Personalized Stationery
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Anonymous
I think there may still be one in the Tyson's Galleria. If not, Papyrus usually carries Crane's |
Keep them coming, and alright I will look at Cranes - never heard of that store!
Anonymous
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Great question! This is something I will be helping my eldest niece with shortly, so I thought I’d chime in on this thread. Since I don’t really know you or your situation specifically I’ll just give you the information and recommendations that I will be giving her (I’ll try to throw in options at various price ranges) and you can decide what, if anything, of it is useful to you.
OK, so, stationery. It’s a foregone conclusion that adults need it [OP – professional adults even more so, which you obviously know] which is why it’s a traditional high school graduation gift for our family. But it is so confusing. What do you need? What should it look like? When do you use it? The Basics Stationery used to be essential, and there were well-defined rules for its use. This is falling out of fashion now, so you get to decide how much you wish to adhere to tradition. In the past, a woman of a certain social standing would have needed to have a full stationery wardrobe consisting of (at a minimum) letter sheets, correspondence sheets (“half sheets”), correspondence cards, and informals. This is almost certainly unnecessary for your current situation. What you need depends on how you’re going to use your stationery. A stationery primer Types of stationery: Letter sheets – Shaped a birthday card only larger and plain or plain except for the monogram; these are basically large sheets of stationery folded in half with the fold on the left. You write on the front page, then open it up and write on the inside right (the third page, NOT the backside of the first page or the back). This is the most formal type of a woman’s social stationery. Traditionally, letter sheets were the most formal stationery and the only acceptable way to send condolence notes or responses to formal invitations, however in this day and age, except with the most formal of individuals correspondence sheets could probably be used for this purpose. Correspondence sheets – once called half sheets, these are a single, flat sheet of paper, basically half of a letter sheet. You only ever write on the front; correspondence sheets should come bundled with blank (un-monogrammed) “second sheets” that you use if your letter is too long but you don’t want to use a letter sheet. Informals – aka fold-over notes. Folded notes are pretty much what they sound like. Except that they’re not really all that informal. They are fine for all manner of thank you notes as long as the note is short enough to fit, and for invitations to informal events. You only ever write on the inside of a fold over note (preferably only the bottom half but for informal correspondence between social peers you can get away with both top and bottom although it sort of looks bad) Correspondence Cards – Used for basically the same purposes as informals although technically considered less formal, correspondence cards are basically a monogrammed notecard (with slightly different dimensions. You only write on the front of a correspondence card. The question of the “personal brand”: Back when communication was really formal, and electronic communication didn’t really exist, your stationery was often your first impression. It spoke for you, and it made your correspondence stand out (hopefully in a good way). It needed to be elegant, tasteful, and matching across the different components. This is all still true, and that is what was meant by your “personal brand” of stationery – your monogram, text style, paper choice, and ink color are all components. HOWEVER, what has changed is the way that stationery is made. Traditionally, stationery was engraved. That involved the creation of a customized engraving plate with the person’s own monogram, which was extremely expensive. Because it was so expensive, women would usually only change their stationery when their name or title changed (when they got married, or when their title and/or style changed by either family circumstances or personal achievements). A man’s stationery seldom changed, except to reflect changes in title and style, which wasn’t that common in American society. Engraved stationery is still ridiculously expensive – except that now there are other alternatives and purchasing the most expensive option is probably unnecessary. So if you have the desire and the funds to purchase new stationery you can change up the look a bit and that’s more acceptable now. What do you need? Communication is becoming more informal and increasingly done electronically. That’s OK socially amongst peers and to some extent might be OK for communications between colleagues in some professional circles (get to know what is typical and expected [within your company’s culture]). At a minimum, though, you would probably want to send a handwritten note for: - Thank you notes and letters - Condolence notes and letters - Congratulatory notes to certain people (mentors, distant ‘family friends’, anyone at university) For thank you or congratulations letters, and condolences expressed to anyone other than your closest friends/family: If you cannot see yourself sending handwritten correspondence longer than about two short paragraphs, correspondence sheets should suffice for your letters or condolence notes, especially in this day and age. [unless you are a young woman of a certain social station whose interactions will be with those who know traditional stationery etiquette very well and adhere to its requirements – in which case you need the next thing I’m going to talk about]. If you think you might need to write a full letter of at least three somewhat substantial paragraphs (most people should consider that they might have this come up, especially if they need to formally correspond with, thank, or express sympathy to someone very senior to them), you might need letter sheets. If you intend to purchase letter sheets, you should make sure that you also have some correspondence sheets, because letter sheets will be too large for some of your correspondence. For thank you notes, short congratulatory notes, and condolence notes to extremely close friends/family: You need either correspondence cards or informals (aka “fold over notes”). [You probably don’t need both, unless you’re trying to amass a full stationery wardrobe or intending to stick to the formal, traditional rules.] The note is regarded as more formal than the card, however most people probably don’t care about the distinction so the two are practically functionally equivalent. Choose based on preference. What should it look like? Paper color: Either ecru (aka cream, ivory, buff, etc.) or white. Ecru is probably the best choice, as it is generally considered more formal. Design: Elegance and understatement are key. Typically just a monogram (first initial, last initial, middle initial for an unmarried woman, a man, or a married woman who kept her maiden name or first initial, last initial, maiden name initial for a married woman who took her spouse’s name) or a full name (NO nickname for an adult!). Some sort of small, discreet underline below the name is often available as an option if you are looking for something more artistic. Although uncommon, sometimes people have their address printed on their letter sheets and/or correspondence sheets. I do not recommend this, because then if you move you need to replace your stationery. The last choice you need to make is whether or not you want your informals or correspondence cards to have a border. Either way is acceptable. That’s pretty much it. There really shouldn’t be many other embellishments on anything, and definitely no pictures or cutesy graphics. Ink color: Black or navy are traditional. Other colors are often an option for a much more creative, youthful, informal look. www.dempseyandcarroll.com – extremely expensive; beautiful engraved stationery, high quality and excellent customer service www.crane.com – expensive; high quality, very helpful staff www.paperstyle.com - reasonably priced; quality varies so choose carefully http://www.alwaysstationery.com - reasonably priced; quality varies so choose carefully http://www.thestationerystudio.com/stationery - reasonably priced, often has sales; quality varies so choose carefully |
Anonymous
If you approach your future decisions with this much anxiety, you are going to die of stress before you are 40. There are almost no decisions you will make in life that can't be undone, and (for that matter) few that can be undone as easily as changing your mind about your stationery. |
Anonymous
+1 Crane and Co. all the way. |