What to Give Your Favorite Photographer for Christmas or Hanukkah: A Gift Certificate for Letterpress Business Cards from Studio Z!

We all know photographers are big Wanting Things. They want new lenses and backs, new programs and apps, they want chic cases and they want the latest and most extravagant everything. They all want STUFF all the time, I guess because there is SO MUCH STUFF TO WANT. It gets confusing, not to mention expensive, when you draw a photographer’s name for gift giving at this time of year. So, to make your coming few shopping weeks less hectic, may I humbly suggest you just call me up and order a beautifully letterpress-printed gift certificate, in a denomination you find most appropriate, for letterpress printed business cards. You know they’ve been ogling other photographers’ cards, just wanting away, like Kip Beelman’s fuchsia edged, super-thick square cards, designed by Ross Tanner and printed at Studio Z:

or Dana Goodson’s vibrant blue edged letterpress business cards AND stationery suite:

or dramatically fabulous Clark Bailey’s black and gold super thick museum mount cards with black gloss foil:

or Hiram Trillo’s big-sky-shiny-blue-foiled cards and stationery wardrobe:

You know she wants them. You know he has been yearning… Or maybe the photographer on your list has been hankering after a completely new brand. Like the ones I did for Alana Couch and Jonathan Chan and Maria Bernal — the sexy black ones with hot pink edge painting –  or Laura Gordon. You can apply a gift certificate to branding and/or printing, business cards and/or stationery, invitations and/or whatever. You can choose to make it for the whole job or just something they can apply toward the printing of their dreams.

From the most austere to over-the-top wild, a letterpress business card from Studio Z Mendocino, or a new logo design, can make a difference in the clients one attracts and the jobs one lands. Ask our clients this,  about what having jaw-dropping cards like the ones shown here has done for their businesses.

Here, for instance, are Florida photographer Audrey Snow’s pearl foil and chocolate ink ones:

And of course the gift certificate idea is not limited to photographers. Jennifer Chapman’s new brand and cards are an example of one of many “other” categories.

Lawyers and interior designers and Realtors want fabulous design and letterpress, letterpress, letterpress:

Well, you get the idea. A gift certificate in any amount from Studio Z Mendocino will put a smile on the face of just about anybody who’s in business on your list, and will help them get closer to their vision of passing out business cards that stop people in their tracks.

Call 707.964.2522 to order your specially printed gift certificate for a loved one…or for yourself! We ALL want stuff this time of year, don’t we? Tell somebody! Call Santa!

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Elizabeth Perkins Photography: A Business Card that Adapts a Photograph to Letterpress — with Stunning Results

I don’t usually recommend that photographers use one of their photos on business cards, no matter how amazing. I think it limits what you do to that one image in people’s minds and, as we all know, there is SO much more to the range of work you do. When Elizabeth Perkins, a photographer from Roanoake, Virginia came to me for a new logo, business cards, and stationery wardrobe, she sent me a collection of images to let me get a feeling for what her work is like. One image, a stairway she shot in England, captivated me for some reason and I decided i wanted to use it and see what we could do to adapt if for Letterpress Printing. The singular image had to be turned into a one-color, fairly coarse halftone that could be made into a letterpress polymer plate and printed on black paper. This meant we had to print the negative image in order to make it look positive on the black paper. I know those reading this far are probably mostly photographers, so you can get your mind around this, yes? OK, then we printed it in white ink, so there was a bit of bleed-through from the extra-ultra-thick, black Museum Mount paper, creating something rather elegantly gnarly. Well, how can i explain this? We followed this up by printing the logo I designed for her in gold foil, with the contact information on the back also in gold foil.

I have to say, this is one of the most arresting business cards we have ever done. It has everything: a gorgeous but not too literal bit of Elizabeth’s work translated to something iconic; elegant typography; drama;Artfulness, and everything but a steak and mashed potatoes for utter satisfying gorgeousness. If I do say so myself.

Before Elizabeth and husband Jeff opened her shop in Roanoake, they also wanted us to send letterhead, envelopes, invoices, tags to hang or put up near the photographs, mailing labels and thank you cards.Here are her script cards and envelopes:

And above, her tags.

Below, one of her receipts, a correspondence card and hang tags.

They told me the opening was a grand success, with many well wishers, lots of excitement and even a few sales. I only wish i could have been there too to celebrate with them. Doing a job of this scope makes me feel like such a participant!

It was immeasurably fun to work through all this as Elizabeth’s plans developed and evolved over time. Finding something that expressed her personality and style … it’s one of the most pleasurable aspects of doing my work. The experimental nature of always pushing things a bit further than they have gone, too, makes me very happy. This project opens up a whole new conversation about images and letterpress printing. Working on the next experiment right now.

Congratulations Elizabeth, on your new shop. Thank you for allowing me to work on all this with you.

All photos by Pablo Abuliak

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JennAffairs Black Letterpress Business Cards Make The Card Observer!!

Why I feel like Miss America this morning: Just got one of my logo designs and favorite business cards on The Card Observer.

This is such an honor. I am THRILLED, and especially because Jenn Chapman is one of my favorite people. Just had to YELL when I got the message from Dave that JennAffairs made the cut.

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DeShelia Spann Falls in Love…With Her New Letterpress Business Cards for a Fashionista Photographer

DeShelia Spann, a fabulous fashion and wedding photographer, has a similar problem as I: she has a name that people are not sure how to pronounce. The upside of this is practically the same as the downside: well, it’s that we both have weird names. People remember us, even if they don’t say our monikers with the right accent. How you say DeShelia is this: DeSHEELA. How you say Zida is this: ZEEDUH. So see, we were immediate best friends when she called me not too long ago looking for letterpress business cards. Sharing that kind of life experience makes you know something about each other. It was so much fun to work with DeShelia. She knows what she wants and is very flexible and open, and totally down to earth and great to be around. No wonder people love to work with her. We did!

DeShelia posted a blog post today about her new business cards that absolutely gave me goosebumps.

Here are DeShelia’s own, very poetic words:

And I Fell in Love

Wed. August 25, 2010 Posted in MY LIFE, PEOPLE & PLACES

In my business I strive every day to exceed my clients expectations. Well I can honestly say I know how that feels because someone just exceeded mine. About a month ago I sent a tweet out to my fellow colleagues and friends asking them to share any recommendations they had for a good letterpress company. I’ve been working to update my brand and really liked the look and feel of letterpress for business cards and stationary. A few tweets later, the name Studio Z Mendocino came across my screen.

I decided to check Studio Z’s website  and  blog to see some of their work. It was definitely what I’d been looking for. After having several great conservations with Zida, the studio owner and designer, I knew she understood my brand and the direction to grow it. We decided to start with my business cards since I’d be heading out for a couple important events (more on that soon).

I’ve been excited to see the finished product since I signed off on the proof. Last Thursday, my friendly FedEx delivery man, dropped a bit of happiness off to me. I saw Studio Z on the box label and began to rip into the package. I caught a glimpse of my new business cards…..and I fell in LOVE!!

The super thick Cranes Lettra 600 gsm we used for DeShelia is the perfect base for her strong, feminine logo. We printed it in a gray blue ink that matches her web site colors, deeply impressed, of course. The little shadow cast by letterpress’s impression is what sets this type of printing apart from any other techniques. It’s unmistakable distinction engages prospective clients like nothing else. We can’t wait to hear what happens in NYC to our fashionista photographer client whom we so love to work with.

DeShelia Spann, Photographer

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Funky Triangle: Kip Beelman, Ross Tanner, Zida Borcich: Kip’s Traffic-Stopping Letterpress Business Cards and Stationery Wardrobe by Studio Z Mendocino

Kip Beelman is a photographer and a sweetheart. There is no question about it. The guy is pure creativity and unmitigated, self-taught skill, endowed with an eye for the astonishing and a talent that also has in it an aspect of all-heart-ness. It’s something you can feel the minute you read his “about” page on his blog, and when you hear his voice on the phone asking about getting some letterpress printing done. Oh, you have not had that experience yet. Well, I did, and, after the initial getting-to-know-you conversation revealed he’d had my Moldovan genius friend, Ross Tanner, design his logo and do his website and blog, the prospect of working with him became even more enticing. I love that Ross and knew collaborating with these two was going to result in a very special project, a funky triangle of artistic partnership. My special psychic powers were not off, either. It was a blast to work with the spectacular Ross-candy logo and Kip’s good nature and laser-perfect feel for what he wanted. He surprised me by requesting that I use a raspberry pink ink. “You’re a guy. The K with a crown on it looks like a masculine, kingly thing. But you want it pink.” Yes, he wanted it to appeal to brides and their moms, his main demographic of clientèle, ergo: pink. I suggested a further refinement: metallic, deep raspberry pink FOIL. OK. ok ok ok! Then I ventured a little further out: How about edge painting? Yes, OK. It was no holds barred on the square business cards. Look what happened:

We did his business cards on Cranes Lettra 600 gsm, the gorgeous, super-thick paper we favor over all else these days, and matched the edge paint to the foil about as perfectly as it is humanly possible to do.

Then we finished the project with not one, but TWO, kinds of stationery. This amounts to a Stationery Wardrobe in these modern, email-ish times. We made Correspondence Cards (large, horizontal, flat cards, with matching envelopes), AND smaller, folding Informals, also with matching envelopes. Each piece has its duty in the rapidly vanishing art form of handwritten correspondence, which, the savvy Kip knows, packs even more of a wallop because of its rarity. Kip even sent ME a thank you note and I was THRILLED to receive it, may I just say. How fabulous to get something in the mail that is not trying to sell me something or make me pay for something. That is the treasure of a hand written note. You jump to open it, devour with pleasure and blushes the compliment of appreciation expressed in a fine hand. Here is the actual thank you note, which I keep on my desk still:

Above you see the flap of his Correspondence Card’s envelope. Below is the Correspondence Card and the front of his envelopes, onto which we foiled his kingly K right next to where the address will go. Kip took all of the pictures here, by the way.

And below are the fronts of his smaller Informals’ cards and envelopes.

Below are the front and back panels of his folding Informals.

Here are Kip’s own words about his experience working in the triumvirate of himself, Ross and herself:

Through the process of working with Ross at Flosites and coming up with a graphic identity to match my brand, I had to apply some thought to what I wanted my business cards and paper correspondence to feel like. I’d been standing on the sidelines for awhile admiring the elements Sarah Rhoads, Fred Egan and the Popes were adding to enhance their brands. And what was the common thread between all of these guys (besides being great photographers or amazing people)? Ms. Zida Borcich and her letterpress at Studio Z Mendocino.

“Whoa” is the reaction each time I had one over.

Well, yes, Whoa, don’t you think? This is really such perfect branding, it could go into a textbook. Thoughtfully accomplished, each element building on the last, a careful choice of craftspeople to collaborate with and carry out the vision, and a brand that distills the essence of what he cares about, which, in the end, is love.

My pleasure, Kip!

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Muffy Mead-Ferro’s Letterpress Personal Calling Cards With Indian Paintbrush Motif

Muffy Mead-Ferro came to Studio Z Mendocino for personal stationery, wanting to find an image of Indian Paintbrush, Wyoming’s state flower, to use as their motif. We looked and looked for something charming and appropriate, but were unable to dig up any already-existing art for this purpose. Instead of stressing out about it, Muffy hired an artist she knew to draw something special for her alone. He came up with this elegant rendering in two colors, which we adapted for letterpress by having two wood-mounted magnesium plates made. What you see above is Muffy’s card laid atop one of those printing plates. As you can see, this is the green plate. Another plate, with the same crop marks on the corners, bears the crimson part, and that red goes on the press as a second run. This is something people often don’t understand about Letterpress, that each color is a separate run through the press. Of course, this makes things a bit more expensive, but we think the loveliness is worth every cent.

We use the crop marks to register the colors to each other, positioning the exactly-matching crop marks so that they fall on top of each other on each press sheet. We also print the front and back of the cards on the same press sheet, at the same time, then “work and turn” them. That means once the first side is dry, we flip them over and print the other side. Then we chop them apart on our big guillotine cutter, again using those ubiquitous crop marks that show where the cutting will take place, which results in  a bunch of two-sided cards, kind of like magic. This saves you money by allowing the same number of colors on front and back without an extra charge. Also kind of magical.

We printed Muffy’s stationery: small sized folding cards with the Indian Paintbrush image on the front, and her name, of course, and also letterpress printed a repeating pattern of the reduced Indian Paintbrush image on the envelope lining. They are very special, and I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of them to put up here. Check back later — maybe I will take one and post it soon. When we eventually did the calling cards, which she needed for her Wyoming address, we used the same motif, printing it onto 600 gram Cranes Lettra, our favorite premium, extra-thick, ultra-chic paper stock. As you can see, Muffy’s cards stand out in a crowd.

If you have a favorite image or motif that is dear to your heart, we often can adapt things like that to letterpress requirements. Even a photograph can be made into a high contrast image and used to enhance one’s business or calling cards. Ask us about our design services, typographic expertise, and ways we can translate your design dreams onto actual paper things you can mail and hand out. We are really good at magic!

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National Association of Professional Child Photographers (napcp) — Napa Retreat with Letterpress Printed Programs, Place Cards, Thank You Notes by Studio Z Mendocino!

Studio Z Mendocino was very pleased and honored to be one of the sponsors of napcp’s fantastic photography retreat at the Meritage, in Napa, California last month. I got to go over and make a small presentation and then to meet so many fabulous Children’s Photographers. Schmoozing was of the utmost during our bus ride to the wine tastings after breakfast. Alice sent me these shots of the pieces we provided to the event, designed by the amazing Jane Johnson.

One of my favorite things, among many things, about the retreat, was getting to meet THREE of my clients in person. Alice Gung Park, Jane Johnson and Eydie Nelson.

Alice wanted to show how thoughtful details mean so much to the success of an event or a business. Our letterpress printed programs, place cards and thank you notes, printed on premium papers in three colors, reiterated their brand and their attention to every beautiful thing. And of course, their big round business cards were a hit. What does printing say about your brand and you…a lot, without speaking a word!

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The Westport Hotel and Old Abalone Pub’s Deep Blue Letterpress Business Cards with Copper and Abalone Foils, Ads, Rack Cards, Web Site — Comprehensive Branding by Studio Z Mendocino

The Westport Hotel, Westport, California

All photos by Pablo Abuliak

A few years ago, Dorine Real and Lee Tupper bought the old Cobweb Palace, a hard-used, decrepit hotel and bar that had presided over the pristine seaside village of Westport, California, about twenty miles north of Fort Bragg, since the 1800s. They undertook the intimidating mission of transforming it into its twenty-first century incarnation as The Westport Hotel and Old Abalone Pub. Only people who knew it “back in the day” (I am one who visited the Cobweb Palace in the 1970s), and inhabitants of the population-200 town who watched the remodel as it happened, have a grasp of what Dorine and Lee had to do to get it to its newly splendid state. It’s almost beyond comprehension to find the place whole again, serenely overlooking sunset over a rumpled Pacific, as it has since Westport’s glory days as a major logging town. The Hotel has re-birthed to a level of comfort and loveliness that, I am sure, it never possessed, even when brand new. Because of the vision, dedication and, I can only surmise, stamina of its new owners, Westport has become a destination for people seeking a retreat from modern culture and busy-ness, an imaginative and delicious meal, a place to gather in a community that is exactly what it is: homey, substantial, unaffected and really fun.

You enter from The Hotel’s beautifully finished, west-facing front porch to find the Old Abalone Pub gleaming in light that streams from every window: the deep blue room with endless views westward, pressed copper ceiling, red chandeliers, warm woods and even warmer greetings from its staff.

The Old Abalone Pub

The best part of all this is that The Westport Hotel has somehow retained its warm, welcoming, unpretentious soul through its rebirth. It’s a place I want to visit again and again, to drive that gorgeous road to a gathering place for friends and family, locals and visitors, where we all can get something fabulous to eat, something wonderful to listen to, unparalleled natural beauty, something soulful to inspire our lives. There is no place like it. Their tag line is “cozy, casual and a little bit elegant.” Yes, I’m a fan. It succeeds on all counts, exceeds every expectation.

Chef  Shana’s inspired, imaginative, locavoracious potstickers

Get sconed at the Westport Hotel — Dorine’s famous scones

The Arches Room with a View — yummy lodging by the sea

Imagine how exciting it was for me to get to design The Westport Hotel‘s new business cards, ads, rack cards, and just-launched web site. Maybe you can’t imagine it, but I was excited, may I just say. Working closely with Dorine and Lee throughout these various projects is one of many creative delights of this work because their vision didn’t stop at the building, but informs all of it. Yet they are open and welcoming to my ideas, which, if you have worked with me, are kind of never-ending and don’t want to be squished. They never squish. Everything is part of this big, amazing idea that almost takes on a life of its own. Here are the business cards:

The Hotel’s wide front porch is decorated with a huge metal sculpture, forged by a local artist, of seaweed spiraling over a giant replica of an abalone shell. This I took as the motif for the front of the letterpress business cards. To reiterate the pressed copper ceiling, we chose a gleaming copper foil. The the finishing surprise was finding a holographic foil that looks a lot like the inside of an abalone shell. I used Lee’s sumi-e brush drawing of an abalone and filled it with the blue-green-silvery patterned foil, making every card one-of-a-kind. The paper is deep blue on one side & white on the other (this is called “duplex” paper); on the white back side,  contact and schedule information is printed in deep blue ink.

Eco-artist, Erica Fielder, helped me figure out how to redraw the seaweed one night while enjoying a little impromptu dinner party and Photoshop session at my house. A big, collaborative beauty, don’t you think? It continues to be a pleasure to work on the printed materials and web site for this place; to be able to use Pablo Abuliak’s unerringly spectacular photographs, with brilliant styling by my daughter Alicia Borcich Abuliak; and to work with my brother, Joe Neves, on the web coding (see our handiwork at www.WestportHotel.us). Yep, I am so lucky to have such a talented family.

We did not stop at business cards. Below is an ad I made for the Hotel, for the magazine 101 Things to Do in Mendocino County.

Worth the Drive, indeed

If you want to make reservations for rooms or meals, call them up: 877.964.3688 (locally 964.3688). You can discover more, plus see our web design work, on the web site we just designed for them: www.WestportHotel.us

If you want to have a consistent branding context, it makes sense to have a designer who can provide creative design, letterpress printing, a sensitive ear and eye, a million ideas, extensive experience, and one-stop shopping for all print collateral, as well as advertisements and web design capabilities. That would be Studio Z Mendocino. Did you know we did more than letterpress printing? Yes, even digital rack cards like these:

The Westport Hotel offers breakfast when you rent a room, gorgeous Sunday Brunches, afternoon tea on weekends, and absolutely worth-the-drive dinners by Chef Shana Everhart, four nights a week, plus beer-wine-espresso and a brilliant pub menu in the bar. Let’s meet there sometime and talk about YOUR branding over a beautiful glass of wine and something delicious at sundown.

We welcome your inquiries: 707.964.2522

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Pretty Paper! Letterpress, Foil, Edge Painting = Fabulous: Let’s Talk Business in St. Augustine! Dana Goodson’s New Look in Business Cards and Thank You Notes

photos by Dana Goodson

Fabulous Florida Photographer, Dana Goodson, just got the new stationery and business cards Studio Z Mendocino made up for her, and posted these photos on her blog last night. I am so thrilled with how she shot them. She had to get out her macro lens for the shot above. Beautiful. The only thing that could beat them would be for you to hold one of her cards in your hand. We used our favorite Cranes Lettra 600 gsm, foil stamped her name/logo in a shimmering aqua foil, added edge painting that matches the foil to a T. They are amazing and lovely. Here are Dana’s own words (which partly quote me too, so they are kind of some of MY words too. Oh, I love those double ups!):

I received my new business cards and stationery about a week ago.  This has been a project in the works for about a month or two and it has been worth every second of waiting.

Zida of Studio Z Mendocio is the person behind the beautiful creations.  I was referred to her by fellow photographer, Shari DeAngelo out of Philadelphia, whose business cards I thought were the prettiest I’d ever seen.  I was in the process of revamping my business materials and knew I wanted letterpress but also something beautiful and rich in texture.  It had to be classy and a little different than your average business card.  Zida had the perfect suggestion and from the first phone conversation with her, I knew that she was the person for the job.  I felt a connection with her and I knew she would put everything she had into making my cards and stationary beautiful– just for me.

With her permission, I’m sharing a little about her story in her own words:

“In my house, there were hardly any books or newspapers. I practically LIVED at the library in our little town after school every day, checking out stacks of Nancy Drew mysteries each week, but I never thought once about where printed things came from, had no idea even what a print shop was, until I was twenty-six years old. The first time I was sat down in front of a California case full of lead type by my soon-to-be-mentor Al Moise and instructed to set a job, I began (literally) dreaming about type and typography. He offered me a job two days later and I worked for him for over ten years, the master printer who changed my life. Having my own shop now for twenty-five years still gives me a shiver of excitement and wonder every time I think of it.”    -Zida

The stationery cards have a pretty metallic foil for my logo.

Thank you Zida for your vision and giving me the most beautiful cards I could imagine.  I love them and loved working with you!  You’re aweseome!

PS

Hey brides!  Zida does letterpress invitations.  If you want gorgeous invitations for your beautiful wedding day, contact Zida.

I particularly appreciate all the kind words Dana had to say about ME. THANK YOU, Dana. I appreciate working with you too. So fun and so productive. Love how everything came out!

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Anatomy of a Monogram: Jonathan Chan’s New Branding, with Letterpress Business Cards, Buck Slips, Envelopes

Photos by Pablo Abuliak

Working with Jonathan was one of the most give-and-take relationships I have experienced as a designer. Jonathan had ideas of what he didn’t want but was not sure what he did want, so it was a matter of deduction to get to the point of achieving this beautiful result. I made a super-graphic of his JC monogram, letting the flow of the two letters dictate placement. The color came out of nowhere…a fabulous, arresting chartreuse. Printing a solid chartreuse square on one end of the card with the monogram dropped out gave a two-way texture blast. The JC monogram comes UP from the paper, while the black type presses INTO the paper. Jonathan smartly got script cards (aka Buck Slips)  and #10 envelopes at the same time, so that the entire package held together in perfect synergy.

We printed Jonathan’s cards on 600 gram Lettra for its extra-ultra-yummy weight, thickness, and subtle texture.

We got to have dinner together at WPPI to top the whole party off. Very fun to make that connection after working so intensely together by phone and email.

I will post the buck slips and envelopes in another blog entry soon.

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