Originally published on Communication Arts.

The tactile details for Neenah Paper’s CLASSIC Retail Revolution notebook inspire people to explore their own creativity.

Responses by Liz Burnett, creative director and Zach Hale, designer/associate creative director, Matchbox Studio

Background:

The purpose of this project is to inspire designers and their retail clients with fresh ideas to create memorable customer interactions with print communication. We specifically wanted to concentrate on the luxury retail environment for the CLASSIC Retail Revolution piece by Neenah and show that it’s the little things that mean the most to a customer.

Reasoning

The idea of “Get customers in the door” is becoming a harder task as consumers are relying more on online shopping. We wanted to highlight three pieces that get customers in the door and keep them coming back. The first piece is a direct mail postcard announcing a seasonal preview event. The second piece is a gift card. The third piece is an informative and colorful hang tag.

Challenges

Creating four entirely new brands that all had a common thread. This was a very fast-paced project with a lot of moving pieces, so we had to approach it like a design blitz. We collaborated with Neenah and came up with everything from brand names to taglines to selecting images that compliment the paper and brands.

Favorite Details

The waterfall layout of the piece helps each section and brand stand out. It also gives the book multiple levels of interest and catches your eye. We’re also happy with how eclectic the piece feels from spread to spread. With foil stamping, UV gloss, embossing, and unique paper finishes, it’s fun to see how tactile the book turned out.

Visual Influences

Neenah’s CLASSIC Papers and current palette. The tone of each brand played off of a specific color and finish in the CLASSIC lineup. A great example of this is with the artichoke image in the Odyssey brand section. The pairing of the aubergine paper and artichoke image creates a moment that celebrates the color and paper.

Specific Demands

Coming up with a fresh format. The big challenge was creating a form that could hold all of the individual printed samples, without being bulky. We tried multiple binding techniques, but in the end, we landed on wire binding. This technique allows for the book to have a bit more wiggle room, versus a stitched or perfect bound book.