Design of the Month: March 2018

 

1. Name: Tina Ross
2. Company Name: Soda Back
3. Website: www.sodaback.com
4. Business Contact Email: tina@sodaback.com
5. Please give us a brief history of your business and some of the services you provide.
   We specialize in graphic design and marketing for hospitality and beverage companies. These types of businesses are our primary focus as we have a background in event planning and bartending. We provide logo (brand identity), menu, business cards, event flyer design and more! This particularly wedding-invitation set was done for a bar consultant colleague and his fiance.
6. What was the goal of your design?
   The wedding invitations we did for Sarah and Aaron were meant to capture the spirit of their celebration in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The textures and colors pull directly from the buildings and flowers of the city. The map on the backside is an abstract representation of the location and energy of the wedding festivities.
7. Why did you choose the Standard Coated papers?
   They are a true matte finish with durability and great ink absorption. Colors are always very vivid and rich!
8. Our favorite part of your design is the map on the back of the Parade Card. How did you create that effect for the back of the card?
   The map was created from a rough sketch of a city map that was altered in proportions to include all the wedding festivities. The affects and textures were created using watercolor and paint brushes in Adobe Illustrator. The couple asked for special elements such as the bride and groom, plants and flowers and their two pups. These tiny details made the map feel truly customized and special.
9. We have never seen a black wedding never seen a black wedding invitation set, and yet it works beautifully. How did you decide on the color pattern, including Matte Gold Foil of the invitation and parade card?
   The couple wanted a richness and colorful celebratory mood to their wedding invitation set. Matte Gold Foil was an absolute must to give the invitation a little bit of polish. The colors come naturally from the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel cathedral and surrounding architecture of the city of San Miguel de Allende. The black seemed like a no-brainer that gave this invitation a rich contrast and helped make it feel more personal, more like them and less like other wedding invitations you see.
10. What made you choose MorningPrint?
    I’ve used Morning Print for the last 5-6 years. Their paper quality is the main reason that I love them, plus the ability for metallic foils and spot UV. They are absolutely my go to for an affordable and beautiful business card or flyer.
11. How was your experience with MorningPrint? Would you recommend us to others?
    My experience was great. I did have some difficulty uploading larger files to their website (the wedding map file) but was able to dropbox them to their team, and they added the files to my order.
    Yes, I would definitely recommend MorningPrint.

 

Pantone Color of the Year 2018: A Few Points

Pantone Color of the Year 2018: Ultra Violet
Conveying originality and ingenuity the magical ultra violet is a distinctive and complex purple shade that fascinates and intrigues.

Opaque White Plastic

1. CMYK Ultra Violet can be different than Pantone Ultra Violet
Pantone is exact, no matter on what type of material that is printed on.
CMYK printing creates a color based off 4 color groups; cyan (also known as blue), magenta (also known as red), yellow, and black. As you can imagine, combining 4 different colors gives a range of shades of the same color.

Heavy Nouveau with Blind Press Embossing and Matte Gold Foil

2. Ultra Violet varies most when printed on plastic

 

Ultra Violet can look quite different depending on the type of plastic it is printed on.
Clear Plastic (No White Ink): As a true clear plastic card, even the ink is transparent. This means Ultra Violet will appear transparent with a darker tint.
Opaque White Plastic: Ultra Violet will appear to be lighter shade because the original stock is a translucent white plastic card.
White Plastic: Of the different plastics, the most representative version of Ultra Violet because the original plastic stock it mimics the look of white paper.

3. Glossy options can alter the look of Ultra Violet

 

Standard Coated 14pt Matte with Spot UV
Spot UV: A transparent, but flat lamination that can be custom applied to any portion of your design. Since it is glossy, it will darken the coloring of the design area it is applied to.
Watch the Spot UV shine here
Raised Ink: A transparent and raised lamination that can be applied to any portion of your design. As it goes through a heating process to create the raised effect, it can only be applied on a single side.
Standard Coated 14pt Glossy: A paper covered in a glossy laminate causing all printed ink to appear richer and more saturated than matte papers.

4. The five best Foiling colors to pair with Ultra Violet
Matte Gold
Matte Silver
Bronze
Hologram
Glossy Silver

5. Five Colors that pair beautifully with Ultra Violet

Golden yellow- The boldest combination of colors, there needs to be a balance between both.
Soft pink-  A feminine pairing which subtly stands out from the Ultra Violet without distracting from the rich purple.
Light gray- The most professional combination, light gray is a neutral that will complement the bold Ultra Violet.
Bright Orange- The most modern color pairing due to the brightness of the orange.
Plant Green- The freshest color choice, it will be crisp

6. What to do if Ultra Violet is a little too bold for you

 

Aquarelle with Raised Ink
Incorporate the color into small parts of your design, like in your text. It will allow you to show you are up to date with the latest trends without the color becoming the main focus of the card.

Postcards: Marketing and Invitations

MorningPrint’s postcards fulfill many purposes, depending on the final design. Postcards are used for both business necessities and personal reasons. These postcards come in a range of paper options, including matte, metallic, glossy, texture, thick and thin papers. Depending on the chosen paper, different finishing options are available, such as: embossing, raised ink, foiling, and spot uv. When asked, we can do a folding service for those who want to created a folded postcard. Another special option we can address is that a postcard can be made into a bigger size, however the client will need to be flexible on the type of paper that is used and on the sizing.

Our postcards come in two sizes, 4×6 and 5×7 cards for the following papers:
Standard Coated 14pt/matte
Standard Coated 14pt/glossy
Standard Coated 20 pt/matte
Aquarelle
Nouveau
Heavy Nouveau
Linen
Heavy Linen
Scotland
Heavy Silky Matte
Star Dream
Heavy Star Dream
Vintage Kraft
Opaque White Plastic

Small Business/Company Uses:
The most primary use for our postcards in regards to businesses, is for marketing material. Marketing material can range from anything such as announcements to professional holiday cards. For those businesses which deliver, these postcards are an excellent choice as a Thank You card inside the package. Those in the fashion industry use these postcards to have images of their clothing or styles. Artists use the postcards as an actual postcard with images of their artwork on it. Those in the food industry use images of food on their postcards. These cards are also a good option for corporations who use postcards for sending professional holiday cards and reminders to their clients. Online companies use these postcards to provide extra information for a purchased product.

Personal Uses:
These postcards are also appropriate for personal uses. Some examples include invitations (ranging from wedding invitations to party invitations), thank you cards and holiday cards. In our experience, 4×6 tend to be more popular for RSVP cards and some menu cards. 5×7 postcards tend to be used for either invitations or menu cards or holiday cards.

MorningPrint Products and Services

As a truly customizable printing company, MorningPrint offers a wide range of services and products. We understand it can be difficult to know which product works best for your design. In this article we offer a quick generalized overview of our various products to help guide you to whichever product works best for your design.

Paper Business Cards
Our paper business cards have the most choices of all the papers. Ranging in more than just thickness, we offer textured paper, metallic paper, matte paper and even black paper. We encourage everyone to read about our products before creating your design to choose the best paper for your design. For additional special effect we can add foiling, embossing, raised ink (also known as thermographic printing). Please check
the specific paper to know which finishing options are available.

Texture Papers range in thickness and amount and type of texture. Tant is the thinnest and most textured paper, while Heavy Aquarelle is the thickest paper with a watercolor texture. Read What You Need to Know: Texture Paper to learn more about Tant, Heavy Aquarelle and every textured paper in between.
Metallic Paper such as Heavy Star Dream and Keaykolour Metallic range not just in thickness and the type of shine each paper features. Keaykolour Metallic has two different colors to take into account, the off white paper and then the brilliant frosty
shine. To learn about each metallic paper, read What You Need to Know: Metallic Papers.
Matte Papers include the Nouveau and Heavy Nouveau: The Blank Slate and Sumo Nouveau: The Thickest Paper. The Nouveau family is all made with a creamy and luxorious white true matte paper. These papers are thought of as elegant and are universally liked.

Black Paper is the richest black a design can achieve because it is naturally black. This type of paper only does foiling, no ink printing. To learn more about this specific type of black paper, read Black Paper: The Deepest Black.
Plastic Business Cards
Our plastic business cards are all made of PET plastic, which is an environmentally friendly material. As such, they are quite thin, and flexible. This thinness does not mean these plastics are flimsy. All our plastic business cards are waterproof and durable.

Clear Plastic is like looking through a glass, and every part of your design that has white ink will be clear. We recommend avoiding soft colors and thin fonts as this could create an issue with legibility. We do offer a clear plastic which can print white ink, it is called Clear+White Plastic. To learn more about these two plastics, read Clear Plastic Business Cards.
Opaque White Plastic has a thin layer of white ink to the entire card which is ideal for those with many small, white details. Meanwhile the Frosty Plastic is slightly thicker than the other plastic cards, and can only do foiling, no ink printing.

Silver Plastic Family includes several types of metallic plastic cards. The solid silver plastic card is as reflective as a mirror while other silver plastic cards have sparkling glitter throughout the cards. Read our What You Need to Know: Silver Plastics to learn more. The Gold Plastic Family involves solid gold as well as gold plastic cards with sparkling glitter, both solid and transparent. Read What You Need to Know: the Gold Plastic Family for more details.

Die Cuts

Die Cuts are the most customizable form of printing. We offer templates for over 50 shapes. Some of our standard shapes include circles, ovals, houses, and dog bones. However, if the client wishes to create their own custom shape, we can do this as well. These shapes are automatically printed on the Standard Coated 14pt Matte, but you can choose any type of paper you like for our Die Cuts. Doing so, will alter the price, but it is possible. If a paper that is compatible with Raised Ink is chosen, we are able to add this finishing option to your order as well. Finishing options offered with the Standard Coated 14pt Matte include foiling, embossing and spot uv. If you wish to learn more about our Die Cuts, please read Die Cuts: The Most Customizable Cards.

Stickers

Stickers come in several types of options, such as Uncoated, Coated, Silver, and Durable. These types of stickers come with individual characteristics. For example, Coated Stickers had a bright shine and some slight durability against any type of wear and tear. Uncoated stickers are made with matte paper, meaning no shine. We also offer a Strong Adhesive Sticker which includes an extra strong glue. These same types of stickers can be used in our standard, as well as custom shapes. All stickers are able to offer foiling. MorningPrint also offers metal stickers, in both gold and silver. A highly customizable sticker, pricing must be done through our printing team. Read our article, Stickers to learn more about all of these options.

Postcards

Made from the some of the same papers as our paper business cards and come in two sizes, 4×6 and 5×7. A folding line is possible on these postcards. Also, custom sizing can be possible, but you must speak with our printing team to check the possibility of your design as well as for a quote. Other finishing options such as foiling, embossing and raised ink are also possible depending on the chosen paper. Postcards can be used as invitations, holiday cards, and business supplies.

Wedding Stationery: Special Touches

Hello there,

It is Ava and I’m here to talk about how you can add special touches to your wedding stationery using the latest trends. Let’s get started.

1. Monograms are a big hit. You can use our Metal Stickers to create a personalized monogram to decorate all your wedding invitations. Metal Stickers come in two colors, gold and silver. Intricate, delicate designs really stand out on this material. With such a strong adhesion, they can be applied to just about anything such as menu cards, invitations, etc.

 

2. Custom shaped papers, called Die Cuts, are becoming a must have for people who want to showcase their individuality. They can be cut to any size or style and useful for your extra, but necessary information; such as accommodation, transportation etc. We published an article on Die Cuts last week. If you wish to read about die cuts in more detail, please follow this link- Die Cuts: The Most Customizable Cards.

 

3. Using plastic or leather for wedding stationery is another exciting wedding trend. We offer Opaque White Plastic Postcards, in both the 4×6 and 5×7 sizes. Our Opaque White Plastic is made of a PET material, meaning it is environmentally friendly. It is durable, being both waterproof and tear proof. Depending on your design, Opaque White Plastic can be modern, futuristic or fun.

4. Texture is another big trend for those who wish to use paper choices. Textured paper, such as Scotland can give the organic, woodland feel which is popular for Fall. Heavy Linen has a woven pattern and will always  look upscale or outdoorsy. according to the feel of your wedding. Aquarelle  has a watercolor paper texture, which gives it a natural romantic feel and will work well to set an outdoorsy ambiance.

Now, if you like the idea of the texture trend, but prefer a smooth paper stock, like Heavy Nouveau, we have an out of the box idea for you.  Add Embossing or Raised Ink to put a twist on the texture trend. Your guests will be able to see and feel the imprint of both these options on your stationery, giving you slight texture.

5. Foiling, especially Gold Foiling, is a classic and this style is still going strong. However, to the metallic color trend, other foiling colors such as Silver, Matte Silver and Bronze are rising in popularity as well. For those who have a different color scheme, but would still like to include foiling, MorningPrint also offers Pink, Blue, Red, Green, and Hologram. These last colors also fall in the category of another wedding trend, bold colors.

*Special Note: You can combine embossing and foiling to create a raised and metallic effect. Since both finishing options are pressed on, we can do both at the same time and guarantee a beautiful outcome*

6. Geometric designs, both modern and art deco are all the rage this season. Most use foiling to create their designs, and it looks beautiful. However, if you prefer a more subtle way to incorporate the geometric trend into your papers, we suggest considering Spot UV. Spot UV is a flat, reflective, transparent material that can be seen but not felt. Those interested in this special feature will need to order Standard Coated 14 pt Matte.

Spot UV detail

 

 

I hope that was helpful!
~Ava