The Creative Sparklers are excited to announce the start of our "INSIGHT" blog series - straight from the Spark design team - yours truly, Andrea & Alyssa. We look forward to providing you design specific advice, tips, and knowledge. We welcome your suggestions for future topics {spark@letterpresslove.com}. Consider this a "How To" type of feature and let us know what you think!
So, to kick off this great new "design-focused" blog series, we can't think of any better first topic than Spark's specialty: Custom Design! But, wait! There's a twist. As many of you may know, we offer our brides the option of custom design without all the extra cost. So, here it is, straight from the sparkler's mouth - How to get a Spark custom design without the custom cost...
Uniquely, Spark provides our retailers with a lovely binder that we refer to as our Design Book. I consider this a custom-kind of Bride's dream! If you like options, you'll like Spark. It is full of monogram, pattern, and artwork options - some from our Wedding Suites and others that are just popular. It's pretty simple, really, in order to avoid custom design fees - just pick out your artwork or style from those featured in our Design Book and let us know your ideas on how you envision them being incorporated into your wedding suite design.
STEP 1 :: Look through our Wedding & Stationery Albums to see if there are styles or layouts that could work for you. Here you can see examples of how all the pieces will work together, what colors combos will look like.. etc. And if you still don't see anything that is just right....
STEP 2 :: Spend some quality time with our Design Book! Select the artwork elements you'd like featured in your design. Be sure to consider how these elements will work together and even sketch out your layout ideas. A good idea is to look at our other Wedding designs and visualize swapping elements out for the ones you are selecting. If you find a layout you really like, please reference it on your order form.
STEP 3 :: Select your fonts from the Design Book - be sure to select fonts that compliment your design well and help to appropriately portray your event. Your retail store consultants can help you out and also remember that our designers here love working with fonts - I say a font choice can make or break a design - so we would love to help you out if you are just not quite sure. We are happy to provide you with an alternate option or two so that you can see the difference.
STEP 4 :: Cue the "ooh's and ahh's" - and check out our awesome variety of ink and paper color swatches! Located near the back of the Design Book, all of the standard inks are shown printed here on our bright white, soft white and cream stock for your comparison. Just behind that, there are paper swatches of all the standard colored papers we offer. Be sure to look in the Wedding Albums for a better idea of other fun combinations such as metallics on dark paper or what inks will look like on other colored papers! *LOVE ALERT* you should know that it's NO extra cost to use any of our colored papers - this can be a very chic way to get that extra pop of color in your suite if you do not want to add another ink!
STEP 5 :: Finishing touches - if you are planning on having one of our sweet pocketfolds to enclose your invitation and insert cards - be sure to look at the last pages of our Design Book for our string and eyelet options.
STEP 6 :: This is an important one here people... send us sketches or quick doodles of what you have in mind so we can make you happy!! That is our ultimate goal as designers after all, but of course, if you don't have anything specific in mind we will be able to provide you with some great options. "Keywords" about the vision for your event are always helpful. For example, tell us if your is event going to be: traditional - modern - clean lines - artistic - dripping with diamonds - full of feathers - fun - fabulous - or even based off of your great grandmother's handmade vase. If we know your inspirations, we can better help to get your custom idea across. Your invitation is going to be your guests' first sneak-peek to your special day - so make it count!
STEP 7 :: And perhaps the most vital - send us your wording! This saves time and we will be able to provide you with your first proof more quickly. We suggest comparing the amount of information you are providing us with in comparison to the layout style and design you have in mind. While the information is obviously the most important part of your invite - you should equally consider the design aesthetic.
Here is an example I've prepared for your viewing pleasure- all "custom," right our of our design book. Featuring the 'golden poppy' flower artwork, used as a pattern - shown in Spark 'cherry' ink on bright white paper. I also added a simple line border as well as our 'three dots' frame/border to give the edge that special touch. The monogram shown is the 'Williams' style - font is Gotham. You can see just how nicely these elements come together for a sweet, simple look and have great potential for the rest of the suite.
Well, there you have it! The choices are many - the possibilities are endless - just imagine the great results! If you have ideas that aren't in our Design Book, always have your retailer check with us and we'll see what we can create for you!
All the best - Andrea
ps- you'll see *LOVE ALERT* from us every now and again - just calling out what we think are great tips and our sweetest secrets :)
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