Refreshing an established brand is so much more than a “logolift.” Great designers understand the rebranding process involves keeping the client’s company relevant, clarifying its purpose, leveraging current perceptions, and considering the people being served.

PaperSpecs next webinar, Rebranding Lifewater: A Before & After, goes inside one transformative rebranding project. Justin Ahrens, principal and creative director at Rule29, will show us how his team used a strong strategy and the client’s existing equity position to help redefine the 35-year-old nonprofit, Lifewater.

You don’t want to miss Rebranding Lifewater: A Before & After.

When: Thursday, January 29, 2015
from 2:00 to 3:00 pm Eastern Time
(11:00 a.m. – Noon Pacific)

Can’t make it on January 29th? No problem! PaperSpecs webinars are archived for 30 days after the live event. Please complete the registration information below.

Thanks to the generous support of VMA Storyboard, Rebranding Lifewater: A Before & After is FREE and open to the public.

Process: Engraved and Burnished Gold  / Offset Brown

Stock:  80# Classic Crest Cover Eggshell Canyon Brown and 100# Curious Matter Cover Ibizenca Sand

In 2012 Mohawk shrank its swatchbooks down  in size much to the disappointment  of many printers and designers.

Mohawk heard the calls and the wait is over…  the new larger Mohawk Carnival and Via Swatchbooks are now available.

The new series was created by Hybrid Design in San Francisco and are closer to the traditional size – 6″x9″. There will be a total of nine swatchbooks rolled out in 2015.

“We believe the Quick Spec section will inspire designers, printers, merchants and everyone who specifies paper. The waterfalls feature a rainbow of colors, with many variations in the spectrum. It was designed to be both beautiful and inspirational; to encourage people to look at colors and textures in new ways, and to consider new applications for their use,” said Mohawk’s Chris Harrold, Vice President Business Development and Creative Director.

Visit the Mohawk website to learn more.

Process: Blind Emboss and Crown 5600 Green Foil
Stock: Colorplan Factory Yellow Cover Paper

A recent article on google looks out how major US companies are researching the use of color in their business initiatives.

December 15, 2014

By Stacey Plaisance, Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Google is one of the major U.S. corporations researching the power of color in the working world, in everything from workspaces to marketing and branding.

Elyria Kemp, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of New Orleans, said there is more competition than ever for time and attention, and color is “the silent salesperson.”

“We have so much stimuli in the environment,” she said.” That’s why it’s so important to have those
distinctive colors that really stand out.”

Home Depot got its original orange color from deconstructed circus tents used in its early marketing signage — and it stuck.

“When we do consumer research and we ask our customers say a word association for Home Depot, the first thing
they say is orange,” said Trish Mueller, Home Depot’s chief marketing officer. “So it is literally seeped into our DNA.”

Read the full article here.

The inaugural episode in a series of short films created by VSA Partners examining the current
thinking behind leadership brands.

The film is narrated by Jon Iwata, IBM Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications,
“IBM on Brand” draws from VSA’s longstanding collaboration with IBM, which now spans nearly
20 years and encompasses our work as brand agency of record.

“Over 50 years and 80 years and  now 100 years the brand has grown to be quite an asset,
globally recognized, respected and valued. We don’t try to manage the IBM brand, we try to
manage our character as a business. We’ve never defined IBM by what we are selling”

“If we are not going define our brand by what we make, what defines us? It comes back to the notion
of our corporate character:  our belief system, our purpose and our mission, what makes us us”

Video reposted from VSA Partners

130# Classic Crest Epic Black Smooth with Black Gloss Foil &  Crown 960 Metallic Foil

mounted to   65# Astrobright Cover Cosmic Orange with Black Gloss Foil

For the month of May the Art Director’s Club has been exploring Paper in a Digital Age.  They recently
visited  a nonprofit organization called Dieu Donné (meaning “God Given” in French), that has
been creating, promoting and preserving contemporary art that utilizes the hand paper-making process.

     ”We still think it’s a vital medium because it’s

     2,000 years old and we’re still finding new things

     to do with it out of these collaborations.”

In a media-crazed creative landscape, Dieu Donné is a bastion of the hand-made.

Read the full article here

The world’s first fully recyclable paper cup will soon make its debut on the UK high street, in a packaging breakthrough that could eventually divert millions of cups away from landfill.

Watch the video on what makes the Green your Cup different or read the June 27th 2014 Guardian  article here

Printed 2/2 with register Emboss