Unifying Uniqueness

Noble House Hotels and Resorts owns a dozen casual but elegant properties around the United States. Its expensive hotels and resorts range from the informal Ocean Key seaside resort in Key West, Fla. to the luxurious Adolphus Hotel in Dallas to the classically southwestern stucco Hotel Loretto in Santa Fe, N.M.

As Noble House's creative director, Curtis Smith had a mission to create a line of brochures that promoted Noble House as a brand yet captured each property's unique design, charm, and personality.

"Noble House Hotels and Resorts properties differ widely in terms of architecture, design, and geographic location, but they all have a relaxing, comfortable feel," says Smith. "Visually linking the locations was key to branding the appeal of the collection so that travelers would visit—or revisit—various Noble House properties either for business or leisure."

Smith's solution was to create a series of brochures (so far, five pieces) in which the main element is a full-page color photograph of each property's chief selling point, such as guest rooms, dining areas, lobbies, and often-breathtaking views.

"We wanted to capture the atmosphere of each place—to show prospective guests that the properties are more than just another hotel or tropical resort," says Smith. "The brochures had to invite people into the spaces so they would feel they could step into the room on the printed page."

When it came time to select a paper stock, Smith chose coated paper—then rejected it. "With coated paper, the brochures came across as too slick," says Smith. "We didn't like the feel of it."

With assistance from Joanne Ellis, an account representative for Seattle-based Rainier Color Lithographers, Smith settled on Domtar Inc.'s Titanium Opaque uncoated paper.

Joanne Ellis is a big fan of the uncoated paper. "Domtar has done a very, very good job with the paper. I even recommend it for high-end projects where the client doesn't care about the cost," says Ellis. "With everyone concerned about their budgets, the paper is very timely since it's priced well."

Ellis continues, "We demonstrated that Titanium Opaque achieved the goals of the design and made more economic sense for the 130,000 rack brochures and various inserts that would eventually be produced. We were able to cut costs by 30% and improve quality."

The outstanding quality of the brochures' color photographs is a testament to Titanium Opaque's unique characteristics, but also to Rainier's prepress department. "Anyone can print on this paper," says Ellis. "It's the prepress work that' critical."

Working on G4 Macs loaded with Photoshop software, Rainier's prepress technicians enhanced the color of the images by reducing the dot gain to open up the midtones and halftones. They further sharpened the printing by utilizing direct-to-plate technology.

Rainier printed the multipanel brochures, which are 9" high and 4" wide, on a six-color, 28x40" Komori Lithrone 640 sheetfed press, using four-color process with a flood dull varnish.

"We used a flood varnish to dull the image and bring out the midtones," says Ellis. "Titanium Opaque was an ideal choice because the ink holdout is excellent and its opacity is low. This results in the vibrant rich images that bring this design to life on the printed page."

Puget Bindery, located in Kent, Wash., trimmed the brochures—which contain an insert pocket on the last inside page for promotional text—using an Itoh MX-45 unit, scored and folded them on a Rollem TR-36 system, and collated and stapled them on a Sherdian AM-455.

Noble House is very pleased with brochures. "The quality of the color and the images is most surprising," says Smith. "I was amazed at the sharpness of the color and the photography when I checked the job on press."

He adds, "We've gotten tremendous response from everyone—guests, travel agents, public relations companies, and the media. The idea behind the brochures was to communicate the feel of each property and to allow its unique characteristic or charm to speak for itself. We captured that."