Consumables-Paper - Offset

Everyone needs to recognize that the paper industry isn't simply 8½x11 copy paper. Think medical supplies. Microwave popcorn bags. Food packaging. Receipts at gas pumps and restaurants. Lottery tickets. Beer and wine labels. Toilet tissue, paper towels and napkins. Cardboard boxes. Gift-wrapping paper.

These are some of the paper products of Wisconsin. No computer, iPad, tablet, smartphone or other technology can take their place. And rest assured that the paper industry in Wisconsin will be here to make them.

This piece, designed by Faust Associates in Riverside, IL, and printed by Rider Dickerson in Chicago, features an unusual hand-folded format—a seemingly simple 12x12" opens up to a flat 24x36" in a way that resembles the edges of an oyster shell.

French Paper, in Niles, MI, supplies corporate customers, as well as independent designers who use the company's array of styles and colors for packaging, envelopes, books and posters that pop with personality and sophistication.

Allegiance to the French Paper brand is such that artists driving through northern Indiana or southwest Michigan have exited the interstate just to see the mill along the St. Joseph River, south of downtown Niles.

Jerry French, the company's president and great-great-grandson of founder Joseph W. French, said many design firms are small and begin as family-owned businesses. He believes that helps them identify with French Paper.

What better motif for a destination wedding in Puerto Rico could there be than a boarding pass? That's what designer A Day in May of Traverse City, MI, had in mind when creating this clever, yet sophisticated save-the-date piece.

Earlier this week, I came across a paper merchant’s Website (I will not mention any names here, and I’m sure they’re not the only ones) and was dumbfounded. They proudly show their visitors the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) brightness chart, claiming that brightness equals paper grade.

Mohawk Fine Papers is embracing the technology often blamed for reducing demand for paper. Mohawk is buying smaller companies and making other investments to tailor new products to digital printing.

In dollar terms: Mohawk paper sells at an average of $2,500 a ton. The company can charge four times as much for the same amount of a digital-ready material (synthetics such as vinyl or polyester, which Mohawk coats, enabling its customers to print on it).

Michelle Yang, Ben Graham and Steve Watson from Seattle-based design firm Turnstyle, created an identity and corresponding stationery system that is not only graphically memorable, but also sports a tactile memorability—all while oozing sophistication.

This week, Sabine Lenz, from PaperSpecs, highlights a wedding invitation line from RoxyLou Design + Press in North Attleboro, MA. A flowing engraved script; a tender pink, gold and yellow palette; romantic curling tendrils and tiny butterflies make up this beautiful invitation.

Mama's Sauce, a boutique letterpress and silkscreen print shop in Orlando, FL, designed this fun and interactive 2013 calendar craft kit. Printed on French Paper in Construction Nightshift Blue, this piece was designed for the hands-on personality.

So how would a designer drill down to the core identity for a dental design firm? Take a look at this week's video from Sabine Lenz to find out.