17+17>34

Beautiful card from Charta Design.

I have written before that creativity is often as simple as blending two older ideas together to create a new one. We seem to be right at the center of one of those types of creative episodes at Convertible Solutions.

As I have also mentioned in earlier posts, my company Convertible Solutions pre-converts paper for use in digital presses. Through a combination of cohesives, scoring and die cutting we make a variety of press sheets that can be used to create complex direct mail pieces, Panoramic books and double thick postcards.

Last fall, when we rolled out our 12 point Double Thick Impact Card stock for making 24 point postcards, we targeted direct mail and marketing applications. The paper we selected was nice, but economical, and is visually stunning when coated with a high gloss UV coating. It will drive up your direct mail response rates, but you probably wouldn’t sent out a wedding invitation on it.

Earlier this year, I began working on a different project with a group of young women who greatly appreciate art and design and are constantly on the hunt for pretty, inspirational things to share on their blog. They are particularly passionate about paper and printing and even named their site PaperMusePress.

This project and similar ones have heightened our awareness of the look and feel of traditional letterpress printing and focused our attention on creating that kind of elegance in the visual and tactile impact of our digitally printed products. We rediscovered a beautiful old paper stock that has been a favorite of high end printers for decades.

Mohawk Superfine Eggshell is the perfect surface for beautiful stationery and cards that invoke the richness of the letterpress era. The 120lb cover weight yields a respectable 17 point flat or folded cards. That's a nice thickness, but what if we used our Double Thick Impact Card process to create a 34 point card? That would be really impressive.  What if we put our cohesives on both sides of a center insert and stacked it between the other two creating a triple thick or quadruple thick card?

We haven’t formally announced a stationery-quality double/triple thick card product, but the test samples we have shown to selected clients have created quite a stir. It feels like there will be an impact on the market far greater than simply adding two or more 17 point sheets of paper together.

The product should be announced soon, but if you can’t wait to see a sample, let me know. I will make sure you get one.