Laura Jane Boast Designer, Creative Director consciousmade.co.uk @conscious.made Manchester, England, UK Q: Who are you, and what kind of work really lights you up? I’m Laura Jane Boast, founder and creative director of Conscious Made, an independent print and packaging design studio based in Manchester. What lights me up most is working with materials – getting lost in the process of choosing papers, foils, inks and finishes, and combining them in ways I’ve never seen before. Q: What type of clients or projects do you usually work on? Most of my work is rooted in print design, from stationery, swatch books and luxury packaging to educational tools and merchandise. I also direct photoshoots and launch visuals and branded rollouts that connect across touchpoints. Q: What did you end up creating? I created a set of three cards in an open sleeve as a Color, Materials, Finish exploration, showing how recycled stocks can be vibrant and playful. Each card featured pixelated flowers, with shifting pixel sizes symbolizing how small, conscious choices add up to big impact. Q: What sparked the idea for this project? The project grew out of frustration. I’d seen Kraft and other recycled stocks being specified but not fully utilized, often with flat CMYK print that felt like a missed opportunity. For me, these papers hold so much untapped potential, and I wanted to challenge the perception that “eco” has to mean basic or compromised. I began exploring how small, incremental shifts in color, print process or stock choice can dramatically change how people perceive sustainable print. That’s when the phrase “Nature Shifts Colours Bloom” came to me. A promotional piece like this creates a deeper emotional connection by carrying a story to tell while also showing my passion for sustainability. Q: What was one unexpected result of this project? The level of vibrancy exceeded my expectations. Even with the natural brown and warm undertones of the recycled paper, the foils and inks didn’t get lost – they actually amplified the qualities of the stock. Another surprise was how much I enjoyed working with pixel illustration, which is a new direction for me. I love that, despite its digital look, the final piece feels so tactile and organic in print. Q: What was your cost or investment? This was a self-directed and collaborative project, so the main investment was my time in design and print management. I kept the run deliberately small but focused on high-quality execution in partnership with Jukebox Print and Foilco. Q: What ROI have you seen directly linked to this piece? As a self-directed project, ROI isn’t measured financially, but it has already generated value by sparking client conversations, opening new opportunities and strengthening Conscious Made’s positioning around sustainable Color, Materials, Finish innovation. 20 | PA P E R M AT T E R S
Download PDF file
Build your own flipbook