The concept for Mohawk Fine Papers’ latest promotion piece, which celebrates the launch of its Solutions line, is a story in and of itself – well, three stories actually.

Created by designers Adam Brodsley and Eric Heiman, principals of the San Francisco firm Volume, the men were inspired by the Solutions name to go beyond the expected samples and printing techniques found in a paper promo.

“One aspect of this project was that Mohawk was combining three different lines of paper (Nekoosa, Feltweave and Solutions) into one line called Solutions. We asked ourselves, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if our project did the same thing? What if we told three different stories?’ Then we hit on the idea of using the same images to go with the three narratives — a short story, a play and a six-word memoir,” explained Brodsley.

The resulting tales unite the same nine unrelated stock photos in intriguing and even startling ways.

As a special offer for PaperSpecs members, please log in and select “Mill Promotions” to request your copy of the Solutions promotion.

Pantone is inviting all of its customers to participate in a public beta test of the COLOR MANAGER Software.

In addition to being among the first to try out new colors and more creative control, you'll also be able to share your great ideas with Pantone. Once the beta test is complete, you will automatically receive the final version of the software.

COLOR MANAGER Software is a desktop application for the Macintosh operating system that provides the assurance and confidence to use the latest PANTONE Colors accurately. A version supporting Windows will be made available soon.

Among its key features, COLOR MANAGER
- Automatically updates all PANTONE Color Libraries and keeps them up to date
- Uses PANTONE PLUS Color Bridge values
- Will build ICC profile-based device-specific CMYK recipes for any PANTONE Graphics library (PANTONE Fashion + Home libraries will be added in future releases)

GPA announced two new items in its Ultra Digital line of papers: 150 lb. Gloss and Matte Cover paper, and shimmering Champagne and ICE Pearl papers in text weights.

Like GPA’s complete line of Ultra Digital papers, the 150 lb. Cover and 80 lb. Pearl Text papers are HP Indigo and RIT certified for HP Indigo presses. They offer crisp image reproduction, exceptional ink adhesion and a uniform surface for consistently beautiful results.

GPA’s Ultra Digital 150 lb. Gloss and Matte Cover papers are balanced white, triple blade coated for supreme printability, and coated two sides for duplex printing.

These papers are perfect for applications such as postcards and direct mailers, business cards, greeting cards, invitations, hang tags, posters, menus and any application where significant bulk is required.

They are available in 18 x 12 and 19 x 13 sheet sizes, and are FSC certified with 50 percent recycled content (10 percent postconsumer waste and 40 percent pre-consumer).

“We had so many incredible questions during our Managing Critical Color webinar that we taped an extra segment with our guest speaker Daniel Dejan just to get them all answered,” said Sabine Lenz, CEO of PaperSpecs.

Dejan, North American ETC Print and Creative Manager for Sappi Fine Paper/North America discussed the in-and-outs of optimizing a color management workflow, showed where most print challenges occur and how to address them to avoid costly pitfalls.

Here are his most informative answers and insights to your questions!

When it comes to an uncoated job, how will it appear on a printer’s glossy proof?

Read the complete Paper Tip.