The Stationers Guild

As stationers, we are often asked what type of business stationery should be used for informal communication.  Clearly, letterhead stationery is the appropriate vehicle for communicating with clients, suppliers and third-parties.  When communicating internally or for communication of a less formal nature, business executives generally use one or more of the following forms of informal correspondence:

1. The fold-over note
2. The half-sheet
3. The correspondence card
4. The monarch sheet
5. Memo pads (“From the Desk Of”)

In the case of monarch paper (7 1/4″ x 10.5″) and the half-sheet (slightly smaller), the company name and/or logo may appear on the stationery together with the printed name of the sender and, perhaps, their title (i.e. President, Director).  All other information generally found on company letterhead - the address, telephone number and website - is generally absent.  In effect, the sender is conveying a message which is both personal but also underscores his or her role within the organization.  This form of correspondence is generally hand-written but may also be typed.  It should always be signed.

Crane & Co. Correspondence Card

The correspondence card and fold-over note are very popular forms of informal correspondence.  While the fold-over note is considered to be the preferred form of correspondence for women, many men select the fold-over note over the more popular correspondence card.  With this form of correspondence, only the name of the sender is printed on the note or card.  Initials or a monogram are not considered appropriate for business informals.  The desk memo is generally perceived to be a tasking note or business reminder rather than informal correspondence.  Nevertheless, it adds a personal touch that emails, memos and directives simply lack.

Crane & Co. Fold-over Note

The appropriate use of informal correspondence within an organization creates a level of personal intimacy that is sadly lacking in most organizations.  Contact a Guild member store in your neighborhood to learn more about the use of informal business correspondence.

Richard May
Founding Member

Anxious to learn more about Mr. Boddington’s Studio, Sheila and I went to New York City to meet the people behind this distinctive collection of letterpress wedding invitations. We were graciously received by Rebecca Schmidt-Ruebensaal, the Proprietor, and Gina Maher, a talented designer, in their 14th story studio with lovely views of midtown Manhattan.

Rebecca founded Mr. Boddington three years ago. She left behind a promising career in “conflict resolution” to devote her energies to designing fine stationery and custom invitations. Claiming that designing fine papers “is in my blood,” Rebecca is passionate about the craftsmanship that goes into making custom wedding invitations. Her distinctive designs have a “modern twist but honor old traditions in a stylish manner.”

We first “discovered” Mr. Boddington at the National Stationery Show in May. We were immediately attracted to the simulated calligraphy. When juxtaposed against more traditional font styles and sophisticated designs it adds a time-dimension to the invitation rarely encountered in our experience. Seeing a Mr. Boddington invitation for the first time is akin to discovering a precious family heirloom or an old love letter in your grandparents’ attic.

Mr. Boddington Letterpress Invitation

Rebecca created the distinctive typography or calligraphy fonts herself.  You may select from four distinctive styles depending on the effect you are trying to create.  When you pair this old-fashioned script with a contemporary design in letterpress, you create a custom work of art to be enjoyed and treasured for generations.  Although the actual printing is done off site, the paper applied to the back of the invitation or announcement as well as the envelope linings and invitation trimming are all done by hand at Mr. Boddington’s Manhattan Studio.  As we had the opportunity to observe first-hand, it is very much a hands-on effort.

Mr. Boddington Letterpress Invitation

Mr. Boddington does very little advertising, but they have built a very successful business by word-of-mouth.  Rebecca claims to have enough projects to keep her busy until 2012.  When asked whether she intended to branch out into new directions, we were relieved to discover that she is very much focused on designing even more beautiful invitations.  Passionate about her craft, Rebeccas stated “if one is ever going to send fine stationery, it should be their wedding invitation or a birth announcement.”  Mr. Boddington’s stunning letterpress papers certainly honor those important milestones in a person’s life.

Melinda Morris, the owner of Lion in the Sun located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY was recently interviewed by “Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.”  Melinda and her husband David were featured in a November 10 Blog (Web Log) focusing on the advantages of shopping locally.  Melinda is an active member of the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce and  involved in a number “buy local” and other community activities.  For more on Lion in the Sun and Melinda’s inspired community activities read the Brooklyn Blog.

David & Melinda Morris

Independent stationery stores have long had an important role in communities across the United States.  The signifcant milestones in most people’s lives such as a new baby, wedding, or birthday often pass through the hands of an experienced stationer.  Many of us are drawn to the stationery business because of the friendships and sense of community that is reinforced each day as we interact with our neighbors.   In the words of Kit McDonald of Oddballs “the blessing of being part of a profession that is founded on the celebrations of life – now that’s a winner.  How fortunate we are.”

In addition to taking an active role in supporting her community, Melinda and David join a growing number of independent stationery stores that are beginning to take a more proactive effort to promote their business online.  Like many us, we realize that new and existing clients are spending more time online and that traditional media and advertising resources no longer have the same impact as they did in the past.  If we want to connect with these clients we must do so in the medium of their choice. 

Interior of Lion in the Sun

Specifically, Lion in the Sun has opted to send out an online newsletter using the very popular and relatively inexpensive Constant Contact email service.  This easy to learn online service provides you with a number of useful templates for newsletters, emails and even surveys.  The StationersGuild also uses Constant Contact because of its anti-spamming features and – like Melinda and David have no doubt discovered – because it is quite powerful and easy to use.

In addition to their online newsletter, Lion in the Sun has also launched a Blog.  Using Google’s free online Blogger program, the store can create an ongoing dialogue with the Brooklyn community, the store’s clients and participants anywhere in the world who want to exchange ideas.

With a website, Blog and active email effort, Lion in the Sun now has the infrastructure to dramatically improve their store’s online visibility.  Congratulations.

Richard May
Founding Member

Each year at Therese Saint Clair we help hundreds of families select a holiday photo card for their traditional holiday greeting.  For the most part, our clients will mount a 4″x 6″ family photograph on a photo card that they have had personalized by one of our many fine paper companies.  In some cases the photograph has been taken by a professional photographer, but generally a friend or family member has taken a family portrait with a point-and-shoot digital camera.

While most digital images produce very high quality photographs, we occasionally run across a few problems when it comes to cropping.  For reasons that are far beyond my level of technical competence, the “aspect ratio” of a digital camera is different to the traditional 35mm camera.  Specifically, the 35mm camera has an aspect ration of 3:2, which will reproduce a 6″ by 4″ photograph with no distortion.  Unfortunately the point-and-shoot digital camera  has an aspect ratio of 4:3 (does not apply to digital SRL’s). 

What this means is that when you take your digital image to a commercial printer it will automatically crop your digital image to create a 6″x 4″ photograph.  In effect you lose just under half an inch (about 10%) of the image off the top for a horizontal photograph.  While you might think that you can easily correct this in a photo editor and crop the photo to the desired size, it will inevitably create a distortion in your photo since the aspect ratio will change.  Found below are two images.  The first image is the actual digital image as seen in your photo editing program, the second image is the actual  4″x 6″ photograph reproduced at your local photo store.   This image comparison is courtesy of Ritz Photo in downtown Greenwich.

Actual Digital Image

Cropped Digital Image after Resizing

Perhaps an experienced photographer can crop to size and preserve the aspect ratio, but most of us do not have the time or experience.  For those of us who prefer to avoid frustration, we suggest that you leave an extra margin of space around your desired image so that it may be cropped to size without losing the top of someone’s head.   If anyone has a better solution, please let me know.

Richard May
Founding Member

In anticipation of the peak period for wedding invitations, Crane & Co. has released a new album with samples of letterpress wedding invitations.  While perhaps better known for its engraved invitations, Crane’s new album reflects the increased interest by bridal couples in this most traditional form of printing.  With letterpress, ink colors are pressed into soft cotton paper using polymer dies. 

This printing process is extremely popular on the West Coast but Guild member stationers throughout the United States report strong interest in the subtle colors and pleasing designs of letterpress printing.  The new letterpress album is faithful to Crane’s traditions of superior craftmanship.

As with all printing, ink colors tend to change appearance based on the printing process.  Given the low resolution of internet images, it is impossible to faithfully recreate the colors of custom letterpress printing.  If you wish to see Crane’s new letterpress album, we strongly recommend that you consult a Guild member store in your neighborhood.

Richard May
Founding Member

 The lead article in November’s Internet Retailer is entitled ”How the Supreme Court fractured online pricing.”  The article describes how online retailers are reacting to the June 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives greater legal protection to manufacturers and suppliers to implement minimum advertised price policies (MAP).  Legal analysts suggest that the Leegin Creative Leather Products vs. PSKS decision is by no means a clear mandate for manufacturers to enforce MAP pricing, but clearly they now seem to have more leverage.

Sources quoted in the article suggest that “price” is only one of the key factors for shopping online and that “convenience” and “selection” appear to be equally important.  In fact, a Carnegie-Mellon study suggested that online consumers would pay a premium to buy books from a brand-name retailer to merchants they don’t know.

By mutual consent and often through the exchange of a contract, a stationer agrees to merchandise a paper company’s product lines in their store.  Normally, the dealer will purchase a Wedding or Baby Announcement album(s) which contain samples of invitations and announcements and detailed pricing information.  For the most part, pricing guidelines established by the paper company are respected by the dealer since both parties are fairly compensated.  The paper company receives compensation for their papers, creative designs, printing and packaging; and the dealer is compensated for their expertize in helping their client create a custom wedding invitation using the vendor’s albums.

The internet has opened a new distribution channel to fine paper companies.  Some have moved forward aggressively to promote their brand through this channel, other have been more timid preferring to rely on third party online dealers and many have simply decided that the internet is not the medium to sell custom invitations and fine stationery.   Low-resolution internet images, the inability to faithfully reproduce texture and paper weight, template-customization solutions and inexperienced customer support are just some of the reasons why many fine paper collections are not represented on the internet.

“If you can’t feel the paper or see it very well then I suppose the only compelling sales argument is price,” says one stationer.  Indeed, pricing does seem to be one of most important components of online search.  Today, if one were to enter “cheap wedding invitations” into the Google search bar over 4 million search references would be cited, 7 times more than for “custom wedding invitations” or 20 times more than for “affordable wedding invitations.”

While I feel that “affordable” is a better search term than “cheap,” it is interesting to take a look at the internet companies that occupy this search space.  In general, they are either a monoline print-house or an online reseller selling one paper line.    While the end-product may meet the expectations of the online buyer, it is hardly a choice and there is no way of determining whether the buyer would have received better “value” shopping at a brick-and-mortar store. 

What is disturbing is to discover several well-known companies having their brands sold at significant discounts online.  Perhaps, they may wish to take a look at last year’s Supreme Court ruling to protect the reputation of their brand.  Prolonged and highly visible online discounting of a company’s brand will inevitably cause the public to demand the “market price” and disinsentivate their store dealers from merchandizing their brand.

Richard May
Founding Member

Kit McDonald of Odd Balls, “the best little paper company in Arkansas,” is one of our favorite people.  Each May, we look forward to “Happy Hour” at her lovely booth at the National Stationery Show. Her great energy, artistic talent and wry sense of humor are an inspiration to us all.

In early October, we received a letter from Kit which, with her permission, I would like to share with you.  I have shortened it a bit to keep the word count manageable, but I am sure that it will lift your spirits as much as it did ours:

Dear All,

The blessing of being part of a profession that is founded on the celebrations of life – now that’s a winner.  How fortunate we are.  Let us always be grateful that we are able to be a part of these significant times: marriage, a new life and endless other joyous moments.  In much of the world and in our own country, as well, a new life can mean anguish for the family – let us never forget.

At this moment in time, it requires a great deal of effort from each of us to move the significant parts in our lives to the fore, and allow the issues and concerns, that the media feels should supersede all else, to return to their correct position.  Life, and all components thereof, have a defined cycle.  The current economic profile resembles a life cycle coming to fruition.  all living entities reach maturity; humans, animals, fruit . . . an apple at its prime is lush, juicy and filled with a colorful blush.  Within are the seeds for the next generation.  For the cycle to continue, that apple must fall to the ground, decompose and deposit its seeds for the next cycle.  How similar an analogy to our current world.  We are seeing God and nature at work, correcting human error and putting things right for the next generation!  Man, are we lucky!  We are all being restored, despite ourselves, to a mature, rational and responsible way of living.  May the fluff fly away!

Easily said.  However, there is naught in our current situation that man has not endured before, and probably ten-times fold.  Be heartened by this – as civilization has endured for eons.

One of my favorite stories is of the old faithful gardener, whom the family kept-on into his 90’s.  While sitting on a bench in the warming sun, the grandson of the original employer, came up and sat beside him.  “James, what is your favorite Bible verse?” he asked.  James replied, “And it came to pass . . ” “”Why, forever , do you like that one?” the Grandson queried.  “Cause i know it is a promise that this too at some point will be gone.”

I implore each of you to focus on that which you have control over; seek encouragement and help – when it is beyond your control; measure and discard that which is useless or non-productive; know the sun shall rise and shine tomorrow, and so should each of us; and be grateful for the abundance that we all enjoy.  Odd Balls has been so fortunate to have each of you as a part of our lives.

We are forever in your debt.

Kit

And we too are in your debt for taking a step back from the day-to-day and sharing these thoughts with us.  Thank you.

Sheila May
Founding Member

The StationersGuild website went public on Halloween.  Using PRWeb, an internet-based news syndication service, the Guild news release was distributed to several hundred media distribution outlets and has already been reprinted in two newspapers.

PRWeb is an inexpensive and user-friendly alternative to distribute a news-worthy message to hundreds of potential eyes.  I strongly recommend using this web-based service over conventional newspaper advertising.  Nevertheless, it should not be used for promotional selling.  I suggest that you enroll in the excellent one-hour online tutorial to learn the basics before creating your first news release.

Richard May
Founding Member