Leaning on the wall at the NYC Javits Center, watching all the bloggers walking around snapping pictures of all the vendor booths {Kristen and myself included} I started thinking that I needed to look at the stationery show in a different way. Everyone and their mother has pictures from NSS, but what makes me different? How did I view the show as merely a spectator?
Plain and simple, I saw the show from a designer's point of view. I love stationery, but in my heart, I am a branding and package designer. From my design eye, I noticed the whole picture, not just the stationery. I noticed booths that had barely visible logos on the walls and I noticed booths that were creating a branded believable experience for the buyer. These companies made their logos work and interact for them and therefore became memorable entities with a distinct user experience. If you own a company, ask yourself, is your logo just a mark or is it re-inforcing your brand and product?
Keep reading to see my FAVORITE FIVE BRANDS from the show {in no particular order}:
EGG PRESS and ONLINE STORE {I love the interaction of the letters in the egg graphic to form the "e" and "p". This logo creates a great icon and easily re-inforces the company name.}
MR BODDINGTON'S STUDIO {This brand and booth made you feel like you had been time warped back to London and that at any minute the actual Mr. Boddington was going to walk out the door. The silhouette is distinct and makes their brand story feel real and it is amplified by the hand lettered stationery. Feels like a logo that someone found on antique stationery and scanned it in to re-use. Really stood out for me at the show.}
OLD SCHOOL STATIONERS and ETSY SHOP {The casual, playful and detail work of the letterforms in the logo translates right into the work. Their illustrations and stationery are full of intricate elements. This booth felt casual, warm and inviting and just worked so well with the logo. The whole experience felt very cohesive.}
OLD TOM FOOLERY { Ok. I am going to come right out and say it...this logo ranks up there with some of my all time favorites. Come on! It is so clever and simple. I love when designers take basic letters and numbers and look at them differently. They did a great job working in the typestache letterform. They even had a typestache poster! As visitors to the booth, we could get polaroid pictures taken with the typestache in front of us and the shot was added to the "wall of fools". Great lighthearted interaction with the logo. Snarky, clever, witty...all of that came through in their stationery and the overall brand experience.
RED CAP CARDS {I love this logo and I loved this booth. I wish they had the logo on a shirt. Illustrator Carrie Gifford, who was dressed in black from head-to-toe with fire engine red lipstick and who kind of resembled her illustrations, re-inforced her brand by just standing there. It is interesting for the buyer to meet and learn more about the owner/designer/illustrator behind the brand. Who are they as people? How do they dress? What is their favorite color, food or vacation? Why do they create their style of work? Why would my target market want their product? Specific details help a store owner sell that brand to their consumers.}
RIFLE PAPER CO { I like the simplicity of the sans serif type in the logo and the way it can stand alone or interact with illustrator Anna Bond's dog illustration. Simple is always the right answer to me. Some people over think their logo. Look at how detailed Anna's illustrations are. It would have been easy to use a hand lettered logo, but the sans serif is the opposite and compliments the illustrations instead of fighting with them.
Recap :: Once I stepped back from the craziness and intensity of the show, I really loved learning about these hardworking companies through their brands and their stationery. These owners/designers have a passion for good design and I really respect that and their courage to put it out there for all of us to love and judge. Their companies represent something to them and that came through in most of the brands. Thank you all for your creativity and pushing your logos to the next level. Well done and my designer hat is off to all of you!
{image credits to their respectful owners}
