By Stephanie Walker, head of technical at James Cropper
CREATIVITY is often thought of as the product of a single, gifted person. Think of the entrepreneurs who started today’s giant multinational corporations, or the directors who create Oscar-winning films. In fact, our company, James Cropper, is named after one such visionary; the man who first bought the mill where we are still based to this day.
However, the truth is more complicated. James Cropper – the man – would not have seen his vision become reality without the talent of the workers at James Cropper – the company – and the same applies to any successful project. Creativity is a collaborative force, and today, given the complexity of the modern supply chain, the need for close collaboration is greater than ever.
Our approach to creativity doesn’t just rely on synergy between our departments, from our colour matching lab to our production machinery to our logistics team. We strive to develop a synergy between our team and our customers, ensuring visionary ideas can become tangible products.
Collaboration as a guiding hand
True creativity emerges in collaboration, where ideas evolve and transform through dialogue and hands-on craft. Just as the finest paper products are made from individual fibres woven together in perfect synergy, delivering a creative project requires a close-knit team working towards a shared goal.
Developing a deep understanding of this goal is critical to the success of any project. Great paper doesn’t happen by accident; it’s the result of intent. And it’s impossible to be clear about that intent without an in-depth understanding of a customer’s specific needs. This transforms the role of a customer from passive observer into an active creative partner, one that plays a guiding hand throughout the rest of the process.
This is important, as the value of things like colour accuracy is grounded in evidence. For instance, consistent findings show how certain green hues can imply a trustworthy nature. In addition, early discussions can explore how tactility will work with typography, foils, and structures across a portfolio.
This also plays a role in the selection of fibre types and finishes. Decisions must be made about how to balance circularity, performance, and aesthetics. Post-consumer content offers credibility to sustainable narratives, virgin fibres can provide more functional strength, while surface treatments can affect print fidelity. Emboss patterns also play a role, refracting light and guiding touch. This stage often includes rapid lab trials to visualise delta-E tolerances, opacity targets, and ink holdout under real print conditions.
Seeing is believing
Ensuring all stakeholders have full oversight over this process is key to its success. Slight deviations in colour, for example, can have huge implications once the finished product goes into production.
Colour is much more than it appears to be on a swatch; it’s a system. This is particularly important in packaging applications, as it is well-known that purchasing decisions are influenced by colour. In fact, some studies claim up to 90% of snap judgements are based on colour alone. We tune hue, saturation, and luminance to the substrates and print processes that are to be used, then build master standards that travel flawlessly from batch to batch, site to site.
It’s vital for all creative partners to see a sample of their substrate coloured using the exact blend of dyes and pigments that will be used in the final production run. The reason for this can be summed up in a single word: metamerism. Metamerism is a phenomenon where two coloured objects appear to be identical under some lighting conditions, but very different under others. By bringing the customer during the colour matching phase, we can mitigate this effect, testing different formulations under a variety of lighting conditions to find a solution that delivers the desired results consistently.
Proximity to the process
Quality paper – of the kind that James Cropper has been producing for over 180 years now – is the result of these kinds of minute, patient decisions. Being willing to nudge a hue, adjust the depth of an embossed pattern, or tune a formulation so it stays fast to the paper delivers worthwhile rewards when scaled up to full production.
The best way to make these rewarding decisions is in person. Nothing replaces proximity to the process, whether that is time at the vat watching paper fibres mixed into pulp, or time spent witnessing dyes and pigments mixed into vivid colours in the colour lab. Experiencing all these variables first-hand ensures that creative teams don’t fight against factors like fibre length, water quality, or whitening agents in recycled fibre – they work with them.
In a world of screens, paper’s power is its presence. The right paper material makes the product into a multi-sensory experience in ways no other material can. Think of the hush of a soft-touch lid, the bite of a crisp fold on a piece of stationery, or the gleam of a carefully chosen foil on a colour-rich base. Co-creation ensures those moments are not left to chance, they are designed, engineered, and proven with the same precision that conceived them.
For brands competing on meaning as much as margin, that union of vision and craft is not a mere nice-to-have embellishment; it is strategy.
