unfold uk

but what color is it really?

Thought I'd pass this along, as seen in an email newsletter I get from MediaPost Marketing Daily: 

Blue Iris Is The Color Of The Year

Thursday, Jan 3, 2008 5:00 AM ET

EXPECT TO SEE PLENTY OF Blue Iris this year, in everything from advertising to cosmetics to fashion to home décor, says Pantone Inc.

In naming it as the color of the year, Pantone says the purply-blue is just what an unsettled nation needs to calm down. "Combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple, Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement," it says.

"As a reflection of the times, Blue Iris brings together the dependable aspect of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative, with a touch of magic. Look for it artfully combined with deeper plums, red-browns, yellow-greens, grapes and grays.

--Sarah Mahoney

report from the front

Pamela Danzinger's at it again.  Her emails are always quite informative - this one especially.  Don't say I never think of you.

 

Christmas Cards Could Be Solution for Budget-Weary Holiday Shoppers

New study from Unity Marketing examines greeting card market and finds optimism for holiday card sales

Stevens, PA December 7, 2007 --  With gas over $3 per gallon and heating oil prices through the roof, housing values down and consumer confidence falling like a ton of bricks, the Christmas shopping season is looking pretty bleak for many retailers.   

"Despite the extra week shoppers get between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, we don't expect spending on gifts to rise much, if at all, this year," Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Shopping: Why We Love it and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Consumer Experience.  "This year shoppers are looking for ways to economize.  One way budget-conscious consumers can deliver holiday best wishes without breaking the bank is by sending Christmas cards instead of gifts." 

This year could turn the tables on a recent trend in cutting back on giving Christmas greeting cards, Danziger predicts based upon the findings of a new Unity Marketing survey on the greeting card and stationery markets.  Unity Marketing's research found that in 2006 the market for greeting cards made a big comeback after four years of steadily declining sales, rising over 11 percent from 2004 to 2006 to reach $10 billion.

"For years the market for Christmas cards have been on the decline.  But this year may reverse that trend.  Some 14 percent of greeting card and stationery consumers expect to send more Christmas cards this holiday season.  Many shoppers feeling a financial pinch may well return to the tradition of sending Christmas cards and forego more elaborate presents for some on their lists."  She notes that middle-income consumers, those with incomes $50,000 to $74,000, are the most likely to send more Christmas greetings this year.

Retailers uncertain about the holiday season may want to move their Christmas card displays front and center.  For those consumers nervous about crossing Aunt Esther off their gift list due to budget tightening, a greeting card may be the ideal way to preserve the holiday spirit, Danziger says.

Click here to find out more about the new report.

the triumph of taste

 

I received a press release yesterday from Pam Danzinger who runs Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm that specializes in the luxury consumer market.  The company conducted a study of the US greeting card market and found that people are starting to place more value on the kind of cards we love - clever, pretty and unique [like these from Paper+ Cup] - and buying them more often at specialty retailers than at mass merchants.

Take that, Target - maybe now you'll stop ripping off other people's designs...

Here's what the press release reported:

Greeting Card Market Is on the Up Swing as Card Shoppers Turn to Specialty Retailers For More Distinctive Product Offerings

New study from Unity Marketing finds that greeting cards were the fastest growing category in the overall stationery market

Stevens, PA November 6, 2007 --  The market for greeting cards made a big comeback after four years of steadily declining sales, rising over 11 percent from 2004 to 2006. In 2006 the market for greeting cards climbed to over $10 billion. This according to the latest report on the stationery market from Unity Marketing.

"From 2000 to 2004 the sales of greeting cards were in steady decline," reports Pam Danzinger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience. "But in 2005 the tide started to turn as a result of a shift in consumers' shopping preferences away from mass retailers and discounters, like dollar stores, toward more specialty retailers that offered better designs, higher quality and more specialized card choices. In 2006 specialty card and gift shops regained 6 market share points. As a result, the mass merchants are holding on as market share leader by a thread," Danziger announces.

This revival of specialty retail for greeting cards comes after years of a steady drop in the number of specialty retailers in the card and gift segments. The number of gift shops dropped 21 percent from 75,0102 stores in 2002 to 59,032 shops today. Specialty card shops declined even more - 33 percent from 8,135 in 2002 to 5,391 currently.

Danziger explains, "A few years back the mass merchants, such as Wal-Mart, were the biggest, baddest competitors in the greeting card business, driving prices down and capturing the largest share of business. This resulted in a winnowing out of the weaker specialty retailers that couldn't survive the mass retailers' onslaught. But this new study shows that the tide is turning. The specialty retailers that remain are robust competitors able to attract more affluent shoppers who will pay more for the better designs and higher quality greeting cards available through these stores."

yet more cool little journals

I found this post on a cool site I visit from time to time called PSFK, which is an interesting trendwatching/coolhunting business based in NY and London.  I really love journals, notebooks, etc., and buy more than I can ever use.  I also love companies with attitude.  Combine the two and I'm simply smitten. 

 

I know it's really lazy of me to simply cut & paste it, but I'm just ... really lazy.

 

Moleskin’s Latest Threat: Field Notes

by Jeff Squires in Worklife, Design, Creative Class

It wasn’t long ago that we featured Behance’s Action Pads - now there’s another tool to help people get organized - Field Notes. A partnership between Coudal Partners and Draplin Design Company of Portland has produced these fun and functional notebooks. For $9.95 you get three 48-page, soft cover notebooks completely filled with graph paper that fit perfectly into a back pocket. The fundamental layout of the book is nothing mind blowing or particularly unique, but it’s the subtle details and acute knowledge of the intended consumer that is inspiring. Targeting designers and creative types, the notebooks are filled with minute details that only a discerning eye would pick up on - such as the complete use of the Futura typeface and a detailed review of the decisions and materials that went into producing the books.

 

(specifications photo courtesy of Russel Davies)

trendy tots & tees

My last post highlighted some artists who incorporate their designs on different media - such as prints, tees, baby onesies, housewares, etc.  Obviously it's different for every artist, but the general design progression that I've noticed begins with either a print or a greeting card, extends to other paper products such as notesets and gift wrap and then jumps to the apparel category. 

Uncooked's handiwork, above.

There are two main reasons for this.  One, the gift shop retailer who purchases greeting cards and stationery oftentimes carries baby gifts as well, and onesies [in UK speak: babygrows] are among the most popular of these.  Two, cotton apparel is cheap to source and easy to customize.   As far as brand extensions go, it makes sense.  Daniela Vitale of Girasole [below] offers her designs on stationery and lots of other things, like the onesie below.  I love the way Daniela designs her envelopes, too - such a great touch.

Monica Anderson from Remanents says that she decided to print her images on tees [below] after she wore one to a school function and everyone asked where they could get one for themselves. Opportunity spotted ... and seized!

all work and no play

It seems as though more artists are multitasking these days.  At last month's Stationery Show in New York, I noticed that more exhibitors were featuring their designs across a wider range of products, instead of focusing specifically on paper products.  Designers have been doing this for a long time, but I'm seeing a lot more of the smaller, more sophisticated artists branching out this way than I have in the past. Sometimes these 'line extensions' work, sometimes they don't.

When items such as pillows, dishes, notebooks, greeting cards and prints carry the same type of design and are displayed together in a booth, the effect can be really beautiful.  Alicia Peck of Bella Muse does this well. 

   

Alicia uses vintage icons and clever typography to illustrate paper goods as well as tees, prints and onesies. Here she uses the bee icon from one of her card designs on a women's tee. Not everything translates in every medium, so she chooses carefully. Not surprisingly, I prefer wall prints which are either inspiration for or inspired by designers' greeting cards and stationery. I'm a huge fan of Brian Reed's letterpess designs for Old School Stationers. They are eye-catching, original and saturated with color.  Gorgeous.

The image on the left is a wall print - I 'borrowed' this image from Rare Device, where you can buy it. On the right is one of my favorite greeting card designs.

No one can accuse Karin Spraggs and Adrienne Wong from Superdeluxe of lacking talent - far from it. They have a popular store in nyc and they group their products by design instead of type, which illustrates the brand's tagline a bespoke life.

My only gripe?  I wish they went a little deeper and offered several more selections in each design.  When merchandised together [like the serving plate and menu cards and place cards, above], as I'm sure they're intended to be, it works beautifully.  But what about the smaller stationery stores or websites that only sell paper and don't sell pillows or plates?  By not offering just a little more depth, they are leaving money on the table.

the gloves are off

Artists are starting to tell it like it is.  Walking the aisles of the National Stationery Show recently, I noticed a growing number of greeting cards whose sentiments were anything but sappy.  It's a trend I welcome wholeheartedly, since I never met a sarcastic person I didn't like.

I wouldn't describe Julianna Holowka's Mean Cards as sarcastic, exactly; nor are they mean as their name implies.  They are honest, simple, poignant and funny.  Julianna's from the midwest and now lives in Philadelphia designing home accessories including lampshades, pillows and prints.  She recounted to me how her first greeting card designs were born out of desperation - broke and unemployed, she blew what little money she had left on art supplies and expressed herself on paper.  I wish all therapy was this productive - I'd be a millionaire by now.   I love this card, which reminds us that it will make everything all better.  Martinis usually do.

For the raw foodies among you comes uncooked.  The duo behind uncooked, Natalie and Armand, are animators and have done work for MTV.  I really like their style, while I can't say I'm a huge fan of the copy on the cards.  I want to like it, but I just don't connect with this:

But some of them, like this one, I find really funny.  Regardless, they are certainly clever and are most certainly not Hallmark.   Thank God.

ones to watch:  The guys from Bald Guy Greetings are flat out great. In their former lives, they worked for advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners on the west coast.  Now, at their second Stationery Show, they've seen the greeting-card light. Ian Kalman is a wordsmith with a wicked sense of humor and Sean Farrell is an incrediby talented illustrator who would make Edward Gorey proud.  Together they produce the funniest cards I've seen in a while - but funny isn't really the right word. Witty, clever, dry, subversive... maybe I'll just shut up and let you decide for yourself. 

 

For the record, Ian is the bald guy and Sean fulfills the hirsute quotient with a full head of hair, beard and mustache.  I bet they are a blast at parties.

spring fair - wild kingdom

Animals, like babies, sell.  Putting an animal image on anything is like printing money, which is why I saw so damn many of them at the UK's Spring Fair trade show last month.  I'm a huge animal lover, but I don't love the syrupy sweet, super-precious way that most designers treat the subject. The Brits have a great word for it: twee.  As in, that picture of the stuffed animal sitting on the puppy is just a bit twee, don't you think? 

There are some designers who avoid the twee category with edgier or funnier collections.  Some examples:

         

         

one to watch: New on the greeting card scene, Animaru won't be small for long.  Noel Hinton and his team have created the coolest animals yet, and their website is one of the best I've seen.  In case you can't tell, I love these cards - they are funny, edgy and cute [but definitely not twee].  I predict we'll see these faces looking back at us from mugs, mousepads, prints, you name it.  They've even created the perfect product for us fans:  the Animaru Box, which contains 312 cards and 50 sheets of wrapping paper.  I don't know if that's arrogance or genius, but it sure works for me.

spring fair - stick it

stick it on there

If it isn't nailed down, stick it on a greeting card.  Embellishments galore adorn a large number of the greeting card designs I saw at the Spring Fair trade show last month.  Everything from felt and flowers to 3-D cutouts, beads and glitter were piled on cards and I don't know how some of them get through the mail.  There are some cases where the effect works, as it does with this cute but not cutesy felt monkey and these really elegant pewter-stamped charms on textured paper. 

Sometimes, however, designers take the more-is-more-is-way-too-much approach:

There are also US artists who take embellishment too far, but the sheer number of styles and types that I saw in Birmingham is alarming.

one to watch:  Petra Boase is a designer who knows how to decorate a card in a clever, not cluttered, way. She's a prolific author and beloved by mothers everywhere - she's written a series of activity and craft books for kids, such as Fun with Face Painting and Supermum's Book for Best-Ever Kid's Parties.  She is also a very cool woman.  I met her at the Fair and she showed me her greeting card designs which typically include badges, ribbons, sequins and felt - and not all at once, thankfully. This card above is a flocked, textured yet subtle design. I don't think it's easy to make dimensional cards, journals or albums that are still clean and attractive, but Petra manages to do it quite well. 

spring fair - be square

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Spring Fair trade show in Birmingham, England.  It's a massive gift/accessories/greeting card & stationery trade show [stats: 73,000 buyers - 4,000 exhibitors - 19 halls] that attracts a lot of international buyers.  It was really interesting to see what paper products the UK has to offer.  Maybe I'm subconsciously biased, maybe I missed the 'cool and fun' exhibits, but I wasn't that impressed.  That said, there were some standouts whom I call the 'Ones to Watch' - you'll see at the end of this post. 

real squares

The Square Card Company, above

Caroline Gardner, above

There are some design differences that I noticed right away, such as the square.  The square is everywhere. Designers in both countries love the square, and I can understand why: it's symmetry provides a nice visual frame for the graphic, it's distinctive, and it looks pretty when displayed on a retail rack.  But because there are no mailing restrictions on square cards in England, it seems like every designer out there only uses this format.

Sarah Naylor, above

one to watch:  I really love Sarah Naylor's designs.  This is from a range of kid's cards, the images are not cutesy and dopey, there is a little bit of funky edge to them.  Not to mention the fact that they are flourescent!  Yes, they are square, but they are anything but common.