An oversized, gift wrap mailer designed by Treat and Company garners the PaperSpecs Gallery "Take Note Award" honors for Quarter Two.

Palo Alto, California – To "enhance the human experience" and "eliminate ugly" are the mottos of Treat and Company, the Minneapolis-based design firm that won PaperSpecs Gallery's Take Note Award [http://www.paperspecs.com/mainblog/treat-and-company/].

The designers accomplished both goals with an oversized self-promotional mailer that consisted of three sheets of custom gift wrap nested inside a presentation cover that doubled as a wall calendar.

"You don't see self-promos like this every day, and I want one!" said Michael Osborne, president and creative director of the San Francisco firm Michael Osborne Design. Osborne served as guest judge for this quarter's competition and was impressed with the intricacies of the piece.

From the touches of gold (a Treat and Company signature element) in the foil treatment, elastic binding rope and grommets to the hand-rendered details in the design of the gift wrap's patterns, clients received an unexpected gift - at once fun, exciting and original.

"We want to bring relevancy and purpose to all our work," said Sara Nelson, creative director on the project. "The notion of the gift wrap allowed recipients to connect personally with the texture of the patterns and to see first hand how we tweak traditional elements to create our own unique designs."

The gift wrap came tiered in three useful sizes with distinct themes - a playful children's pattern that skillfully combined birthday illustrations like cake and creamsicles, a feminine floral with its own take on the iconic 1960s Marimekko designs, and a watercolor-inspired plaid interpreted in a gray and pink palette.

"The mailer had to intrigue our audience enough to take action and visit us online to see exactly what we could offer. From the costlier metallic ink and foil to some last minute changes, we felt all elements were worth the extra production cost to give our potential clients a truly exciting experience," says Nelson.