Appleton Coated
U1X Line Project: B2B Environmental Leadership Campaign
Industry: Paper
Audience: Communications creatives, Production & Print Managers, Paper Buyers, Printers

In the high-white paper category, smoothness and surface quality are often overlooked in favor of brightness alone. We partnered with the client to reframe U1X through tactility and high-white performance, drawing on fashion as a key purchasing industry to make surface experience visible, desirable, and immediately understood. Context • Reframe high-white category through tactility and surface experience.
• Position smoothness and finish as primary performance signals.
• Translate tactile quality using fashion as an interpretive reference.
• Align messaging with real-world specification and purchasing behavior.
• Shift communication focus from brightness to surface perception. Criteria

Brand
Strategy U1X Gloss, Silk, and now Matte, deliver uncompromising whiteness with refined balance—combining high brightness, smoothness, and tactility for confident print performance. Brand Promise

Matte Finish Proof Points Lustreless surface with a dry-ceramic touch for calm visual clarity. Sharp Halftone Dot Minimal dot-gain preserves detail and tonal control. High-white Shade Calibrated Blue-White shade removes warmth for true color reproduction. 96 Brightness brightness level boosts highlights, for clean image separation.

Matte finishes our high-brite line of Gloss, Silk, and Curious touch in touchable fashion. Centering Idea

Character Calm — A non-reflective, reserved finish with a dry-ceramic feel.
Brite — 96 brightness amplifies highlights, increasing image separation.
Smooth — Triple-coated for the smoothest surface in its class.
True — Blue-white shade removes warmth, strengthening true color.
Concise — Minimal dot-gain limits ink spread, retaining fine detail.

Concept Development Creative
Strategy Touch Me Baby, inspired by the refined smoothness of the new matte finish and Curious paper in the Utopia family, we position U1X through tactility using fashion-inspired vignettes and hand personification to translate surface into human sensation.

Copy Tone Identity Development In collaboration with Johnathon Graham, developed witty, sensory copy that mirrors touch, making surface qualities felt emotionally before technical understanding.

Photography Selection Photographed by William Clark in digital and Polaroid formats, capturing U1X finishes as tactile, touch-driven visual sensations.

Graphic Asset Development Graphic system visualizes touch as a structured language, using hand-based cues and progression markers to express tactile variation across finishes.

Performance Sales Guide Engagement Application Our print applications extend product development by using finishes and techniques to test, validate, and demonstrate U1X’s matte performance.

Event Icebreakers Created “Touch Me Baby” coasters for evening launch campaign, combining tactile messaging and playful branding to drive engagement.

“Touch Me Baby” positioned U1X as a hyper-white paper defined not only by brightness, but by sensation. Using fashion-inspired imagery and hand-driven interactions, the concept translated surface qualities into personal, tactile experiences.

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