One thing that we at Letter Jacket want to emphasize is that envelopes can be anything but boring. Even though most people think of an envelope as a generic white piece of folded paper, the truth is that an envelope design is only limited by the creator’s imagination. In fact, the ubiquity of dull, commonplace envelopes gives the opportunity for creative companies or organizations to subvert expectations in a way that surprises and delights.
To help get your creative wheels turning, here are some interesting facts and suggestions for coming up with unique ideas to brand your security envelope or remittance envelope mailings.
Security Envelopes as Works of Art
Many people might think of a security envelope as the polar opposite of exciting. Unless there is a check contained therein, the blue stripes mean boring business-as-usual. The sad thing is that the nature of security envelopes invites all sorts of artistic ideas.
A beautiful or unique pattern can take the place of the blue stripes or black swirls. Just take a look at this amazing Flickr gallery to see the sheer variety of designs. Some are standard for the country of origin, others are branded to include logos of government or banking organizations and still others are simply intriguing because they are gorgeous or thought-provoking. Tessellations, prints that look like fine pottery and patterns that play tricks on the eyes, are all popular options. Choices like these catch recipients by surprise and possibly even tempt them to keep the envelope as a work of art.
Even normal patterns can be made into works of art when considered in the right context. From the late 1980s to the early ’90s, the artist Cindy Bernard used enlarged photos of security envelope patterns and framed them. They were displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City in 1989 as a statement on the financial crisis of 1987.
Let Bernard’s challenging work serve as a muse to come up with your own security pattern worthy of framing. Colorful backgrounds mixed with sparse logo iconography are a popular artistic choice. Tessellation patterns always give recipients a reason to give the envelope a second look. A bold combination of lines can also excite the senses. Let your art department surprise you by what they come up with.
Remittance Envelopes
Remittance envelopes by nature are intriguing. They play with the medium of the envelope in ways that challenge expectations while also being utilitarian. Photo graphics and bright colors usually work well to excite the senses of the recipient.
Creative design schemes that incorporate the subject matter into the layout of the remittance form can also have a positive effect. For example, a company sending a sale promotion can talk about how customers can “go bananas” with their order thanks to the savings. The remittance envelope can have a jungle background with a cartoon monkey graphic along with yellow bananas instead of standard check boxes. Snakes can be used in the place of form lines.
Suggestions like these can be a springboard for you to come up with your own unique security or remittance envelopes. Visit our products page to find the base envelope you need, then use our handy design tool or send us your idea for the most stunning, fun or poignant envelope design anyone has ever designed.
Meta desc: Envelopes can be anything but dull. In fact, plain, white envelopes give your brand the opportunity to subvert expectations using a custom security pattern or remittance envelope design.
