Steps to Designing Business Stationery
A great item for any business to own would have to be custom matching stationery. On the market today, I personally use a very uniform set of business promotional pieces that are instrumental in branding the company. Creating your own identity is like having the whole world of creativity at your fingertips. Throughout your design process you will encounter many design options that will all play like instruments in an orchestra. There are three basic Elements to good stationery design. Let me see if I can help you with the basics.
Layout Options
I like to start designing a business card. This is where all the important information in usually printed. The first thing you will do is write down all the information you want on your business card. This usually includes:
- Company Name
- Slogan
- Your Name
- Your Title
- Address
- State/Province
- Tel/ Other
- Fax/ Other
- Email Address
- Website Address
Vertical Layout Front Only
Vertical Business Card Front Only
Required Commercial Print Operations
- Graphic Design
- Commercial printing, 1 side
- Finished coated like UV or Aqueous coating (recommended)
- Guillotine cutting
Vertical Layout Front and Back
Print your own cards with a good color printer at home
Vertical cards are rarely seen compared to horizontal layouts. That’s another reason why vertical may be the right answer for you…just for uniqueness! If you are going to use a vertical layout the back side is also available. For a small extra fee your printer can print on the reverse side of your business card. Alternatively you can print your own with the right color printer and template.
Required Commercial Print Operations
- Graphic Design
- Commercial printing, 2 sides
- Finished coated like UV or Aqueous coating (recommended)
- Guillotine cutting
Horizontal Layout Front Only
Layout is a design choice
Most business cards printed assume the horizontal layout. For commercial printing companies the format does not matter, it is a design choice. Horizontal formats are easily stored in rolodex or business card storage folders.
Required Commercial Print Operations
- Graphic Design
- Commercial printing, 1 side
- Finished coated like UV or Aqueous coating (recommended)
- Guillotine cutting
Horizontal Layout Front and Back
Use a Metric Conversion Chart on the Back
It is not expensive and is seen as high quality when getting creative with the back side of your business card. Shown above I have used a metric conversion chart along with a real ruler. This adds value to the business card and may be the sole reason someone you gave it to decides to keep it.
Required Commercial Print Operations
- Graphic Design
- Commercial printing, 2 sides
- Finished coated like UV or Aqueous coating (recommended)
- Guillotine cutting
Fold- Over Layout Front and Back
Fold over business cards serve a greater purpose than your standard business card
Now we are entering into the realm of true creativity. Fold over business cards serve a greater purpose than your standard business card. They are actually 4 times larger than a standard business card. They can be folded in ½ as shown above or “shingle folded”. A folded business card can also be folded the opposite way so when it is opened it is long and narrow. When you print a folded business card it is a good idea to plan on printing both sides because of design intent. Fold-over business card can also serve as tradeshow hand outs, information pieces, direction maps plus many more practical uses.
Required Commercial Print Operations
- Graphic Design
- Commercial printing, 2 sides
- Finished coated like UV or Aqueous coating (recommended)
- Letterpress Creasing (scoring)
Die-Cut Printed Front and Back
A Die-Cut Special Shape Will Draw Attention
If you really want to kick it up a notch think “shapes”. In the design above a steel rule die will be required to apply a radius corner to 1 corner only.
Required Commercial Print Operations
- Graphic Design
- Steel rule die line art
- Steel rule die
- Commercial printing, 2 sides
- Finished coated like UV or Aqueous coating (recommended)
- Letterpress Die cutting
Now I have given you a few options but not all. There are other printing options such as raised printing, embossed stationery, foil stamping, spot colors, varnishes, and spot coatings. I have also assumed that all examples above are printed in CMYK inks. The truth is when you weigh out all your options in commercial printing a business card design is a great way to get started. They are inexpensive and will give to an opportunity to feel reactions. Sometimes comments people make about your business card can improve the final design when you complete your stationery set.
Creating a Matching Stationery Set
Once you have road tested your amazing design, accepted compliments and criticisms let’s build a stationery set. Here’s a quick slideshow of matching stationery sets that include CD sleeves, bookmarks, labels, fax cover letters, video labels, book covers, letterhead, envelopes, websites and business cards.
You don’t need to produce all items in commercial printing format and you may have other items such as presentation folders to add. What we are doing, above all else, is creating a consistent identity.
Layout
There are two standard sizes of mainstream (not executive) letterhead; 8 ½ X 11” and A4 Metric. For your letterhead, the layout will always be portrait. The idea is to create a nice corporate shell design that is complete when your personalized message is distributed via printed letterheads. In the world of digital art it is very easy to illustrate options before you etch it in stone (get it printed). I like to start with my letterhead, following the notes I made from the business card test period.
Paper Type and Ink
The world of fine papers in wide opened. As a printing veteran dating back to the seventies I have seen my fair share of exquisite papers. Over time I have taken snapshots of papers I have come to appreciate. These papers range from thick cover stocks.
Paper and inks should be considered at the same time because paper colours and textures can influence ink and the way it lays down on paper. You can also use shades of solid ink colours to create countless variations of a color. Here is an ink swatch to illustrate what you can do with pantone colors.
Pantone Spot Color
Paper and inks should be considered at the same time because paper colours and textures can influence ink
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The colors you see are printed on white paper. If you print those same colors on an off-white color it will influence the color that prints. The darker the color of paper, the more it will influence the colors of ink.
CMYK Color
In terms of paper influencing ink colors the same rule applies in CMYK printing. This style of commercial printing relies on the white paper to reproduce true-to-life images. In the illustration below you can see the light hitting the white paper surface to reflect back into our eyes as a visual image.
See how light works reflecting from the paper surface
Here are the four primary colors of ink used in CMYK printing:
4 CMYK Inks
Armed with these solutions to creating your own stationery you now move forward with some education. Figuring out who you are and how you want to communicate it takes a bit of soul searching and guidance from industry professionals. You’re not alone with this exciting challenge and the more you arm yourself with information, the better you will look on paper.
Favorite Music
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