HAMILTON, Ohio, Monday, June 9—SMART Papers today unveiled the most extensive redesign and modernization ever of its Carnival Writing, Text and Cover printing papers line. The company said Carnival is now the most complete offering of branded papers in its class—at value price points. The modernization of the well-known 50-year-old brand is the result of highly detailed input from North American commercial printers, graphic designers and paper merchants on how to improve the performance and intrinsic value of the paper. “The quality for dollar spent is unparalleled with Carnival,” said SMART Papers CEO Tim Needham. “This is a premium uncoated printing paper that isn’t overpriced.” The paper industry veteran said the new improvements move Carnival to an “entirely new level” and make it the new benchmark in premium uncoated text and cover papers. That’s a strong statement, but one Needham said is confirmed by a side-by-side analysis of current marketplace offerings. “Carnival will increase demand from customers who require no-hassle print performance, eye-catching style and bottom-line savings,” said Needham. “It’s well-suited for high impact, cost-effective communications, promotions and advertising print programs.” He said paper merchants, printers and designers “made it clear that we needed to launch a new, practical and comprehensive Carnival offering with an upscale look and feel. We have raised the bar in the selection of 10 finishes in all colors, plus new deep colors and unique duplexes. Carnival offers vivid full color print performance on traditional offset printing equipment as well as laser, inkjet and other digital printing processes.” From pulp to finished product, Carnival was redeveloped according to the strictest environmental guidelines. The product line maintains a minimum of 50% total recycled fiber and features the benchmark 30% post-consumer fiber content. Carnival supports the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, is process chlorine-free (PCF) and elemental chlorine-free (ECF). It is also archival quality, acid-free and lignin free. Highlights of the new Carnival line: • New, easy-to-use and simplified swatchbook organized by finish and a quick-view chip chart organized by color. It’s the “one-source” tool kit for the gradeline. • A new, integrated color palette of 8 whites and off-whites, 6 fiber-added, 5 mid-tone colors and 9 deep saturated colors available across a broad choice of 10 crisp finishes. That’s the best-of-class in premium uncoated writing text and cover papers—at a “best buy” pricing. • New heavyweight cover items in the popular 98-bright Stellar White and the Soft White classic colors in 100-lb/14-pt. cover and 120-lb double thick cover, as well as 12 duplex, 120-lb. covers in popular colors and finishes. • Two “new to Carnival” finishes: Premium Linen and Vertical. Premium Linen is a bolder, heavier linen pattern popular for covers, folders and corporate collateral. Vertical is a popular high-end finish now available in the rich Carnival colors. Both are ready-to-ship stock items. • An improved printing surface as a result of machine investments for improved paper formation—as well as new surface treatments that enhance ink holdout and improve print image definition. • Carefully chosen bright whites and colors that are now available uniformly across all finishes for mix and match design capability. Getting the right combination of benefits for the historic Carnival brand overhaul was one of the top objectives, said SMART Papers Marketing Director, Tom Kleimeyer. “Keeping the brand promise means keeping Carnival’s key features,” Kleimeyer said. “This is a strategic launch based on what customers want. It is the collective results of hundreds of hours of input from customers on specifically how we could create a gradeline that meets the critical selection, quality and price requirements of today’s graphics customer.” SMART Papers worked closely with the respected St. Louis-based graphic design firm, Kuhlmann Leavitt, Inc., to develop the redesign of the venerable Carnival brand. Kuhlmann Leavitt also developed the new swatchbook as well as the advertising and print promotion campaigns that begin this month.