Get Going with Goe - More Colors, More Possibilities

I've spent this past weekend reviewing PANTONE's newest color matching system called, Goe System. I'm not sure of the origin of the name they've chosen. Maybe I'll get more clarity on that question later. What I do know is that this new color matching system is a big leap forward for the graphics arts community in the quest for accurate color matching and communication.

The least of it is its cool packaging. I expect stylish packaging in most everything these days and certainly in a product aimed at the graphics arts community. Its clean, its organized and it looks cool. OK on to the real benefits.

For starters the Goe System has 2,058 spot colors. That's almost twice the number of spot colors in the previous PANTONE system. What I really like about these colors is how they are chromatically arranged in a much more logical order than the previous system. I was speaking with the folks at PANTONE about Goe and I got an interesting insight into the development of Goe. Going back to the origin of the PANTONE Color Matching System, I was told that the PANTONE color palette was first developed in 1963 to represent "popular colors." Colors that local printers and designers were using at the time and therefore the basis for making the standardized color system. Over time colors were added more or less on a by market request basis.

Now moving forward to Goe. Goe is developed on a broader spectrum based palette. When you view a fan of the old PANTONE Colors and the Goe Colors next to each other you will immediately notice that the Goe colors are more closely chromatically arranged and therefore provide better or more suitable gradations of color within one color family. To the left you see the new Goe colors fanned out.

A significant improvement in number of and arrangement of colors is the basis for the new system. Beyond this PANTONE has built an accompanying Goe Guide and the new Goe Sticks. Goe Sticks are an improved version of PANTONE Color Chips. The Goe Sticks are self-adhesive backed postage stamp sized color chips with a couple of handy tool ad-ons. The myPANTONE palette playground is a plastic sheet built into the Goe Stick binder. With the palette playground the designer can built color palette combinations and see how they look together on one surface. The adhesive backed chips are repositionable so you can go back and forth adding a removing color chips with damaging the chips. They also provide palette cards. The palette cards are a tool to adhere chosen palettes to and share them within the work flow of your project or for client presentations, really during any situation where you want to communicate the palette visually.

Lastly PANTONE has created a great software program to compliment this system. The software is an entire blog post itself so I'm going to leave that for later. I give a resounding two thumbs up to PANTONE's latest efforts at improving color matching. I think every print shop and design studio should have this new system in-house. As of this writing we offer the coated and un-coated versions as a bundle for an eye-poppingly low $765. The folks at PANTONE are quick to say that the Goe System doesn't replace the older PANTONE Color Matching System. That could be true and there is a lot of benefit from the older system. However, Goe is great and do it all. Go out a get one.

Zoom function - A bug's eye view

We've been working very hard to create a paper buyer experience far superior to anything else you get a chance to try. A part of that experience is doing the best we can to make sure you get the exact paper you want. With the knowledge that all paper is not created equal and that paper surface varies significantly from grade to grade we've created a super zoom function to let you get your eyeballs right down onto the paper to see what it will look like when you're holding it fresh out of the box.

When you visit one of our product pages you will see a standard sized photo as depicted below. These are nice enough photos but at this size they still leave the viewer wondering what the real surface of the paper looks like.




Just one click of the image or on the "See Close-up Paper Surface" hyper link and POW...you are taken right down to the paper's surface.










This image below shows you just how close you can get to not only see the paper's surface but to really get a good understanding of how its looks and perhaps how it feels.
Zoom Image

ColorMates cardstock made with 100% wind power

Our sister company, WorldWin Papers, has recently begun manufacturing its flagship cardstock line ColorMates using 100% wind power through the purchase of wind power credits certified from Green-e. This is a very positive step forward as this is the only card stock line for the hobby and craft industry that has taken such a positive position using renewable energy sources.

We have now just redesigned the ColorMates page to show off these beautiful 144 colors all on one page making it "Easy" to find the perfect color for your project. ColorMates is the leading mono-chromatic line of smooth card stock used by scrapbookers and paper crafters throughout the world. Renowned for its flawlessly pigment dyed colors, its fabulous folding characteristics and precise clean cutting qualities unmatched by other card stocks.

Royal Linen offers an extraordinary paper with great eco-benefits

We're happy to have a huge offering of Wausau Paper's Royal Linen line of paper and envelopes. I think this is one of the best values in paper. Royal Linen, as the name implies, has a really beautiful linen pattern on the surface. This is something you normally have to pay a lot for in other premium papers.



Royal Linen is a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper. As if that's not enough the paper also uses 30% post consumer waste. I've written in past blogs about the benefits of recycled paper. Briefly, less land fill used, less energy used, less water used. As well I've talked about the importance of FSC paper. While FSC is important because it sets and monitors standards for FSC forests, ensuring the forests with the FSC certification are responsibily managed to best benefit the environment and the people living in the area of the forest. One of the unspoken benefits is the fact the FSC helps to keep well managed forest profitable. The importance of a profitable forest is that it remains forest and is less likely to fall victim to development. Nothing kills a forest faster than when it becomes a golf course or a huge housing development.

Its important to support manufacturers that make an honest effort to lessen their environmental impact. The offering of Royal Linen does exactly that and uses less natural resources and protects well managed forests through its use of FSC fiber. Not only that, but its a grea paper that looks fantastic and performs well on press and in desktop applications.

Green Office just got easier

We just it made it that much easier to green up your office and make your perforated paper projects go smoother and faster. You're going to enjoy our newest collection of Free Project Templates for perforated paper projects.

All of our perforated papers offer some type of Green Office eco-advantage. Our perforated papers offer recycled content, Forest Stewardship Council certified paper, wind power paper and carbon neutral papers, As well all of our perforated papers are perforated using 100% wind power and we offset 100% of the carbon produced when shipping from our Neenah Wisconsin warehouse to your door.

New Pantone Store

We're very happy to welcome our newest supplier Pantone to The Paper Mill Store. Pantone as you may know is the leader in color control and color communication. Given our volume and position in the market we're able to offer Pantone tools at very good prices and combine these prices with the top quality customer service our customers have come to expect from us.

Last day of HOW 2008

The final tally of designers attending the HOW Show 2008 was somewhere shy of 4,000. I think I spoke to half of you at our booth, The Paper Mill Store. What a blast we had!

I've been telling folks that HOW is my favorite trade show, period. The group of folks who attend are always interesting to talk with and for the most part in a great mood. The theme we heard again this year was ECO-Design and its growing importance with clients and of course with the design community.

I met up with my good friend Sabine Lenz during the final moments of the show. Sabine always has good insights into design and the design community. You should visit her site, PaperSpecs, where you can get great information on paper and design topics.

I had some great conversations on the topics surrounding paper and the environment. Its clear that most everyone is clamoring for accurate information on the subject. We gave out diskettes packed with good eco logo usage information.

HOW Show Monday 2008

One more day at the races. We had a great day meeting a lot of designers and others in the graphics professions. HOW is really doing a great job in providing meaningful seminars and brings designers from around the country and around the globe to the conference.

We just met a couple from Bozeman, MT working for Mercury Design. This is a great opportunity to speak with folks from all around and to get hear what people are finding important. Again this year more than last year ECO issues are the hot button. It seems as though everyone is getting it these days. Not only the need to examine your own eco-practice but also on how to make the case in general for sustainable design and sustainable business practices.
The doors were closed to the exhibit hall just before 8:00 am this morning and the crowd swelled to many hundreds of folks eager to get inside and see what the various vendors had to offer.

HOW Show 2008

We're here in Boston for the HOW Show 2008. A reported 3,600 attendees had pre-registered making this the best attended HOW show to date.

We arrived into Boston on Friday night to take advantage of the town for a few days prior to the show. We stayed in Cambridge and enjoyed the great restaurants and museums of Harvard Square and Kendall Square areas.

The Sunday arrived and we set up our trade show booth to prepare for the onslaught of graphic designers and others in related graphics fields. Lot's of great companies are here and lot's of free stuff for attendees. To kick off our new Pantone products we are giving away a free ColorMunki tool. ColorMunki is Pantone's newest device. This thing is really cool. You can capture color from any surface and bring this color into your graphics program. As an example you can capture the color of an insects abdomen and the color of a piece of fruit and bring this into your MAC files. These devices retails for $499, we're giving one away free. Stop by and get a chance to win a ColorMunki.

The First and Only FSC certified Self-adhesive labels

We have just added the newest innovation from a smart and progressive self-adhesive company, Pinnacle Label. Pinnacle label has created the first and only FSC certified self-adhesive labels. As well the labels are 100% recycled and fully recyclable. This is important in the world of labels because often the types of adhesives, glues, used to make the labels sticky are not recyclable. When the adhesives are not recyclable this can render any project using a non recyclable label to be non recyclable itself and have to added to a landfill after its life cycle is complete. You'll also be please to know the labels have acid free and certified Chlorine Free Process face stocks.

These labels are appropriately named RECYCLABLES. Recyclables are available in a bright white sheet in eight different address, shipping and mailing label formats. We really like these labels and we think you will too. They run in all desktop printers and are suitable for a variety of digital press engines as well. The president of the company, Ches Cochran, will provide a personally signed letter guaranteeing this. You can ask our customer service for a letter of you have any doubts. These labels are a great way to green up your office and your label projects. Please give these labels a try I know you'll like the way the perform in your printer.