Design & Practice celebrates ‘print as an artform’ in its new branding and campaign for heritage premium paper range Conqueror
Amsterdam-based creative consultancy Design & Practice has created a new brand identity, campaign, and creative paper samples tool for Conqueror, a high-end heritage paper range long favoured by artists and designers.

At the end of 2022, papers, packaging and visual communications company Antalis acquired the majority of brands of independent paper manufacturer Arjowiggins. Since then, Design & Practice has worked with Antalis to devise a strategy to relaunch and rebrand all the acquired paper ranges under a new umbrella brand, Creative Power by Antalis, aimed specifically at creative clients and designers.

Antalis first approached Design & Practice at the start of 2020 to rebrand and evolve paper range Olin, leading to its relaunch in 2021. The latest paper range to be rebranded is Conqueror, which has recently moved its manufacturing plant from Scotland, where it first started out in 1888, to the Italian Alps. “We had to maintain the heritage of Conqueror as a well-known premium paper brand. It’s never easy to rebrand something with such a legacy – every decision made needs to be well considered,” says Ruben de la Rive Box, Design & Practice co-founder and creative director. “We transitioned the brand to a new look and feel which retains some familiar elements, but which also feels like an evolution. It needed to forge a new path to launch into global markets, while also positioning it within the overarching Creative Power umbrella.”

Design & Practice’s previous work on the wider Creative Power umbrella brand informed many of the design decisions, such as the use of the font TT Norms by foundry TypeType across all copy, titles and captions, with stylistic alternatives to give the font a more friendly character”.

The former Conqueror logo has been subtly tweaked and reconfigured; and Design & Practice redrew the ‘heritage seal’ formed of the sword graphic with its ‘ESTD 1888’, making it more prominent and proud across the branding. Conqueror’s historic colour palette of predominantly black and white has been retained in a nod to its history, as has its wordmark, which is set in the New Hero font by Newlyn type foundry.

To show the evolution of Conqueror and reflect its new manufacturing site, the branding takes an image of an Italian Alps mountain as its key visual. This is shown across the brand photography showcasing the papers in the range and the various processes that can be used with them. Elsewhere, Design & Practice used studio-shot photography of the paper packs for Antalis’ online ad campaign.

Conqueror’s new branding launches this summer with a ‘creative tool’ – a pack of sample cards of different weights and paper types demonstrating diverse printing methods processes by showcasing the work of creatives working across various disciplines from around the world.

The new Conqueror branding is launching with a pack of 15 sample papers made in collaboration with Paris- based print and production house Imprimerie du Marais, which specialises in combining various print processes for the luxury and high-end markets.

Design & Practice also produced a launch campaign that brought together nine different creatives or studios from around the world spanning a broad range of creative disciplines to showcase the possibilities of Conqueror papers. Those who participated include type foundry Monotype’s UK studio; artist and calligrapher Wissam Shawkat (UAE); photographers Jonas Daley (China) and Camille Vignaud (France); Ximena Ureta (Chile); Margot Lévêque (Switzerland); Aya Codama (Japan); NOWMATTERS (Hong Kong) and Design & Practice itself, which is based in the Netherlands.

Each creative was briefed to take an existing work relating to the concept ‘the art of communication’. Their work was then modified to be printed on one of the Conqueror papers using special print processes, such as embossed hot foil and offset printing. Design & Practice then paired each creative’s work with a different paper from the Conqueror range that best suited the image and its materiality.

“As a studio, we’re passionate about the tactility of print, and how you can treat print as a form of art; so we always want to work with the greatest craftspeople to achieve this,” says De la Rive Box. “The campaign was based around the concept of the tool becoming a dynamic and symbiotic framework, using Conqueror paper as a canvas on which to explore highly intricate, technically challenging print processes.”

He adds, “In choosing who to work with, we looked for a relevance towards Conqueror and its end customers, but also a certain poetic quality of the work, so each card would express itself at an emotional level.”

To launch the new Conqueror branding, Design & Practice also created a promotional video that is used on various Antalis digital platforms. The branding is currently being rolled out online and in future, it will be used in physical Antalis dealers and printers.