Stationery Design

The words ‘stationery’ describes a family of objects. Its meaning extends from writing materials like pen, pencils or ink to writing surfaces, like paper, notebooks, notepads or envelopes. A more general description would set stationery objects under office or school supplies. But the term can also define a very unique form of art.

From the 13th to the 15th century the term was used to describe products sold by merchants that would peddle in fixed spots, usually around universities; they were ‘stationary’. After centuries past, the word took on a new meaning and now encompasses anything from paper, to glue.

As an artistic endeavor, stationery refers to the different ways in which a piece of paper can be modeled, inscribed, printed or modified as to suite a special occasion. Stationery designs differ and are highly customizable depending on the destination. Stationery can be used as invitations for many kinds of events, as greeting cards and as simple notecards.

Of the several techniques for creating stationery art, letterpress printing and embossing are the most common. The first method refers to the imprinting of characters, sentences, lines of text, mottos or any type of text of variable content and length into the paper. These imprints are usually done with no color and create small dents into the paper, but ink can be used in whichever color the customer chooses.

Embossing is used to style shapes and models on the surface of the paper. Using special shapes paper is pressed from the back to create raised bumps on the front in the shape desired. This method creates both text and graphics in the paper and very beautiful models are available.

Engraving the paper is another technique which can be described by applying pressure using an engraved surface that is harder. The result is a slightly raised ink model, representing the model. Thermographic printing is used as a substitute for the more expensive engraving method and works in different stages that achieves a similar result.