Cool Custom & Off-The Rack Wedding Invites| JHill Design
May 23rd, 2010
So, as I said last week, I LOVE paper. When I started my umbrella company, STYLE by Kalyn Johnson, I was looking for a graphic designer to create my logo and help me define my brand. I was having trouble identifying someone whose aesthetic comported with mine. Then one day while I was walking around my neighborhood, I came across a piece of artwork very similar to this one below.
I was drawn in by the clean lines, the fact that the city featured has beautiful beaches and the fun simplicity of the print. I wanted to buy the the print, but I no longer had an office to hang it in. So, I noted the artist’s name, Jennifer Hill, and went home and Googled her. I learned that Jennifer is a graphic designer who started her own business, JHill Design, with a series of prints called Places I’ve Never Been. The impetus for this series? Jennifer’s love of travel. She described her start this way, “I’ve always loved to travel, so when I read or hear about places around the world I start day-dreaming about what it is like there… and then I start drawing. The patterns are influenced by the natural setting of the place, by the culture, and by the events I imagine being part of.”
Each piece in the PINB series is unique because Jennifer includes tidbits of information about the city highlighted: The city/area and country name, the language, how many miles one would travel from the East Coast (specifically from Boston where she’s located) to get there, and a few words about the influence of the place on the pattern. FYI – as you can see from the print above, they make great Save the Dates as well as wedding and anniversary gifts. Jennifer will customize one of her PINB prints with particulars to the couple or individual that help to make them very special for the recipient.
Although she’s launching her custom wedding invitation line at the end of May, Jennifer made time in her busy schedule to talk to Wedding STYLE by Kalyn Johnson about her upcoming launch.
Wedding STYLE by Kalyn Johnson: What prompted you to go into the wedding invitation space? How does this differ from your other work?
Jennifer Hill: We get asked if we do custom invitation design quite a bit. We started doing some Save the Dates that mimic our city prints, and then we started getting into full-on custom invitation work. This summer we are launching a small “off-the rack” wedding invitation line called “The Places We are Going” for those who want the “Places I Have Never Been” style – but who don’t want to pay the custom fee.
WSKJ: What’s the difference between custom wedding stationery and off-the rack or non-custom wedding stationery?
JH: Custom wedding is totally custom – we design a pattern and a invitation design based on the desires of the customer. ”The Places We Are Going”, our so called “off-the rack line”, includes 2 collections to start. The Grafton collection is inspired by our Places I Have Never Been print designs with a romantic twist. The Topsfield collection is inspired by our country fair posters. Each collection will have a menu, an invite, an RSVP card and a Save the Date card. Maps and details cards will be coming this Summer!
WSKJ:What is the inspiration behind your wedding invitation series?
JH: The new series is inspired by vintage postcards and concert posters.
WSKJ: You’re recently married, did you design your own wedding invitations and stationery suite?
JH: I did! It was a lot of pressure because they were expected to be great! We were married in Costa Rica on the beach in a wee surf town, so I wanted it to be tropical but casual but still pretty. I took the flower from my Fakahatchee Pattern and used that but in pinks and purples. Then my husband and I designed a print together inspired by the ocean in Playa Negra. I silk screened a print to go with each invitation. The print has a gradient of blue ocean with sparkly black for the sand (Playa Negra means black sand, which it does have).
WSKJ: What kind of bride will be attracted to your wedding invitations? Who are you designing for?
JH: I think brides who are looking for something unique and something that is different from what is out there now. And of course, couples who love different places and unique stories!
WSKJ: Can you give us a ballpark estimate of how much a JHill Design wedding stationery suite might cost?
JH: Our custom design pricing is dependant on the particulars of a project. And believe it or not, we are still working on pricing for the non-custom line.
WSKJ: Can a wedding invitation or Save the Date help to set the tone for a wedding?
JH: Oh, definitely. As a designer, I think the whole invitation suite – Save the Date, the actual invitation, places cards and table settings – should follow a theme. But, the theme doesn’t have to be stringent. Ours was all about travel and Costa Rica. For example, instead of a guest book we bought Costa Rican postcards and had people write us messages on the back. For our place cards, we made our own post cards complete with vintage Costa Rican stamps and wrote a personal message to each guest (easy to do since we only had 50 people).
WSKJ: How long does it take to have your invitations personalized for a particular bride? What sort of options does she have to choose from?
JH: Our custom line can take a month or two to create depending on how complex the suite and patterns are. The non-custom line will have 2 designs, each with 3 patterns and 4 colorways. There is an invite, Save the Date, menu and RSVP. Hopefully, we’ll be adding detail cards and thank you notes soon.
To learn more about Jennifer Hill, JHill Design and/or JHill Design’s wedding invitation line check out Jennifer’s website, www.jhilldesign.com.
p.s. BTW – My logos were designed by JHill Design; the silhouette is my favorite.
Jhill Design offers such a fresh eye on design. Would love to see a line of housewares! joel
Great idea Joel – I’d love to see JHill Design do a line of housewares too!
Stylishly yours,
Kalyn