The Stationers Guild

The primary advantage of digital printing is the fact that you can imprint your photo directly on the holiday card.  This saves you the time of applying photos to the adhesive strips on the photo card or inserting the photos into tight slots.   With quality 4″x 6″ prints readily available at less than $0.20, it is difficult to construct a case that digital printing is less expensive than conventional photographs.  Applying consistent standards of paper weight, paper quality and equivalent printing and design standards, we can find no significant price advantage for digital imprinting over conventional photo cards.

Image resolution has always been the key factor in choosing between digital and conventional printing. In numerous side-by-side comparisons, I still maintain that a family photograph mounted on a framed holiday card is still the best way to showcase your family during the holiday season. That being said, digital printing now provides you with the opportunity to create custom photo cards that elegantly integrate the photograph(s) and supporting designs into elegant works of art.

Found below are two samples of William Photo Cards. The first image, “Christmas 2008”, depicts a 4”x 6” photo card that was applied to the card using adhesive strips.

William Arthur Photo Card

The second image (shown below) is a reproduction of a digital photo card that makes use of two of the eight William Arthur custom colors to create a distinctive holiday card.

William_Arthur_Digital_Photo_Card

Both images were scanned at a resolution of 300 dpi and then converted into gif images for the web.  While both images are considerably sharper to the naked eye, the different printing process highlights several important differences.   First, digital photo cards tend to have more of a matte finish and appear softer, even pastel-like.  Second, glossy photographs rich in color tend to work best with bold colored borders.  Third, there is no way to digitally reproduce the stunning engraved or letterpress borders that frame your photograph using photographs.  Finally, as with any digital printing process, you generally have more flexibility in determining the layout of your photo card and customization of your holiday greeting. 

Low quality internet resolutions do not do justice to William Arthur’s beautiful designs. I strongly suggest that you contact a Guild Member store in your neighborhood to see whether William Arthur’s new digital printing technology is right for you.

Richard May

Founding Guild Member

This may seem like a silly question, since sending a Thank You note is a gracious way to express your appreciation for an act of kindness or hospitality. Sheila May, owner of Therérè Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT, goes further and says “it is not only the ‘gracious’ thing to do, but simply proper etiquette and common sense.”

While Thérèse Saint Clair carries several lines of engraved Thank You notes from many fine paper companies, Ms. May explains “that boxed Thank You notes are simply an inferior substitute for personalized stationery.” She goes on to explain that “a fold-over note with the words ‘Thank You’ engraved on the card strikes me as a bit impersonal and somewhat last-minute. Where possible, I try and steer our clients toward designing their own personalized stationery. Don’t you think it is more refined to say ‘thank you’ inside your card than have it as a bold pre-printed headline?”

“The hand-written note is one of the most intimate and personal forms of communication,” says Sheila. “Your selection of the paper, font style, monogram, motif, ink color and envelope lining all working in harmony is often as much an expression of your personality as the words you write.”

One of the great advantages of personalized stationery is its versatility. It works equally well for “Thank You” notes as it does for congratulatory messages or sympathy notes. While most boxed “Thank You” notes tend to be fold-over cards, other options are available if you design your own personal stationery. Ms. May notes that “bordered cards tend to be very popular for both men and women and, after somewhat of a lull, we have seen a resurgence of half-sheets, particularly among business executives.”

Ms. May suggests that you work with an experienced stationer, preferably a Guild member, to design your stationery. “Paper is tactile,” explains Ms. May, “and it is absolutely essential to sort through many paper samples to choose the paper that feels right to you. Once you have selected your paper, concentrate on a font style or monogram style. Monograms are great for social stationery, but your printed name or initials are best suited for business correspondence. The printing process is an important final step in crafting your stationery. Engraving and letterpress are the most traditional forms of printing. Nevertheless, they are more expensive than thermography or lithography. If you select colored paper stock, I strongly recommend that you consider engraving since the opaque nature of this printing process will not distort ink colors.

Personalized stationery need not be expensive. There are many design and printing options for you to consider. “The most important consideration is the paper stock,” notes Ms. May. “Crane, William Arthur and several other fine paper companies have beautifully-designed and affordable boxed correspondence that can be personalized by your local stationer. I strongly recommend that you base your selection on how the paper feels rather than any promotional hype.”

Earlier this summer, I attended the Concours d’Elégance classic automobile exhibition in Greenwich, Connecticut. I was invited by Kenro Industries who were introducing their Bentley Continental Limited Edition of fine writing instruments by Tibaldi. This remarkable Bentley Series of fountain pens, roller balls, ball point pens and mechanical pencils were available in the five Bentley colors: Silver Tempest, Silverlake, Dark Sapphire, Cumbrian Green and Beluga.

As the owner of Thérèse Saint Clair, I have long been fascinated by writing instruments and fine papers. Reflecting on this exceptional exhibit of vintage automobiles and pens, I was struck with the thought that our lives as stationers would be a lot simpler if we only had to deal with the five Bentley colors. Upon consideration, I realized that color is only part of the equation and that paper stock and the printing process will have a considerable bearing on one’s wedding invitation, social stationery or business card.

To illustrate this point in more detail, I decided to run a simple experiment by comparing the outcome of using the identical ink color on the same paper stock but using two different printing processes: engraving and thermography. Found below is a comparison of the “Thérèse Saint Clair” logo printed on identical custom paper stock (Saint Clair salmon) using the same “green” ink, but using a different printing method:

Engraved Logo

Thermography Logo

Please note that these images have been scanned at a resolution rate of 1200 dpi and then configured to internet resolution standards of 72 dpi. While monitor and printer resolutions vary from monitor to monitor and printer to printer, there is an unmistakable difference between the two images. You might ask yourself, “How is this possible?” The simple answer is that printing processes are so different that even using the same inks and paper stock, the printing process transforms the surrounding environment. In an online world, I would hate to be ordering an online wedding invitation where I was convinced that the color green was “Engraved Logo” and get an invitation where the color green was actually “Thermography Logo.”

The only constructive way to truly see how your color of choice will appear on an invitation or stationery is to consult a color palette with your local stationer. There are situations where thermography is often the printing process of choice, but it is next to impossible to determine this without “seeing” real color samples in person. Approximation using an online printer may appear to be more convenient, but unless you can actually feel the paper and “see” the color and printing differences in broad daylight, you could well be disappointed with the outcome of your social or business stationery or wedding invitation. We recommend that you consult a Guild Member store in your neighborhood for more information on what printing process works best for your circumstances.

I occasionally come across a “serious” news article where you simply scratch you head and wonder if the two martini lunch limit is still in effect. The news article in question is “Bridezilla goes digital” by Mary Teresa Bitti of the Financial Post which I believe is part of the Canada.com network. I say “believe” since when I tried to find out more about the Financial Post, I got a pop-up image of a penguin which I thought resided only in Antarctica.

Paraphrasing Owen Sagness, vice president of the online services group of Microsoft Canada, “the digital wedding . . . is using technology to make it (weddings) faster, easier (and) cheaper. At the end of the day the outcome of the wedding is the same.” While I can certainly agree with Mr. Sagness that a couple passes from a state of being unmarried to a state of being married, I find the suggested “digital” transformation via Microsoft to be practical, but oh so boring!

Imagine receiving a digital wedding invitation in your eMail box. If it hasn’t already been filtered out by a Spam filter you get hyperlinked to a “cool” e-Invite site which displays a fabulous pixilated image of a wedding invitation. You are thinking “Boy this is convenient! I can automatically reply to this e-Invite by clicking on a few fields, select moose steak, salmon or tofu for the rehearsal dinner, get re-directed to the gift registry site and/or chose to participate in the wedding through a webcam presentation.” If you are a traditionalist like me, you may want to print out the invitation in Adobe Acrobat and fax or mail your response card. But “gosh this is so darn convenient” that you decide to respond digitally.

There is no question that technology makes most everything “faster, easier and cheaper” but is it relevant? The Chinese have an old adage that “evil travels in a straight line.” While efficiency is often appropriate for many business situations, I remain skeptical of its value in social situations. Surely, Mr. Sagness would not recommend that his children solely participate in online schools, online religious classes or online hockey. Social interaction on a personal level is the foundation of a civilized society. Over centuries the institution of marriage is considered to be one of the most sacred and cherished ceremonies. Does it make sense to diminish the importance of that occasion to a webcast wedding that may conflict with a local hockey match? If significant events are of value to you, embrace the traditions which link our ancestors and their traditions. I respect technology as much as the next person, but certainly don’t find it a credible substitute for personal interaction.

Over the last several months I have had several interesting conversations with Harriet Malmon, the vivacious owner of Francis-Orr in Corona del Mar, California. Ms. Malmon has some very definite ideas on the importance of business stationery and, in particular, the business card. Three weeks ago in New York, I had the opportunity to sit down with Harriet (“please, skip the ‘Ms. Malmon’”) to discuss business cards.

RM: Harriet, I know you have some definite ideas on business stationery. Would you care to share them with the StationersGuild?
HM: As an established stationer, we work with a number of local firms to design their business stationery. Many of these businesses have sought our advice because they were not entirely satisfied with their commercial printers. For the most part, the various components of their stationery didn’t work together – different fonts, design layouts, mismatched ink colors – and, in some case, their business cards were not even printed on a straight line. Our job, as a stationer, is to help the client develop a coherent design and select the paper and printing process that will lend credibility to the enterprise, regardless of its size.

RM: Do you consider the business card to be the focal point of business stationery?
HM: Most definitely! I know it wasn’t Shakespeare, but a phrase that has stuck in my mind is “that you never have a second chance to make a first impression.” That “first impression” of your business card tells your prospective client that your firm has substance, style and deserves a closer look. In fact, I consider business cards to be one of the firm’s most important public relations investments. I often ask my prospective client whether their current business card “belongs in the hands of their most valued prospect or in the restaurant fish bowl for the weekly free lunch drawing?”

A smiling RM: I guess your clients never get a free lunch?
HM: Quite the contrary. Our business cards even stand out in a fish bowl.

RM: What do you mean?
HM: With paper, you have so many design options that even a business card can have personality. For businesses that need to project a conservative image such as legal firms, accountants and wealth management companies we suggest increasing the paper weight from the standard 64# to 96# and even 220# or, perhaps, vellum. For firms that have an artistic bent such as interior design or body-sculpting, we suggest colored paper and, possibly a vertical orientation rather than horizontal.

RM: What about logos?
HM: Gosh, that is such a complicated topic that we need far more time. All I can say is that you should first see an experienced stationer, preferably a Guild member, before you engage a graphic design artist.

Thanks Harriet for sharing your insights with us. You certainly make a convincing case that there is more to paper than meets the eye.