These cards were letterpress printed on 220# arturo with Pantone match and matte metallic gold inks as a 1/1 business card for Phoebe. Phoebe is an excellent graphic designer and designed these cards for her branding collateral as an extension of her already awesome website.

I am a big fan of chevrons lately and am totally digging these wide set ones on the back of Phoebe’s card, how about you?

Edge painted with a custom mix strawberry ink, thanks Phoebe for being so excellent to work with! I loved how these turned out.

Her knocked out type was built up with extra stroke wight so that we could flood the press with a LOT of ink and by the time the letters started to fill in they were back to their “normal” weights. Serifed typography is a lot harder to work with and isn’t recommend (especially when small). If you want to knock out of a flood color area (knock-out meaning that the type is white or image area is white with ink surrounding it) then stick to imagery or typography that can be bulked with a stroke or two – that extra padding will make a huge difference in how your print turns out.

Another advantage to flooding with Vanessa’s cards was the selection of a lighter ink value for her cards. Lighter colors usually flood more evenly. The reason behind this is that all inks are transparent. With transparent inks, large coverage areas, and a textured paper can often have the flecks and texturing show through, lending a “salty” look to the pieces being printed. The darker the ink color, the more evident the salty look. While the press can be run with a double strike (run through the press twice) you can run into registration problems and more waste. You can also set up your press to ink the forme twice before printing, however this can be time consuming and add to your labor costs as well.

Ultimately if you are considering a flood or large inked up area, know that there will be variables. Letterpress is much different than offset in that way. Stay tuned for the other half of flood printing where we’ll go over paper selection if printing a flood!

Letterpress printed on 220# lettra paper, 2/1 pantone inks, trimmed to 2×3.5″ – For a set of your own, get an estimate, we’d love to work with you! If you have questions about a file, you can also email it over and we would be happy to advise.

These black letterpress calling cards were printed on a black 80# coverstock (I think it was AstroBrights paper). Black can be tricky on press because letterpress inks are very transparent and do not get good opacity when printing on dark papers. We like to recommend a color mix with opaque white to help bulk up the color (PMS Silver 877 works great too if you can afford to have a little tonality with the grey).

With the left-overs we decided to add a teal edge paint to see how it would take to the black. I feel like I’m having an 80′s flashback!

Because I just couldn’t get enough, I decided to see what a lavender would look like. If you want to order a set for yourself, you can customize them right here and we’ll make sure they look radical before they ship out to you! If you are unsure about color, stick with lighter hues. They will print and show-up much better than darker colors on the color wheel.

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Original image from Martha.

To download the swatch ASE for importing into Adobe Applications click here. To import the swatch book click your Swatches Palette > toggle More Options > Open Swatch Library > Other Library > click the .ASE that you want to import. From there the Pantone swatches will load in a new palette with the remainder of your tool bar.

This was the first RSVP where the couple requested music suggestions from guests. I thought it was brilliant, and so fitting for a wedding and RSVP. What a great way to involve guests!

What you might not have noticed from photos alone is that this wedding suite was actually not a standard A7 (5×7″) wedding invitation. To save a little money (which can go a long way for a budget savvy bride) the election to go with a smaller A6 (4.5×6″) invite/announcement can help cut cost in postage and printing. It worked well also because Jen and Chris had minimal information so it didn’t feel like all the elements were squeezed into a tight space.

These were escort cards we printed with the suite paired with a custom diecut pouch. We will be offering these for all escort card orders as well as for direct purchase over the next few weeks if you are a DIY bride (they also look fabulous with square business cards)!

In the end, I was so surprised with how well the color combo worked. It’s such a great aspect to working with a couple that has a defined vision and are confident about it. Printed on 110# lettra paper, paired with matching printed envelopes, this wedding suite is perfect for a fall or spring wedding. Thanks Jen and Chris for being so awesome to work with, best of luck to you both and congratulations on your new adventure!

This bride is looking for a shimmer pop but isn’t necessarily going for the foil so we are going to go the matte metallic route and utilize shimmer in the liners or envelopes. By using an antique gold ink it will give a hint of shimmer, or we can add silver ink to the pool options to get that blue a little shimmery as well. Which one would you go with?

I’m heading to the big city in exactly one week. I have bronchitis and am about ready to kill over, but the excitement is really starting to get crazy!!! The booth (#2152, mark your maps) has arrived. The product is printed (about 90% of it) and we are officially launching a wedding book! Above is a glimpse of one of our series that is going to debut May 15-18th, 2011!

Sometimes I feel like there is a time and place where hierarchy and imagery marry well enough to let the blind impression type (or lightly printed type) work beautifully. However, on other occasions it just doesn’t seem to mesh. Have you ever dealt with that on a particular job? Clients, what is your opinion – what is more important on a wedding invitation specifically – color harmony or type? I can’t wait to show photos of the finished product!!

In addition to the style guide, upon establishing the brand look, we can also apply the brand elements across to other pieces such as business cards, letterhead, notes, product tags and labels, and more.

Part of establishing a style guide is to help grow the brand equity, especially when its a new brand. By establishing color harmony and typographic suggestions, we help that brand (and the people doing the every day stuff behind it) to establish a relationship with it style. If there is a flyer or ad that needs to be placed, they can pull the typography suggestions and color suggestions to keep things in relation to where they want their brand to go. It helps create awareness and recognition across the board.

Whether you have your own logo but need styling help, layout, or want to start fresh with something completely new you can check out our branding section in the shop or request an estimate for a more customized package.

This was a 4 piece wedding suite for Jessica. We wanted to create variation between pieces but still have them tie together. Pool and black are her wedding colors, and she wanted an old-world feel to the invites.

Edge painted with a matching saturated pool, to set off her 1/8″ black border from the front of the invite. These were also packed in pool envelopes for the outer envelope, and black rsvp envelopes.

The invitation was printed on Lettra 220# with a full bleed damask pattern overlaid with registration black ink. The typography used was a pairing of Adobe Garamond as well as P22′s Zaner Pro.

The reception card was sized 4×6″, 1 color (black obviously) and printed on 110# lettra. We pulled out the damask pattern and changed the layout a little to create variety. I feel like I’m looking at some awesome black velvet when I see these stunning cards!

The RSVP card was a 3.5×5″ card printed on 110# lettra. The black border and simple dotted line were repeated in this card, but ultimately it was left with more negative space so as not to crowd the important information of making a meal selection.

If you are interested in a stunning wedding suite of your own, we do custom designs for all our suites. You can contact us to request an estimate for letterpress invitations and if you place your order by Feb 15th we’ll knock off 10% of your final invitation invoice as a Valentine’s Treat!

Some of my favorite papers are printmaking papers – Rives BFK – Johannot – Arturo – each have their own attributes that are unique. If you are a printer, printmaker or artist, what is your favorite paper to work on, I’d love to hear!

Option 1: This design is more concept based, emphasizing the circles in the typography as well as the knocked-out ampersand between Jones & Vandermeer. We wanted a subtle hint of the circular motion of a ball of yarn rolling around but also wanted it to relate to a global shape symbolizing process and the travels invested in procuring this yarn. The typography has been manipulated so that the the balls in the letters have more motion and don’t feel so static but still providing a strong sophisticated brand that is not too crafty looking.

Option 2: This design is a mix of the casual stylistic watercolors that we were inspired by on the Hermes website (per the client’s suggestion). We wanted something that spoke to the handmade generation and yet still felt high end and regal. The typography was set and then hand traced to give it a more distressed and whimsical feel, then paired with a banner and seal option that brought in a hint of Edwardian flourish without feeling too stuffy. By putting the typography on a diagonal we felt it created a more playful look to the brand without getting too childish.

Option 3: The third option is more sentimental. After hearing about the business being named after the client pet doggies, I really wanted to give this design more meaning. Often one feels proud of a brand because it is a reflection of them. We took typography in this design that had really beautiful and elegant swashes – they almost double as a doggy’s tail. I felt like they were so playful and reflective of a pets love and excitement. Since the other two designs were more concept and theory based, with this design we also explored an illustration of a ball of yarn so that the client could compare imagery versus concept.

What is your favorite and why?