Strides Taken In Stationery Printing

Pride In Print Award judges have labelled this year's Business Stationery Category the "best ever" in regards the outstanding range of cutting-edge entries submitted.

The category -- which includes such work as letterheads, business cards, envelopes, compliment slips and presentation folders -- became a genuine talking point for the first time in memory, says senior judge Damian Fleming.

"When evaluating stationery in the past we have often praised the faultless quality but also found little extraordinarily creative or complex to comment on," he says.

"However, this year the category has really taken strides -- there were a lot of good ideas, variety, more creativity and the quality of the work really stood out. There was some really complicated stuff done with intricate foiling, embossing and neat finishing, which made the judges stop and discuss.

"For example, one of the business cards was produced in a plastic stock -- it was die-cut and printed both sides, with the image constructed in such a way that you could see through the substrate. It was very interesting and resembled a really high-quality credit card.

"Another business card for a panel beater just screamed quality in terms of the printing expertise. If you wanted to get your vehicle repaired and repaired well, that business card spoke volumes about where that firm was coming from. It was an awesome promo."

Mr Fleming says it was speculated among the Awards judges that in light of the economic recession, businesses are striving to market their brands with more energy and this desire is being fully embraced and extrapolated by all avenues of the printing industry.

Fellow senior judge Kerenza Smith agrees that businesses appear to be striving to differentiate through design and print to create distinctive and unique business cards and stationery.

"There were some real talking points rather than just generic information carriers," says Ms Smith.

"They were not necessarily big budget, but instead clever and cost-effective solutions.

"Starting with a strong design concept, the bold use of colour, pattern and overprinting, combined with interesting stock choices meant for a very strong category this year."

Ms Smith says there was also a broader grouping of stationery items this year.

"Not just business cards and compliment slips together, but co-ordinating presentation folders as well."

Furthermore, Pride In Print Awards manager Sue Archibald says stationery has been separated into different categories for this year's event to give "personal" items such as wedding invitations and greeting cards their due recognition as "specialty products".

"Stationery has been somewhat of an overlooked area in the past, but Pride In Print is now recognising it as something intensely personal either to a company in terms of reflecting its image or to individuals making a heartfelt statement," says Ms Archibald.

"It is excellent to see the value of work entering these areas and the quality of New Zealand printers being acknowledged."

This year's Pride In Print Awards are being held at the Wellington TSB Bank Arena on Friday May 20.

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