Block has created a cheeky promotion for Dalton that highlights the strength of its triple-coated cardboard stock while gently poking fun at any designer, artist or art director who has mimicked stencil art in an attempt to gain street credibility.

Under the guise of helping designers create their own subversive artworks, the book critiques the clichéd iconography (skulls, copyright logos, hand grenades, nuclear symbols, etc) that is found all too often in stencil art.

Called, ‘You’re So Stencil – a designer’s guide to keeping it street’, the book features five ready-to-use die cut stencils, which can be ripped out and used in a tongue-in-cheek demonstration of the durability and versatility of Dalton’s White A Artboard stock.

“We needed to create a piece that would demonstrate the board's amazing quality and creative possibilities while entertaining and engaging a notoriously fickle audience – our fellow creatives,” says Mark Braddock, Creative Director at Block.

“We wanted to create something that at first glance looked self-indulgently 'designer cool', but ultimately is a critique of our style-obsessed industry. At the same time, most of all, we wanted it to be fun,” says Braddock.

“A lot of street art tries to be intelligent and political, but is really quite shallow and not very clever. We wanted to have a light-hearted dig at some of the really bad street art out there,” says Ben Wright, art director at Block. “Our ready-made stencils are part of the joke – just rip them out and start spraying. You don’t even have to get your hands dirty,” he says.

“Our guide to stencilling is designed to look as though it could be genuine, but on closer inspection, you realize we’re having a laugh. We hope it will appeal to anyone who’s noticed that a lot of street art is not very anarchic at all,” says Melita Masters, copywriter at Block.

Photographed by Ross Clugston in New York – the birthplace of graffiti – ‘You’re So Stencil’ is now being distributed to art directors and designers across Australia.