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My fiancee received an official-looking package yesterday. It was a heavy brown chipboard envelope with a First Class Presort indicia and numerous barcodes. Boy did it look serious. It was the thickness of the envelopes that contain important photo prints, deeds, and diplomas. It had gravitas. (more…)

I think most people would agree that in the realm of custom printing, envelopes are decidedly not sexy. That said, I’d actually like to disagree.

I recently came upon an old handbook on printing paper from the 1980s, which in fact includes a wealth of information that is just as pertinent now as it was when I started my career in commercial printing. It’s called Walden’s Handbook for Salespeople and Buyers of Printing Paper (published by the Walden-Mott Corporation). If you ask your printer or paper supplier, I’m sure you can get a comparable (but current) text. What makes this such a good print book is that it focuses only on paper and related subjects, unlike most textbooks on graphic design and printing that don’t have this depth in this one subject. (more…)

If you’re a marketing executive or designer of marketing materials, you know that almost nothing of importance gets to your prospective clients without an OGE (outgoing envelope). In many cases, nothing gets back to you without a business reply envelope (BRE). The only exception I can think of, other than marketing collateral passed out at conventions, is the postcard, since this workhorse of modern marketing travels unencumbered (without an envelope). (more…)

A few PIE Blog posts ago I mentioned some corporate identity materials I had brokered for a commercial printing client. Or, rather, for her client, since she is a designer. (more…)

In my hand I’m holding an envelope. It’s not just any envelope. It’s pink, or, rather, magenta. Actually I think it’s fluorescent magenta, which is even better. Sappi Fine Paper of North America sent this to me as the OGE (outgoing envelope) for a paper promotion called “Ideas That Matter.” All type is reversed out of the bright background on this 9.5” x 13” carrier envelope, as is the address block (so all postal information and the Intelligent Mail barcode are readable by the OCR equipment at the Post Office). (more…)

I’ve been receiving a lot of direct mail custom envelopes with large windows recently, and I’m intrigued. The windows run almost from one side of the envelope to the other. Compared to the small address windows I’m used to, these look like plate-glass windows. (more…)

Many months ago in a PIE Blog article, I listed a number of envelope printing options. I focused on paper weight (the thickness of the custom envelopes you might choose for a business letter vs. a formal invitation, for instance) and on how to leave enough space for the enclosure without needing to print and convert an odd-sized envelope for a premium price. (That is, you should choose a standard envelope printing size first and then create a slightly smaller enclosure that will fit. If you design the insert first, you may need a custom-made envelope to fit your piece.) (more…)