Nice to Meet You Again | Book Flipthrough
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TITLE INFORMATION
Author: Viction Workshop
Publisher: Victionary
Year Published: 2015
Dimensions: 7.6”x9.2”
Pages: 256
Nice to Meet You Again is a collection of unique business cards, greeting cards, and invitations from designers and businesses around the world. This collection of work presents new and interesting concepts and designs, and not only showcases the beauty, but also the importance of making a memorable first impression that solidifies the tones of the brands they represent.
My favorite part about this collection is it only showcases business cards, greeting cards, and invitations. Most books typically focus on the brand’s entire stationery package, allowing the design of these items to be overshadowed by the other deliverables. In reality, unless the brand has a corporate setting, most brands don’t need full stationery packages. Most of the time they only need a really good business card with some contact information on it. Because of this selection, the examples in this collection are unique. They boast fun, diecut shapes, extreme patterns, and fun easter eggs that make these deliverables memorable.
As with other books published by Victionary, the work in this book serves mainly as visual inspiration. Although it’s nice that they only showcase these types of ephemera, it’s difficult to determine if they are actually useful. These designs are experimental, and I’m not sure how well they work they well in the real world. This book focuses on the craft, materiality, and interactivity of these cards. Although I love how far these cards push the boundaries of stationery design, I’m not sure how well these concepts are implemented in real life. Regardless, the work in this book is inspiring.
Another great aspect of this book is its design. The book is composed of a mixture of uncoated and coated paper that mimics the importance of materiality in stationery design. All of the introductory information is printed on uncoated, color stock that is velvety smooth to the touch, while the examples of work are printed on a semi-toothy, coated, semi-glossy stock that ensures the colors of the work remain vibrant. This book is soft-cover, but features a beautiful, embossed, and foil stamped wrap.
The layout of the book is conservative with consistent margins, spacing, proportions, and tight grid, but folio treatment, changing description boxes, and project specification information are experimental. One of the best parts of this book is the inclusion of project specifications located on the far right side of each project. The information listed includes the dimensions, paper stock and weight, printing type, and if any special printing [like foilstamping] was used. This information is incredibly useful, and I’m so glad it was included.
This book is an incredible resource to all designers interested in stationery design. This book is beautiful, yet practical in every sense.
