IN THE STUDIO // S A L E !

I am offering customers 10% off of my customizable letterpress holiday photo cards through November 6th, 2011. These cards are letterpress printed on 100% cotton card stock with choice of color, font and greeting and include white envelopes and self-adhesive, beveled photo corners. Check out the entire selection here.

Wouldn't these make a great engagement announcement or first-Holiday-as-a-married-couple card? Letterpress is a wonderful match for the artful photography that couples get for their engagements and weddings. Those photos are so special, couples want to share them and a luscious letterpress holiday card is a great way to honor the beauty of such a special time in their life together.

I have also had a number of people use these as a combination baby announcement/holiday card. At such a busy yet exciting time it is a great idea to send one card for both occasions.

These cards are especially nice for two reasons: first, they're letterpress. In a sea of canned photo cards it is so lovely to pull a hand printed piece of cotton paper out of an envelope. It's the best way to express warm wishes, I think. Secondly, and more practically (especially for engagement/wedding and baby photos), the photo is removable for use past the holidays. No more holiday cards stuck on the refrigerator taking up too much space, just the photo. And in the case of the reverse mounted cards the photos are frame size. The sender is not only sending a card but a small photo gift.

To get this great deal order at my etsy shop and then use the coupon code FACEBOOK. If you need larger quantities than what is there feel free to contact me at amy{at}armatodesign{dot}com.

Photo mounted on reverse of card.

Wallet size photo mounted on front of card.

IN THE STUDIO // HEARTEN

Open publication - Free publishing - More minneapolis

I'm so thrilled to be able to introduce to you Hearten, the online magazine of the Independent Wedding Association! This has been a pet project of mine for some time now. We started talking about it last spring, did the photo shoots this summer and wrote, designed and edited it this fall and now it's here! Take a look, won't you?

Hearten {whose tag line is "Encouragement & Ideas for your Twin Cities Wedding"} was born out of a desire to provide Twin Cities couples with education, inspiration and comfort. We wanted a magazine that was more than just pretty pictures {though there are lots of them too}. We wanted real content for couples to go to when planning their wedding from vendors who are close to what they do and LOVE what they do. So while we do have two glorious photo shoots with great ideas AND gorgeous photos, we also have features like "Glossary" which, in this issue, defines the terms used in floral design. Do you know what a pomander is? You will after you read Hearten. There are other great features in this issue that you'll have to see for yourself and there will be even more in future issues.

I will be posting more photos of the stationery I designed for the two shoots in the coming days. I hope you enjoy Hearten as much as we enjoyed putting it together and bringing it to you.

IN THE STUDIO // AS SEEN IN... MINNESOTA BRIDE

There we are on page 34 of the Fall/Winter issue of Minnesota Bride! Our sunflower invitation, reply card and thank you. Oh goodness, I love seeing our designs on the glossy pages of a magazine. And check out the cover! I just love the design, the fashion, the great company we're in. Thanks so much to Minnesota Bride for continuously supporting the great wedding talent we have here.

Just in case you can't read what they had to say about us:

Flower Power

While this style and layout are predetermined, the wording, font and colors can be adapted for your celebration. At Armato Design & Press, even the printing method is customizable: choose from luxurious letterpress, mid-priced offset printing or a PDF file, allowing you to select your own printer. The sunflower design—one of designer Amy Armato’s favorites—mixes a modern mood with a nature motif, a perfect fit for a pastoral wedding setting.
Armato Design & Press, 612.387.4844, armatodesign.com

You can read more about the sunflower invitation here. And here's another feature in Minnesota Bride.

IN THE STUDIO // SUNFLOWER INVITATION

Introducing my new favorite invitation: The Sunflower. I especially love how it is a very modern take on a pretty rustic flower. This is a closely cropped bright yellow and chocolate brown sunflower letterpress printed on 100% cotton bright white paper with a bright yellow envelope that has a full bleed {runs off the end of the flap} cropped sunflower. Of course it can be printed in any color combination you wish {I would love to see it in a deep orange and charcoal gray}. This one was printed for Sharon's big 40th birthday blowout, but wouldn't it make a lovely invitation for a fall wedding?

INSPIRATION FILE // REBUS SAVE THE DATE INSPIRATION

Don't you think this is a great idea for a save the date or game for your guests to play while they're waiting for dinner to be served? Customized for your event, of course. I really don't think I'll ever tire of this design style. Thanks to Steven Heller for constantly finding the best in design history, both remembered and forgotten. Here's the full post.

IN THE STUDIO // UPTOWN MODERN

It was a pleasure to work with so many creative wedding professionals (many from the IWA) on this inspiration shoot for which I did the stationery. Though not the central focus, vendors were encouraged to be as eco-friendly as possible. With this in mind I created a stationery suite that minimizes paper use and maximizes smart design. This is most evident in the invitation which is printed on both sides and is divided in the middle by a perforation. The top of the invitation has all of the pertinent information for the wedding, the bottom has a reply post card. For the back of the stationery, the top of the invitation (the piece that the guest keeps) has directions to the event, the bottom (on the back of the reply) has a return address with postage affixed. This piece does minimize paper which makes the design of the piece that much more important. Great attention was paid to the design of the invitation as a whole keeping in mind what the pieces will look like when separated.
Other paper minimizing features include signs that replace individual place cards and a sweets menu sign. Another minimalistic consideration would be a menu sign. For this shoot, however, individual menus worked better for highlighting place settings.

Thanks to Katrina Hannemann of Studio Laguna for not only organizing the shoot but for taking the gorgeous photos.
It was also wonderful working with the following talented wedding vendors:
Grace Bridal Boutique (now available at Posh Bridal)
Five Event Center
BeEvents
Sassafras Floral Design
JWP Jewelry Design
Heimie’s Haberdashery
Fabulous Catering
Jessica’s Cakes

SHOP // GARNISH

OH MY GOD! How did I just learn about Garnish? I was just paging through the newest issue of Sweet Paul {another "OMG! how did I just learn about..." moment. It seems I've been having a lot of those lately} and saw an ad for Garnish. Oh, it's so nice to have a place to go to for simple but unique {not to mention customizable: Letterpress labels and/or tags anyone?} packaging options. A cupcake in a mini-coffee-to-go-cup? Sold! Lovely wooden spoons for a lovely paper cup full of gelato? Sign me up! Wedding favors that look so cute your guests won't want to open them? Done, done and DONE!

Ok, now I have to get to planning my next gathering so I can order from Garnish. I can't believe I've gone this long without them.

IN THE STUDIO // MADDIEBIRD BAKERY

It was so great working with Michele McAtee to come up with a logo for her new business. One that describes the nature of her work and one that will grow with her as her business expands. Michele describes her work this way: "Maddiebird Bakery... [bakes] cakes from scratch and custom-decorates each cake to be an original work of art...delicious, delicious art." Michele wanted something that was both folksy and young looking. I think she got it and I can't wait to see what she does with it. More to come...

IN THE STUDIO // STYLE SHOT NUMBER 4

Here is the final styled shot Erica Loeks and I designed for an upcoming marketing project I'm doing. Read more about this invitation here.

A great big THANK YOU to Erica for her photographic talent. This was a long shoot but it was so fun because Erica is a great person to spend time with. If you're in need of a thoughtful, creative and upbeat photographer for your wedding or any event give her a call.

IN THE STUDIO // STYLE SHOT NUMBER 1

Here's the first of four style shots Erica Loeks and I did for an upcoming marketing project I'm putting together for Armato Design & Press. This is one of my favorite invitations. See more of it here. And go here to see the work we did to get this shot.

More photos to come...

MINI SESSION REPOST // TELLING YOUR STORY

This post was originally inspired by a post I saw iDiY and I thought it was a perfect subject for my week of mini session reposts. Granted, I made up the story but it just serves to remind you of the little things in your life that may give you inspiration for your stationery. Loving pattern as much as I do, the entire post made me swoon. That's right, a security envelope made me swoon. MANY security envelopes made me swoon. Oh, the things we take for granted.

When starting the custom design process, I encourage my bridal clients to think about what inspires them, what is meaningful to them in their relationship as a couple and as individuals, what do they just plainly like to look at? I like to look at patterns like these {found here}:



So, to illustrate my point, I thought I would create a sketch of an invitation for a bride who was really taken with security envelope patterns. Maybe she's an artist and he's an accountant and they wrote love letters to each other, and all of his letters came in security envelopes written at and sent from work. Feeling too shy about writing love letters at work and sending them from work, he wrote quick and slipped each note into an envelope with patterns such as these on the inside. And now, because of him, she associates these patterns with the pattern of their love story {which is way better than thinking of bills when seeing these patterns, in her opinion}. She wants them on their wedding invitations but, with an artistic twist, she wants to see them in sunflower yellow an steel grey. And can you imagine the fun she will have with envelope liners?

See? This is how an invitation can take shape if you dig deep and think inside the envelope {if you'll allow the very appropriate pun}. Here's a closer look:

MINI SESSION REPOST // GINGKO LOVELINESS

Donna and Rob knew right way when they got engaged what they would give as favors at their wedding: bronzed ginkgo leaves. It was natural then, that the invitation should allude to the ginkgo, symbol of strength and longevity. This is what we came up with together. Floating ginkgo leaves with Art Nouveau inspired vines. For their fall wedding chocolate brown and rust orange colors were used. These invitations were simply perfect to foreshadow their day.

MINI SESSION REPOST // TELLING YOUR STORY

Deciding on a custom invitation can be an exciting... and daunting decision. You have decided that pre-designed invitations don't describe your story or your style, but now the pressure is on to first find a designer that can do that for you and then communicate enough to said designer to allow her to represent you as a couple and your upcoming wedding. A good designer can do a lot with color, fonts and layout, but she can not read your mind or know your history without a depth of input from you. Armed with this knowledge a "pretty" design becomes a great design that tells your story.

I offer as an example the cd favor above. Kristin and Darren wanted to give music as their favor and they chose songs that meant something to them as a couple. In talking to them about the cd insert and sleeve I found that they not only had a number of great songs that described them, but a long list of inside jokes between them. I had them send me that list and I put together a typographical illustration with the central theme of "Introducing the Garretts". These were set on the plate of each place setting at the reception. They not only were gifts to guests but they were a great conversation starter with people asking each other if they knew what "System 9" meant, etc. Not only that but the insert is a framable piece, their first piece of art for their home.


THE ARMATO DESIGN & PRESS PROCESS
Custom invitation designs begin with a simple conversation about you as a couple, the type of wedding you envision and styles you are attracted to. This conversation is an essential part of finding the perfect expression of your individual wedding. Though it is not a very romantic notion, it is helpful to remember that wedding stationery, like business stationery, is more successful when there is a single, unifying theme and look to it. That is what a designer is there to help with. You can make this process more effective by considering the following:

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. Tell me everything! How did you meet? What do you like doing together? Is there a specific motif or symbol you would like to include on the invitations? This could be anything from the lace on your dress to your location to a private joke you have between you. What kind of feeling do you want to convey with your invitations? Are you a formal or casual couple? Will it be a formal or casual wedding? Why did you choose your wedding location? What are the colors you are using? What flowers will you have in your bouquet? Your maids' bouquet? What do you want to avoid with your invitations? Do you have an interesting story about how you met? how you were proposed to? how you live as a couple?

2. What components do you want? Will it just be an invitation and reply card? Will you include a map/directions card, accommodations card, reception card? What about save-the-dates, programs, thank-yous? Will you need place cards, menus or packaging for your favors?

3. How many invitation sets do you need? Always order at least 25 more than you need. Keep in mind that it is better to have extra than to have to go back on press, which is expensive and time consuming. Also people close you often request a second copy for scrapbooks and/or framing.

4. Carefully consider the wording of each piece. Will it be formal or casual? Traditional or modern? Are there menu items to be included on the reply card? We will also need the addresses to be included: both the return address on the invitation and the mailing address on the reply if they are different.

MINI SESSION "TRANSCRIPT"

As promised during my mini session at yesterday's Something New Wedding Fair, below is the "transcript" {notes is probably a better word} of my talk about branding your wedding. If you were there, thanks for coming. I hope I helped. If you weren't able to attend, hopefully you can use the information below to help you plan your wedding stationery. I am happy to answer questions in the comments.

Introduction:
Custom design can be an exciting and daunting process. When done successfully the final stationery will be something that is both meaningful and beautiful not just pretty. This session will give you some things to think about and ideas to consider when talking to a designer about branding your wedding. I will use some of my invitations as examples as well as give you general approaches to branding or using a theme for your wedding stationery.

branding with COLOR:
It could be that your venue has a strong color component, or that you love a certain color of your favorite flowers, maybe the first gift your guy gave you was a certain color or maybe you have a signature color that is totally you. Whatever the colors are there will be certain styles that will naturally go with the color. Do those styles reflect you? If not, how can you make sure that the color and your style are resonant? The proper compliment to the color, or maybe instead of a bright you use a tint or shade of the color

branding with PLACE:
If you are getting married in a place with a strong brand most of the work may be done for you. Mill City Museum, The Walker, the Varsity Theatre, for example, all have strong looks for themselves, picking one or two elements from your venue to play up in your stationery and other pieces will tie everything together into a theme.

branding with TIME:
The timing of your wedding could be all you need to brand your stationery. Do you love spring time blooms or images of the fall harvest. Will these things be front and center in your wedding?

branding with TRADITION:
If yours is a family with strong wedding or family traditions playing these up in stationery and wedding theme can tie you to your own {or his own} history. Maybe you don't want to wear your mom's wedding gown but the lace on it is divine and you want to play that up in your stationery, flowers and cake for example. Or maybe your family has a Sunday morning tradition of doing crosswords over cinnamon rolls and coffee. Sounds like the perfect favor material: a get to know the couple crossword and some mini cinnamon rolls. The biggest thing here is to explain the traditions you plan on using as they may seem obscure to outsiders.

branding with NARRATIVE:
Do the two of you have a special story together? Most couples do whether it's a great story about how you met or how he popped the question. Or maybe it's your common love of science fiction novels or the fact that you both adore art. Whatever the story it can be played up in wedding stationery.

Kristin & Darren {above}
Though the entire suite is custom work, the inside jokes and special dates arranged in a cd favor is the piece that truly "Introduces the Garretts". Favors were set on each place setting and served not only as favors but as conversation starters for guests.

Laura & Jeremy
Laura and Jeremy go to the farmers market together often. Jeremy always buys Laura either peonies or dahlias which serve as a back drop of this invitation suite and it's creative layout.



Donna & Rob
Loved that the ginkgo symbolizes longevity and strength. They knew they were going to give bronzed ginkgo leaves as a favor and let that dictate use of ginkgos in their stationery.

Communication with your designer is key.
If you're going the custom route with your wedding stationery, there are some things to keep in mind when communicating with your designer:

1. Have some vendors pinned down before talking about your stationery. Colors, venue, flowers anything that you may want reflected in your stationery should be decided.

2. Know what you like and what you don't like. Have verbal and VISUAL examples of both.

3. Be thorough and honest. Tell your designer everything there is to know about you and what you want for your wedding and it's stationery. Answer questions thoroughly and honestly. The designer doesn't know you, don't make assumptions about what they should know about you. If it's important to you, make sure your designer knows about it. A good designer will ask questions and will want you to be happy with your design.

4. Custom design takes time. Get the stationery process started 2-3 months before you want to SEND the invitations out. Earlier if you want save-the-dates that coordinate with your invitations.

Conclusion:
Though branding sounds like such a corporate word to describe wedding stationery, it really does help to think of it that way. Branding is a way to communicate a single thought, theme and feeling. That is exactly what you want your stationery to do.

I was talking today about custom design, but I think considering what we have talked about today before looking for pre-designed invitations will also help you narrow down the many choices out there, as well as allowing you to have wedding stationery that is representative of you.

IN THE STUDIO // WEDDING BOOTCAMP

I am participating in the Independent Wedding Association's Something New wedding fair this Saturday. This is an organization I am so proud to be a part of and it's fair is top-notch. Always at the best locations, always the most creative wedding vendors the cities have to offer and always the best information a to-be-wed could want and need. This fair is offering a Wedding Boot Camp where vendors will speak on various topics like "Libations 101" and "Eco Chic Weddings".

I will be talking about branding your wedding. I will go over some of the questions I ask my clients to think about and answer when I'm trying to come up with a custom design for them. Things that couples wouldn't necessarily think about but questions that would help create an invitation that speaks to who they are as a couple. This also could be seen as a "how to communicate to your designer to get what you want" mini-session. And if a couple isn't interested in custom work thinking about these questions would help them find a pre-designed invitation easier.

IN THE STUDIO // RECENT WORK

I was given a wonderful opportunity to design the programs for the first ever "Not So Real" Wedding at this fall's Independent Wedding Association Something New Wedding Fair. I have to say, this is the most design fun I've had in a while and I usually have lots o' design fun. The theme of the wedding was circus chic so I decided to go all out with letterpress printing, garish circus-y colors and a mix of modern and vintage fonts. I love this piece. LOVE IT. Go here to see a recap of the fair and stay tuned both here and at the IWA website for more information on the fair this February 5th, 2011. The photos above were taken by Sarah McGee and Studio Laguna check out the photos below of the piece as we printed it.

The first color. Printed on 100% cotton paper.


Detail of the two colors together. Check out that overprint. GORGEOUS!

The view from the rollers coming back down off of the ink plate. This is just after the paper was printed with the second color.

IN THE STUDIO // RECENT WORK

I had great fun designing the invitation for a recent press event for the Independent Wedding Association Fall Wedding Fair. The theme was "Circus Chic", the design was just plain fun; fun to research, fun to design and FUN to print. The finished product is above and below are images of the piece on press. The IWA is having another wedding show on February 5th, 2011. More information to follow. I can say however, that this one will be a treat not only for the eyes but will be very educational as well.

A close up of the strong man. I love this illustration sooooooo much.

The first color goes on the 100% cotton paper.

Finished invitation. Note the blue printing plate in the background. Each color gets it's own plate.

Another view of the finished invitation in the foreground and one just about to be printed with the blue printing plate.

That's right, envelope printing with a full bleed {where the image runs off the edge of the paper}. Because we're that good.