As 2009 evolved, so did the look of our brand. We felt our brand deserved a new positioning and we also felt strongly that our brand should not overshadow the brands of our clients in our portfolio. Rather, even though we love our mark, it was capable of standing on its own in a monochrome sense. So, we began to move away from our two-color (brown and blue) swatches. The result is something we are quite proud of.
As such, at the end of 2009 we decided to evaluate our paper system to more appropriately reflect how we see our brand. The first item we wanted to visit was our business card. Mechanically speaking, there were a couple of issues we wanted to remedy:
- The ink from the back of our cards was rubbing off on the front creating an unintentional smudge that created what we felt was a “dirty look.”
- The weight of the paper stock was on the lighter side, creating a feel we felt was too flimsy.
To address the “ink rub” issue we decided to go with a paper that came from the mill which was solid black on one side and white on the other. A quick trip to the Clampitt Creative Center was in order to see what our options were.
The paper we decided on was Neenah’s Classic Linen 120C Duplex- Epic Black/Recycled Bright White. However this was simply not thick enough for us so we decided to laminate an additional 100C Bright White sheet to it, giving us an incredibly rigid 220C business card.
During this process we collaborated with Dana Millett at Millet the Printer to discuss our printing options. What we decided on was a beautiful matte white/silver foil, letter pressed on the back and a simple two-color printed front.
Overall we’re happy with how this all turned out. The weight and overall feel of the card is substantive. The foil gives the card a nice “pop” on the backside.
We’ve designed our entire paper system and the overall look and feel will closely follow this direction. Looking forward to posting more on how that turns out later.
