National Media Select Stationery Designs

One of the most enjoyable and fulfilling tasks I have during the National Stationery Show is to sit down with members of the national media and design personalized stationery for them. This is the fourth year I have done this, creating holiday cards, calling cards and other pieces of stationery. Each year, I see some interesting trends from these design sessions, so I’ve decided this time to formalize the results into The First Annual Crane Insider’s National Media Stationery Design Survey.

I use the term “formalize” as a relative term, in that I realize this is not a scientific process. But the sample size is large enough to measure – which means I had to use a calculator – and these writers, editors and stylists are hugely influential with the American consumer.

First, the ground rules. At this year’s National Stationery Show, we offered to design correspondence cards. In Crane-speak, that’s a #3 Kent Card, which measures 4 ¼ by 6 3/8 inches on 96-pound paper. And we offered engraving, which allowed our visitors to choose any paper and ink color combination. We also gave them free rein to embellish their stationery with any available design element.

Although not part of the ground rules, it was interesting to note that all our visitors were women. Of course, I was too polite to inquire, but I can say with a certain confidence that all were younger than me, and many were, well, young.

So what did we learn about the stationery tastes of these taste-makers?

The most interesting result is that more than half – 54% - selected a monogram to adorn their correspondence cards. Monograms ran the gamut from traditional to very contemporary, with a pretty even mix of one- two- and three-initial designs.

The second favorite adornment was the person’s name – selected by 38% of our visitors. The majority of those preferring to have their name engraved on their card chose typestyles that would be considered to be on the less-formal side; fonts such as Futura Book Cap, American Gothic Light and Parisian. Thirty percent selected more swashy fonts such as Bickham Script.

Paper and ink color selection provided for a much wider range of results. The leading paper color was – you guessed it – white, selected by 23% or our visitors. Coming in a close second were Tangerine and Gray, each chosen by 15%. Green, Coral and Blue were preferred by 12%, with others selecting Taupe, Yellow and Raspberry.

Since we were offering engraving, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the most popular ink color was white, chosen by 23% of our guests. Of course, these were not the same folks who selected white paper, as white on white has never done very well. Blue ink, of several shades, was preferred by 19% of our participants, followed by Gold, Pink, Brown, Yellow and Green.

So, to wrap up this First Annual Design Survey, the results are: monograms are hot. White paper is cool, but color rules.

Little Letterhead - Big Impact

Crane has a new personalized stationery album for business and professional people coming out in May, and there is more than one trend that's reflected in stationery design.

But I'll concentrate on just one for the time being, and bring you some others as time permits and as samples come off press.

For some time in the area of personal correspondence, we've seen a trend toward writing shorter letters and notes. This has led to the increasing popularity of smaller paper formats, such as Monarch sheets (7 1/4 by 10 1/2 inches) and folded notes. But the real star of shorter writing is the correspondence card.

These cards measure approximately 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches - just enough space for your name engraved at the top and three or four sincere sentences. Correspondence cards have had a place at the business-writing table for a long time,but there's a new twist developing: correspondence cards as letterhead.

This small format has plenty of room for your business name and logo and all the contact information normally featured on a regular 8 1/2 by 11 company letterhead, while still leaving plenty of room for short notes to clients, potential clients or colleagues.

The world of business is filled with small businesses, home businesses, creative businesses, mobile businesses - many of whom may rarely if ever need traditional business letterhead. Correspondence cards may be the answer for your business.

And no writer's cramp!

New Personalized Stationery! WooHoo!

I'm just now putting the final touches on a new video to demonstrate the many intricacies of engraving and thermographic printing on Crane stationery. In the very near future, I'll post it to the web so you all can see it. For the video, I needed to follow a piece of stationery from beginning to end, and because I just happened to be in the market for some new Crane stationery, the answer became clear!


I've designed hundreds of pieces of stationery for members of the media, for TV shows, magazine layouts, celebrities and movies. But designing one's own, what with all those options from which to chose, can be daunting. For some reason, I recalled some stationery I had designed several years ago for Gordon Elliot, who at the time was hosting a show called The Genuine Article on the Fine Living Channel and doing a piece on Crane stationery. I really liked that particular design and so decided to adopt it for my own.
Here is the finished product:





I selected Gordon's typeface: Chevalier – a font I have used several times to create stationery for men. It just seems to make a fairly manly statement. Here's a close-up look

72 dpi just doesn't do the fine-line detail of this font justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Chevalier was designed by Emil Alfred Neukomm of the Swiss design firm Hass in 1946. Chevalier is a set of shaded capitals and figures that Linotype deems “ideal for business cards and classical letterheads.” I don't disagree, but I like its presentation on a No. 3 correspondence card with Regent Blue ink with a hand-brushed Regent Blue border. I had the envelopes lined in Regent as well.

If you think Chevalier might be for you, but want to take it for a test drive before committing to personalized stationery, have a look at these thank-you notes that come pre-engraved.

Now it's time to stop typing and start writing.