Consumables-Paper - Offset

I was asked to share the printer’s perspective in my “Against the Grain” blogs. So here’s my opinion on directed-to-buy paper programs: I hate them. Given the options of directed-to-buy, customer-furnished stock, and supplying stock from your own vendor, would any printer ever choose the directed-to buy option?

Business cards are still important, even in this digital age. The right card grabs the recipients attention, leaves an impression and builds trust. Unfortunately, there are a lot of wrong ones being produced (see “These Business Cards Are Crap” post).

I’m going through a pile of business cards that I “collected” at a recent industry event so I can write my follow-up cards and emails. The quality of many of the cards is, let me put it mildly...crap.

The three astronaut images on the front of this business card already catch your attention, but the even more outstanding element is—the perfing. The seemingly standard business card is perforated in two spots, enabling separation into three unique business cards.

The winning entries to Appleton Coated’s U360 Competition for 2012 have been announced. “U360 celebrates design, content and printing excellence, and all that paper makes possible. The winning selections recognize the all-around, effective, creative role that print communication plays in the marketing mix,” says Ferkó X. Goldinger, advertising and promotion manager.

At PaperSpecsGallery.com, we’d expect a print broker to have a great business card, and that’s exactly what Aslan Graphics has. Feast on these designer elements: the texture of the raised engraved ink against your fingertips; that white against black on the edge of the card; those lovely little notches in the side; and the great thickness from laminating two stocks together.

Will the current round of coated paper price increases hold? If the mills reduce supply because of cost pressures, then the increases will hold. History suggests that if the increases do hold, they may well evaporate over the next few months.

This set of four coasters is a great marriage of form and function, with a splash of technology mixed in. Including a QR code allowed the creative minds at Fizz to really show potential clients how successful marketing is done.

At PaperSpecsGallery.com, we believe that a great business card is your best sales tool. Case in point: Neenah Paper typically creates a unique business card for each major product launch. For the Classic line relaunch, the company literally glued strips of its 10 Perfect colors onto an Epic Black cover sheet. This card truly is a selling tool in its own right!

Resolute Forest Products and National Envelope announced a partnership that will provide customers with an expanded portfolio of solutions, including sheets using Resolute’s sustainable paper. This alliance is an integral part of both companies’ continued emphasis on providing eco-friendly solutions.