For our second event of the year, MAUG was delighted to once again partner with Angie Gilliana, Business Development Manager of Neenah Paper, and Maeghan Nicholson, Director of Marketing for Waunakee commercial printer Suttle-Straus.

Angie opened our meeting with a detailed tour of some luscious samples of Neenah’s latest offerings, focusing on texture, simple embellishments, and even smell! This new SENSES collection shows use from business cards and tickets to packaging/retail. Special highlights:

• Touché papers with exceptional feel
• Creative use of die cuts, embossing, and debossing
• Pearl finish papers now produced in the US by Neenah
• Scratch-and-sniff scent on a home goods item packaging

Senses is a response to Daniel Dajen from Sappi paper’s research and presentation about how involving the senses in print/packaging adds another dimension for the customer. A sound, a texture, folding, unfolding, smelling something good gets the customer more involved and makes them more likely to buy something, even if they don’t need it. There is a higher perceived value to the item. Additionally, more of these special papers are recyclable than ever before, with continued efforts to bring as many of their offerings as possible to that standard.

Angie also is open about the limitations of some of these new innovative materials and told us about the problem-solving process behind some of the featured items. She’s an absolute pro and open to discussing ANY print job! You can find her on LinkedIn.

Some simple tips for upgrading the feel of a print job without breaking the budget:

• Use spot gloss for subtle patterns
• Use a colored paper (use the free Neenah Swatch Pro™ extension for InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator to simulate this accurately)
• Combine fewer colors with a colored and/or textured paper

Neenah offers lots of inspiration and information on their website, especially by signing up for their Idea Shop for free samples and early access to new products!

We concluded our meeting with a tour of the printing facility at Suttle-Straus, learning about the production of everything from medical instruction pamphlets to customer bills to large interior signage! It’s always fascinating to see the scale and complexity of the machines that make our designs come to life. After admiring the work of the in-house design team, we finished up with a raffle, where a lucky attendee won a free 1-year subscription for Adobe CC!

You’ll have to come to future meetings in order to get your chance to win one, and the best way to be informed about that is to sign up for our email list. See you then!