartons were printed on Tiger FBB 260gsm carton board, matt laminated on the face, and cut to shape on our JWEI 6040 digital cutter. Finished sets were inserted into cartons and delivered ready to use.

The decks were so well received internally that a reprint is already in the pipeline — and we have all files and setup retained for straightforward reordering.

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