Design Kompany | Brand Marketing by Graphic Design studio in Seattle

Here’s the wedding invitation design we made for a lovely couple getting married this July. Congratulations to Carol and Mark!

Working together

Carol had seen DK’s process firsthand, and told us she really appreciated our signature approach to coming up with a design: start with loose, open ideas and concepts, then tighten one or two directions for a polished look and feel.

So we applied it for this project, too. Our tried-and-true method once again did the job.

One big design directive was for this to be contemporary. Meaning elegant. Nothing tacky. Nothing overly cluttered. A desire for simple, straightforward design was the reason Carol brought this project DK.

And the reason it’s light blue is because Mark, a fellow North Carolinian, was delighted with the color Carolina blue.

[Cue James Taylor, Carolina in My Mind. Here it is on YouTube.]

We looked at a lot of different ideas for this design before settling on the final concept and drawing that you see here. We bought the book How to Fold to consider different ways to fold, for one. We got magazines. We got wallpaper samples. We consulted books we have in our library here at DK’s office on patterns.

And of course, we dug up a lot of motifs representing marriage, union, cherishing that moment of… well, I don’t want to start getting sappy here talking about weddings. You guys know what I mean.

The main thing was to share the idea of celebrating two people’s special day of marital union, but not in a cheesy, cliche kind of way.

In the end, we were delighted Carol and Mark sent our design to a letterpress printer—something DK had left up to the newlyweds-to-be to make the call on. We were excited to get a sample in the post, along with this very kind testimonial from the bride-to-be:

“DK was awesome. What I loved most was that they listened very intently to us throughout the project.

Our invitations turned out to be more beautiful, elegant and sophisticated than we imagined they could be. They’re setting the perfect tone for our wedding. We’ve received a ton of compliments already! —Carol Vu

Again, congratulations Carol and Mark! Enjoy your big day!

UPDATE: October 2009

Contemporary classic.

That’s the kind of design we do here at Design Kompany.

Invitation design is really fun to work out for people.

The first thing people see is the save-the-date card, right? Great design here, and for the invitation, is crucial.

Great design for the save-the-date card, invitation, and RSVP cards and envelope sets the expectation for a brilliant event to come.

Isn’t this the reason why we value events announced through printed invitations more than we do E-vites? If people are taking the time to create a great event, it makes sense that they’ll invite their guests in just as considered a way.

I have never used these folks, but there is a contemporary-looking floral designer in our neighborhood that I might check into. For wedding flowers, check out Fleurish. For photography, I really like Laura Totten Photography.

Also see DK’s posts:
Beautiful Simple in Carolina Blue
Branding and invitation design for The Broader View
Packaging: The Devil is in the Details
Invitation design for 2007 Home Alive auction