“The design of our latest selector reflects the different ways in which people select our papers. In some instances, colour is the primary concern, before material type, texture or weight. However, these priorities are often reversed, making style the key point of reference. So now we give you three modes of paper selection: Select Colour, Select Black+White or Select Range.”

Beautifully designed by London-based SEA, request yours from paper-specialist GF Smith.

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I thought some of you might want to give MOO a shot, so I have 15 discount codes to give away, each getting you (or someone you know) the following:

— 50 double-sided Moo cards
— A showcase card holder
— International shipping

Showcase holder & 50 cards

If you’re interested, just answer this question and I’ll draw 15 winners from the comment thread:

What’s one of your favourite brand identity designs seen in 2011, and why?

If you’re unsure, here are a few showcase websites to help: Collate, Visuelle.co.uk, September Industry, Brand New, Identity Designed, Designspiration.

Winners drawn and notified on Friday 11th.

—

Update: Friday 11 November
All 15 winners have been emailed (names here). Sorry if you missed-out this time.

—

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If you’re in search of a little stationery design inspiration, Stationery Design Now! is worth a look.

It starts with a short essay titled “Death of the Letterhead?” Here’s an excerpt:

“All over the world, postal letter traffic is falling away drastically. America’s postal service, for example, saw a drop in postal mail volume of almost 14% in the year to September 2009. Analysts have predicted that European postal traffic will drop by half over the next 10 years. So isn’t email easier and cheaper, more convenient, more current anyway? While email certainly won’t go away soon, most of us will admit to a small thrill when we get a real letter in the post, especially if it was written by hand.

“After organising a conference recently, I received quite a number of congratulatory emails. One piece of communication made a big difference though: one of our speakers sent me a letter on his own beautifully designed letterhead, with a hand-written note stating merely, ‘Great conference — thanks for inviting me to speak!’ This small gesture meant a lot.”
— JAY RUTHERFORD

Jay Rutherford is chair of visual communications at Bauhaus University Weimar. In the book his essay is translated into German and French, with all versions appearing before the stationery projects.

(above) Client: 1/1 DESIGN. Year: 2009. Design: Base.

(above left) Client: 9MYLES. Year: 2004. Design: 9MYLES.
(above right) Client: 3 Beat Records. Year: 2008. Design: huvi.

Client: 19 Entertainment Ltd. Year: 2009. Design: Zip Design. Team: David Bowden.

Client: Aeroplano. Year: 2006. Design: NNSS.

Client: Amped. Year: 2008. Design: huvi.

Client: Bideawee. Year: 2007. Design: Carbone Smolan Agency. Team: Leslie Smolan, Nina Masuda.

Client: Becka Oakley. Year: 2008. Design: huvi.

Client: Bullerei. Year: 2009. Design: weissraum.de(sign). Team: Bernd Brink, Lucas Buchholz.

Client: Karen Karch. Year: 2006. Design: Base.

Published by TASCHEN Books and edited by Julius Wiedemann, there are 350 pages of stationery projects by a variety of designers/studios. Besides the introductory essay, there’s no description or explanation of the projects. You’ll like this book if you enjoy gallery-style tomes, and if you like looking at the work of other designers from a purely aesthetic viewpoint.

Purchase Stationery Design Now:

on TASCHEN
on Amazon.com
on Amazon.co.uk
on Amazon.ca

Looking for more? A few good books.

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Arwey Baer

Arwey Lanvin

The product videos are a nice touch.

View the full range at the Arwey store.

Thank you, Rebecca.

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Back in May I showed you my note cards from Moo. Evan Calkins of Intrinsic Studio happened to see the post and got in touch about his new calling-card company Hoban Cards.

“Each calling card is hand printed on a 1902 Chandler and Price letterpress. For $75 you get 100 personalized cards with your name and the option of either your email or phone number printed on 100% 110lb cotton paper.”

Here’s a short video of the letterpress that Evan “threw together” using his GF1 and iMovie (email subscribers can watch on-site).

The sample of cards Evan kindly offered arrived this week, and I photographed a couple alongside Moo’s offering below (I bumped-up the wordmark size before supplying Illustrator files).

Note cards from Moo (left), and the letterpress equivalent from Hoban Cards (right)

Here’s a Flickr set showing all 1500lbs of the 1902 Chandler and Price letterpress being moved from the basement of a print shop (where it sat unused for 50+ years) to Evan’s garage.

Have a look at calling cards Evan’s printed for other designers.

And here’s my original note cards post (still using/liking the Moo card holder).

Hoban Cards. Gets my vote.

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Multi page and single-page. That’s right.

Here’s the website to match.

Definite proof that we all need to start somewhere.

I’ve learned a lot during the past six years of self-employment, such as don’t mess with Google, some clients are better to avoid, and if you don’t ask, you don’t get, but what’s been most beneficial is the knowledge that the online design community is a hugely helpful group of people.

With that in mind, here’s to you. To your comments, your encouragement, feedback, critique, and everything else you’ve done to help on my journey.

If you want to read a few more tips I’ve learned, this is a good place to start.

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The front and back PDF layouts are above, with the resulting card trims below. I’m disappointed by the margins. The artwork supplied was to the exact proportions requested by MOO.

The holder is solid enough for the small price paid. It wouldn’t take too much effort to snap one of the segments when fully open, but it’s as robust as you’ll need when closed.

I don’t carry a wallet. Instead, for quite a few years, I’ve used an aluminium card holder for my business cards, credit cards, and driving licence (I don’t like carrying much). The downside is that business cards get mucky when kept against frequently used credit cards. So I can see this compartmentalised holder helping to keep cards pristine.

As Graham says, the uncoated stock is ideal for writing on — whether it’s the time and date of a meeting, an address, or a simple “thank you” note.

Total cost: £27.94. Includes 50 double-sided cards on 350gsm uncoated recycled stock and plastic holder.

MOO discount codes

A first-time MOO customer can get free shipping by entering this code at checkout:

Q8S5KW

Only works one time, though, so you’ll need to be quick.

New or current customers can save 10% on a pack of 200 cards by entering this code:

SN94K3

Again, one use only, valid for 60 days.

Here are the MOO websites (I think the UK site works for European orders):

MOO UK // MOO US

Thanks for the tip, Graham. the trim’s poor, but the holder’s more useful than my old one.

—

Update: 07 May 2011
I emailed MOO’s customer service, pointing here and requesting replacement cards.

Update: 09 May 2011
I received the following email reply:

“We are sorry to hear that your order did not come out as expected and that the trim on the cards were poor. There is a 2mm leaway in the cutting process so we cannot guarantee that your cards will print out as accurately as a result. However we would be happy to reprint your cards again for you free of charge.”

When received, I’ll post a photo of the reprint so you can see if there’s much difference.

Update: 17 May 2011
Reprint received (photo here). Still a little out, but a decent improvement.

Update: 09 July 2011
I’ve since upgraded my note cards to a letterpress version.

—

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Ray Charles

Saul Bass

Mad — during the reign of Al Feldstein

Michael Cooper

Muhammad Ali

Andy Warhol

Paul Rand

Visit Letterheady, a side-project by freelance copywriter Shaun Usher.

Via the comment thread on Imprint.

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If you think I’m out of pocket with this old batch of business cards, imagine what it costs to rebrand a company the size of Yellow Pages.

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The limited edition Typotheque pocket calendar combines a diary and a sketchbook in one.

Designed by Peter Bil’ak, the first half is a diary…

…and the second’s filled with 12 different pre-printed grids.

International holidays (multi-religious), design events and other days of interest are listed on an index page, as well as on day overviews. It’s set in Greta Text and Freda Sans Condensed, and is bound to ensure it lies flat when opened.

Read about Typotheque’s production improvements during seven years of making pocket calendars.

I like it.

You can buy one here.

£12.69 GBP
$19.94 USD
€15.00 EUR

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