One of my greatest joys is anticipating that Christmas-morning-sense of excitement our VIP members experience every time they receive our quarterly VIP Box. I thought of this recently when I received this mailing from German printing company Letterjazz. Like any good direct mail piece it intrigued me instantly due to the bulky nature of the envelope, and reminded me of why I love Letterjazz so much before I even opened it.
Just look at the distinctive saw-tooth edges on the label, printed with a custom-blended gray ink on 70-lb. Mohawk Strathmore Label paper. Turning it over we find another Strathmore label, this one perforated, making the opening of the cottony envelope feel like an event. But we’re not here simply to admire an envelope, uh uh.
Carefully tugging along the perforation you lift the flap and pow – your eyes are instantly overwhelmed by the moody juxtaposition of the black Sumo stock and hot foil stamped patterns. Removing it you discover that it is in fact a chunky, gorgeous “Happy New Year” card that is probably the best thing to happen in 2018 so far.
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The gratifyingly heavy stock is courtesy of the aforementioned black Sumo paper on the front duplex laminated to a sheet of Sumo white for the back.
The front is even more stunning in person than it is in photos, featuring an illustration by longtime Letterjazz collaborator Dirk Uhlenbrock that’s just brimming with foil dots, dashes, swirls and wavy lines that give every impression of a storm at sea. The precision with which the bronze and gold foil are registered is every bit as breathtaking as the design itself.
Flipping the card over to the white back we find a simple “wishes for a creative and successful New Year” message letterpress printed in German.
It’s rendered in a light gray ink similar to the one found on the label. They could easily have gone with a straight blind emboss – getting that lovely deep impression without using any ink – but the addition of this subtle hue makes the deep impressed text that touch easier to read.
And in case you missed it, the total basis weight for the duplexed piece is 2018 g/qm! (Actually, it’s 2100 g/qm but they just couldn’t resist starting the new year off with a little joke ;-))
Sabine Lenz is the founder of PaperSpecs.com, the first online paper database and community specifically designed for paper specifiers.
Growing up in Germany, Sabine started her design career in Frankfurt, before moving to Australia and then the United States. She has worked on design projects ranging from corporate identities to major road shows and product launches. From start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, her list of clients included Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Deutsche Bank, IBM and KPMG.
Seeing designers struggle worldwide to stay current with new papers and paper trends inspired Sabine to create PaperSpecs, an independent and comprehensive Web-based paper database and weekly e-newsletter. She is also a speaker on paper issues and the paper industry. Some refer to her lovingly as the "paper queen" who combines her passion for this wonderful substrate called paper with a hands-on approach to sharing her knowledge.