Envelope Design Ideas: Custom Envelope Designing
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Direct mail creates a more intimate relationship with the recipient, much like a handwritten letter or holiday card from a loved one, especially if the envelope is made with great care and attention.
So, because you have to pay attention to so many different aspects at once, envelope design for direct mail marketing is frequently a little trickier than making other marketing collateral.
It would help if you grabbed the audience’s attention, but you must also ensure that they recognize your branding and persuade them to open the envelope.
Finding the original idea that will inspire the remainder of the artwork is the most challenging component of creating a new envelope design.
Sometimes a little inspiration is all you need to get through “artist’s block.”
What is an Envelope?
Even if social media, text messages, and email have made communication more convenient than ever, hand-delivered mail is still an effective means for businesses and individuals to connect. Direct mail is seen, and it might be anything from birthday cards to bank statements to grocery shop coupons. In addition, a custom envelope is one way to spruce up your brand identification design and marketing materials.
An elegant, simple envelope can give your business a polished first impression. Your brand can become distinctive and help you stand out by using a vibrant envelope with illustrations and graphics. Regardless of your choice, put your company’s logo design or brand colors on the envelope to help with brand identification.
Different Kinds of Custom Envelopes
Different-sized envelopes are often associated with specific kinds of mail. For example, an invitation to a charity event looks very different from a letter from your bank. While a light, thin envelope may feel more generic, one made with heavier paper can give the impression that it is official, high quality, and bespoke. A lot can be inferred from the envelope’s size and the caliber of its paper. Additionally, no one envelope serves all of your mailing and messaging needs.
Business Mailers: Business mailers’ examples are official bills and educational brochures. Businesses frequently require a selection of standard envelope sizes because there is such a vast range of content. Ensure your company’s colors are consistent throughout your envelope design work. Spend money on high-quality printing to ensure that the company logo and return address are always legible.
Event Invitations: The envelope is frequently tailored to match the design invitation content created for business parties, networking gatherings, or charitable auctions. Make sure your envelope designs are cohesive by including matching stickers, a subtle scroll effect in the corner, or a burst of color across the front. If you need a place to start, look through some free templates to acquire envelope design ideas and spark your creative juice.
Notification Cards: You may recognize this type of envelope when you see it since it’s used for things like appointment reminders, Christmas cards, and thank-you notes. A greeting card stands out in your mail stack, whether a vivid color or more square in shape. Make sure they match the size of the envelope you create because the sizes of these cards might frequently vary somewhat.
Greeting cards can be a valuable tool for a brand to engage with its audience because of their recognizable shape. For instance, you might wish to include a handwritten message or a little gift card if you want to thank a regular customer. Don’t be scared to incorporate some graphic design components outside your notification envelopes. Make them pop if you want them to stand out from other mail. You may incorporate direct mail into your marketing strategy using these minor adjustments.
How to Make a Custom Envelope
Follow this brief guide to create and design your envelope for whatever you want to send.
Look for creative inspiration: See how other creatives are bringing their businesses to life by exploring the world of envelope design on any design site like Behance.
Look at sample envelopes: Check out editable envelope design templates to start your design once you’ve decided on your desired size and style.
Make your design unique: Open your template in accepted design tools and make changes to include your company’s name, address, logo, and brand colours.
Save the design of your envelope: You should save it so you can update it quickly afterward. After that, print it by exporting it as an image file.
Sign, seal, and deliver: Send your mockup to an envelope print shop once you know how many you need. Then, it’s time to ship those envelopes once the printer has them ready.
Another simple way to create a custom envelope is by hiring a professional graphic designer to produce creative envelope. All Time Design offers a dedicated, experienced graphic designer to bring your envelope design to life.
Materials and Tools Used in Creating a Self-Made Envelope
Below is a list of materials used for envelope design
- 12″ x 12″ 65 lb Cardstock: Depending on your design, different colors and sheets will be required.
- 11″ x 17″ 65 lb Use cardstock to cut out larger envelopes (optional).
- Cricut Fine-Point Pen (optional)
- SVG envelope design
Tools needed are listed thus:
- A method to cut your cardstock — For example; Cricut Maker 3, Explore, or Maker series machine with the standard Fine-Point Blade
- 12″ x 12″ Green StandardGrip Machine Mat
- 12″ x 24″ Green StandardGrip Machine Mat (optional)
- Scraper Tool
- Cricut Single Scoring Wheel and Housing (if using a Maker) or Cricut Scoring Stylus
- Craft Glue
- Brayer (optional)
- Various creative design apps like Adobe Illustrator, Cricut design space, etc. Open the canvas to design your projects.
There is a variety of envelope sizes for you to know. Listed below are a few.
- A1: 3.625″ x 5.125″
- A2: 4.375″ x 5.75″
- A6: 4.75″ x 6.5″
- A7: 5.25: x 7.25″
- A8: 5.5″ x 8.125″
- A9: 5.75″ x 8.875″
- A10: 6″ x 9.5″
- Square envelope: 4.25″ x 4.25″ (which can be easily adjusted to any size square!)
- Greeting card: 4.25″ x 6.25″
- Cash envelopes for the envelope system of budgeting
- Gift card envelopes
- Commercial #10: 4.125″ x 9″
Creative Envelope Designs Ideas and Examples for Inspiration
Receiving mail in the post has become incredibly special in a world where everything is going digital. The envelope design is crucial because it’s the first thing you notice, much like its contents. In this post, the following envelope designs all have a lovely personal touch and ideas, whether used to draw in a potential employer or house a product.
Less is more
It’s usually tempting to attempt to fit as many fascinating pictures as possible into a design, yet frequently the most crucial elements are those you omit.
A cluttered layout will overwhelm viewers if there are too many design components.
Note how the Valeo envelope concentrates only on the essential details, like the contact information, brand colours, and the company logo design. Check out some small business packaging desig ideas.
You should only use two or three colors and fonts for most of a project.
Use color to set the tone
People frequently link a particular hue to a particular concept and feeling.
Utilizing color psychology, you may get your target audience to react how you want them to.
For instance, E-bit uses blue components to suggest sincerity, serenity, and relaxation.
Red can also represent fervor or love, yellow can stand for joy and cleanliness, and green can represent health and rebirth.
Stay consistent
Ensure your envelope artwork is consistent with the rest of the company’s visual branding before moving too far in the design process.
Observe how the SynPet envelopes collection is unique while incorporating the company’s recognizable logo and font style.
Your envelopes should coordinate with the company’s website, signage, and other marketing materials in addition to one another.
Use eye-catching imagery
No design exists in a vacuum, and envelopes are a prime example.
It’s crucial to do something to capture their attention because your envelope design will need to compete with every other piece of mail the audience gets.
Illustrations and vibrant colors are used in this Indian wedding envelope design to grab the viewer’s attention.
You might also utilize contrasting patterns, powerful calls to action, or any arresting photograph to capture your audience’s attention.
Convey the business value
Keep the client’s personality, values, and philosophy front and center at all times.
Try to include symbols, photos, or other components to explain those ideas better.
As an illustration, the Christ Unveiled Ministries logo has spiritual and religious imagery.
Remember that this technique doesn’t always have to be obvious; you may instead utilize negative space or optical tricks to imply the idea you’re striving for.
Find some minimalist logo design ideas.
Incorporate human face
A human face image typically has a higher level of engagement, establishing a more intimate connection with your audience and fostering a stronger emotional bond with the brand.
People are more likely to interact with media that features a real-life person; this is a similar idea to the one driving clicks on YouTube.
The envelope from St. Mary’s Imaging Services has a picture of one of their amiable medical staff.
Put your logo in a visible location
It’s vital to carefully evaluate the logo design positioning on the envelope because it frequently serves as audiences’ initial impression of a company.
Make sure it’s in a prominent location where audiences will see it.
The Washington & Irving corporate logo appears twice in this envelope design, one printed and one wax-stamped.
The more recipients see a logo, the more likely they will remember it; be careful not to overdo it.
Get creative with illustrations
A unique illustration is an excellent approach to showcasing your business’s creative side.
Additionally, it is helpful if you want to add an image that is difficult to capture in a snapshot.
This TryTattoos illustration showcases some of their innovative artistic abilities.
If you aren’t good at drawing, think about employing a freelance graphic designer from All Time Design to inject some flair into your design.
Viewers should see your goods or services
Giving customers a chance to use your goods or services can be a terrific approach to get them interested.
To better prepare prospective patients, Natividad Medical Center’s business envelope design features a photograph of their diagnostic imaging team and equipment.
Expand the elements of your logo
One trick that works well when you’re unsure how to arrange your envelope design ideas is to include a much larger version of your logo, which serves less as a recognizable brand and more as an abstract design element.
As demonstrated in this piece created for Thamar Investments, portions of the logo may protrude beyond the edge of the page. Check out some modern logo design ideas.
Play with a variety of backgrounds
When a particular photo or artwork is unavailable, a bright, unique background can assist and add interest to your envelope design ideas.
To give the envelope design for Tesello GmbH a distinctive appearance, it uses an abstract geometric pattern that mimics a gemstone or geographical map.
Use lines to add interest
Sometimes a design only needs a slight finishing touch.
As shown in this creative envelope for Smartefacto, using diagonal lines is a simple approach to convey a sense of motion and dynamic energy.
The design has a lively, exuberant atmosphere, thanks partly to the vivid orange and teal colors.
Use solid backgrounds to create impact
An easy, minimalist technique to make the text in your design stand out is to use a background that is one solid color.
The logo and contact details for Prodigitas Marketing Agency stand out in this design thanks to the vivid, eye-catching red background.
Add a handcrafted touch
You don’t have time to make hundreds of envelopes by hand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t design something that appears to have been created with individual, thoughtful effort.
These intellectual envelope design ideas (by designer Niniko Miqaberidze) combine brown kraft paper with images that resemble paper cutouts to give the notion that they were created just for the receiver.
You can use scrapbook paper to create your envelope designs also.
More Real-Life Creative Envelope Designs
Bespoke
The German creative agency made this unique envelope design Are We Designer, to hold invites to an auto-color exhibition that showcases the current color collection. Wide Awake was the studio’s 2012 theme, which they executed flawlessly with this lovely, blossoming design.
Chickchirik
The ChickChirik (click to open a new tab) was inspired to make gift giving simple, and the gift registry project was created. Most packing materials are hand-made, natural, warm to the touch, recyclable, and soft to the touch (examples: kraft paper and jute). These straightforward but lovely envelope designs are stunning in their understatement.
D-Bros
These stunning envelopes were made by the Japanese company D-Bros (click to open a new tab), and they’ll prevent painful paper cuts from ever happening to you. To shred the envelope, recipients must pull back a cut-out tab.
Three separate cars create the rip-roaring sensation in the designs, which come in three distinct colors. The adorable illustrations of the vehicle, steam train, and airplane are the ideal complement to the color scheme for the envelopes.
Symphonesia
International conferences, concerts from around the world, and a festival make up Symphonesia (click to open a new tab), an annual event by Padjadjaran University’s international relations students. They take the risky step of being creative each year by creating a fresh logo, which helps the envelope design pop out immediately.
Are We Designer
Are We Designer (click to open a new tab) is not a design firm. It’s also not a design studio. The employees of the German company are “European Design Adventurers,” not Germans. Why? Their website says, “Because we don’t fit into your typical design agency drawer.”
They include “Sealed with a kiss” envelope stickers with their self-promotional stationery, a simple but crucial detail that can make all the difference in the design world.
Davide Vignes
The envelope contains a six-folded brochure containing the personal portfolio of Italian designer Davide Vignes and two business cards. The piece wonderfully captures his aesthetic and is based on the visual language created for the brand.
Hot Popsicle
One of the three students that worked together on Hot Popsicle, a collaborative branding project for a fictitious graphic design company, was Rachel Kalagher, a graphic designer. These business cards are beautifully designed in every way, down to the color scheme and lolly stick accents. But in particular, the awesome envelope is modeled after an ice-cream wrapper.
Sakura Plus
When creating this envelope design for Nail & Spa Sakura, the team at New York-based graphic design firm Studio Network (click to open a new tab) was motivated by conventional Japanese rice packing. In addition, the salon’s organic product line, Sakura Plus, was housed in exquisitely designed packaging.
Archi & Fonctionnalisme
This advertising pack was created by multidisciplinary design firm Chattermark (click to open a new tab) for Sylvie Royer – Architect & Associates. The innovative envelope carries presentation cards and unfolds to disclose information about the company’s team and 2013 proposal ideas.
From Russia with Love
The graphic design firm Code 501 – Creative Band enjoys writing and mailing letters. Therefore, the group produced this cute pack of envelopes with a printed design inside and a typical brown kraft paper exterior. On top of that, they created unique stickers to seal them.
Self Promotion
Creative graphic designer Miriam Srli Onarheim is a native of Norway. Onarheim created this lovely and unique envelope design to store her showreel after receiving a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design from Solent University in Southampton, UK.
Design By the Rules
It’s important to remember a few guidelines while sending physical mail. First, the proper amount of space must be left for the address and stamps. You risk having your envelope automatically returned to the sender if it is too large or heavy.
The same holds for whether wax sealing is used on the outside or whether the clear plastic opening is situated in a window envelope. Make sure your design complies with postal regulations before you start the printing process because these parameters change based on the size of the mailer.
Final Thoughts
In addition to giving the recipient your contact information, great envelope design ideas give them the notion that they have received something exceptional.
If you’re unsure where to start or have no design skills, put your eggs in All Time Design‘s basket. You will surely get quality envelope design with a professional touch with design apps from its trusted graphic designers.
Log in or sign up today and get that needed edge ahead of rivals. Remember, how you look outside speaks volumes.
