Top Tips for the Design of your Envelopes

I’ve previously written about the need to make your Envelopes a ‘Shop Window.’

But I make no apology for revisiting this subject as envelopes can make such a difference to your business and of course your brand reputation!

  

Envelopes are the wrapping paper of the stationery world.

They package your invoices, letters, statements and estimates

They represent your brand through the mail

And, that’s why it’s vital to spend time when designing them; in particular there are 4 key components to remember before you hit the drawing board.    

1. Use standard sizes – Before you even start to design your envelopes, you should decide what size or sizes you plan to create. You can technically use any size you want, but it is smart to create one or two standard sizes that will be eligible for standard postage rates. This is the best way to make sure your envelopes will be functional and stylish.

2. Incorporate color – White is the standard for envelopes everywhere, so a little color can go a long way in making you stand out against the mass of mail out there. If you want to give your business an edge with stationery and branding efforts, print your designs on a colored envelope or incorporate color into the design.

A splash of logo or graphics, or just a little color accents to accompany the text will really help your envelopes get noticed, and assure they will be opened.

3. Keep your branding consistent – If you already have vibrant letterhead and effective business cards, try to make sure your branding flows smoothly and is consistent with each element of your printed marketing campaign. You don’t have to make the designs identical, but make sure everything aligns with your envelopes.

Whether it is color scheme, design theme or style or just the font and fixtures, consistency will create the impression that you are stable and reliable, so make sure your envelopes are in sync with the rest of your collateral.

4. Add return envelopes – If you didn’t notice, nearly all professional businesses and direct mail inquiries that are sent to you require return envelopes when necessary.

If you want your customers to connect with you and it is relevant for them to do so via mail, then get return envelopes printed and include them in the mail you send. You don’t want these to look like the primary envelopes you are designing, but you do need them if you expect your target audience to mail something back to you. If not, then don’t forget to include a website along the back of your envelopes or some instant form of communication.

Feeling Hungry? Time to try Volkswagen’s Edible Print Advert!

Over the years the print medium has certainly become more versatile and innovative with its applications. I still fondly recall the production of a bicycle made of paper earlier this year!

As an illustration of the more unusual print adverts its worth taking a look at Volkswagen, who in recent times have come up with the following adverts.

• In Norway, they recently offered test drives right inside a print advert
• Now, VW South Africa has cooked up a lovely little ad you can eat

The advert was placed inside the Auto Trader magazine 

“Eat the road. Seriously eat it.” Reads the advert strapline

The ingredients are listed on the side as “glutinous rice flavour, water, salt, propylene glycol, FD & C colour, glycerine.” It’s not really clear if those ingredients form the coating for the road that appears on the ad, or somewhere else.

And I’m not sure if you’re supposed to munch away the whole thing – paper and all?

A little research into propylene glycol doesn’t sound very encouraging. In the USA the E.P.A warns factory workers to avoid skin contact with PG to prevent brain, liver, and kidney abnormalities ….

Now, much as I am a lover of paper …. I think I’ll stick with a chocolate biscuit!

Where would we be without Ink?

Like many things we tend to take ink for granted, yet it is a truly brilliant invention and, of course, an absolute essential in the printing trade!

In its simplest form ink is a pigment or dye that is used for colouring a surface in order to produce an image or text. 

History of Ink

Many cultures have independently discovered their own ink for the use of writing.

Ink goes all the way back to the 12^th century B.C. where the Chinese used natural plant dyes, squid ink and mineral inks, which were all ground together and applied with the help of ink brushes.

In India, the ink that is locally called ‘masi’ has been used since the 4^th century B.C. and was made from things such as burnt bones, tar, pitch and other substances.

Applications for Ink

There are three types of ink:

Pigmented ink, dyed ink and printer ink. And their applications are extensive and varied ….

It is interesting to recall that uses of ink were dying out, with people not using ink for any other reason than to refill their pens. Even fountain pens had become a rare novelty since the introduction of the ballpoint pen in the market.

Today, ink is most commonly used in printers, with different companies utiliisng technology to develop better and more efficient printers and processes to meet and exceed their customer needs!

All you wanted to know about Making Money!

I thought that would grab your attention …

Let’s face it we all love having money … and there is still something special about holding that crisp new £20 note in your hand.

I’m tempted to say “too good to spend”!

• The paper for the Bank of England notes is made by a specialist paper manufacturer.      
• It is manufactured from cotton fibre and linen rag, which makes it tougher and more durable than the more common wood paper pulp.
• The watermark design is engraved in wax and, like the metallic thread; the image is incorporated into the paper at the manufacturing stage.       

 

The Bank of England has issued banknotes sine it was founded in 1694 and all their notes are now produced by De La Rue Currency (a subsidiary of De La Rues plc) situated at Loughton in Essex.

Clearly the problem of counterfeit is critical.

That’s why there are steps at every stage is to ensure that the note is as difficult as possible to counterfeit.

Some images are engraved by hand into metal plates, whilst others are created using a Computer Aided Design (CAD) system and are drawn onto film by a laserbeam.

When finished, the images are duplicated many times onto printed plates ready for the presses. Specialised inks used to produce the notes are also manufactured on site; approximately 85 are required for the four denominations.

I was going to tell you about the banknote printing process, which involves … Offset Litho, Intaglio and Letterpress, but I’ll save that for another day!

In the meantime, just take a moment to wonder at the amazing detail portrayed on that bank note… 

Are you looking for a Big, Bright Idea?

One of the many benefits of being involved in the printing industry is the sheer variety and range of services we provide to both businesses and social customers.

And, for that reason alone …. Thanks to everyone who provides that variety, we love it!

Sometimes, the only way to create maximum impact is to elect for the big and bright option.

If you’re looking to create maximum impact, our full colour, poster size printing can certainly get your business noticed.

• Whatever size you need – from posters to billboards – you can rely on vibrant colours and perfect reproduction
• We can also produce 'total designs' from artwork, and enlarge or edit images for you

Our team of experienced staff are here to help you with expert advice, fast delivery and at affordable prices on all your large format printing requirements …. And, we can certainly claim to help you make a big – in fact giant impression!

Kall Kwik were asked by Marriot Hotel to wrap their hotel with a silver ribbon to celebrate its 25^th year anniversary.  

  

Our solution was to project a huge celebratory image across the front of the building. This was both more dramatic and pragmatic for the client who was delighted with the result … which also generated considerable media attention …. See above!

How do you feel about the new Scrabble wordlist?

So, the new Scrabble wordlist has been announced, but I’m not so sure that this represents progress!

The Collins Official Scrabble Words now includes slang words such as:

• Thang
• Innit
• Grrl

Other new words include internet favourites such as Wiki and MySpace as well as Indian cookery terms such as keema, alu, aloo and gobi among nearly 3,000 new additions to those now allowed in the game.

The publishers say it is the "most comprehensive Scrabble wordlist ever produced".

Robert Groves, editor of Collins English Dictionaries and editor of the latest wordlist for Scrabble users, said: "The latest edition adds nearly 3,000 new words to the existing quarter of a million available to Scrabble players.

"These additions are an eclectic mix of new technological jargon, overseas English, recent colloquialisms, street slang and a few fairly well-established phrases that had not made it on to the list until now.

Over 4 million games are sold worldwide each year and nearly everyone who has played it has been involved in a dispute over which words can and can’t be used.

Furthermore, proving its popularity here in Britain, over half of homes now own a Scrabble board, which is somewhat surprising in this ‘on line’ and digital world we now live in.

As I said at the outset … I’m not entirely comfortable with some of the additions, particularly the slang words ….
But what do others feel … it would be great to get your feedback and it will be interesting to see if
 
Do you agree that ‘INNIT’ should be IN IT?   

Eurovision ‘Nul Points’ in Brochure Printing Fiasco!

I have previously written about the power of flyers and brochures.

Their ability to engage and communicate with target audiences is undoubted.

However, I am also reminded of the need to ‘get it right first time’!!

German tourism officials in the city of Dusseldorf are reprinting 30,000 brochures promoting the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday May 10^th … to correct embarrassing mistakes.

According to the national tabloid Bild the brochures contain around 150 errors with two high level ones as follows:

• Incorrectly listing an event as “Gay’s day of action” – instead of “Schools Event Day”
• “Welcome to Dusseldorf” also contains the typos “Wielcome to Duesseldorf” on its binding
• The errors are contained in the booklets printed in both German and English, but only the English versions will be reprinted.

The mistakes have generated headlines across the country since it was first reported on Wednesday. The board is putting correction stickers over the event listing in the 65,000 German booklets already printed.

The miss-interpretation regarding “The Day” was as a direct result of one small typo:

The German word for gay is schwul, whereas Schule means school.

I think that you will agree this was a costly error and a timely reminder for everyone to ensure that essential proof-checking is included in the print and production processes.