Ba 0608 One Look

Before&After
BAmagazine.com
i U X
Three documents,
one look
How to turn letterhead,
envelope and business card
into a single visual presence.
Continued
Continued
One look
0608
Before&After
BAmagazine.com
i U X
Three documents, one look

How to turn letterhead, envelope and business card into a single visual presence
Mark
Corresponding
size
Typeface
GENTX
A
Uniform spacing
GENTXSYSTEMS
Mark and type are the same size
This logo consists of a diamond-shaped mark and distinctive typeface.

Because a logo must flexsometimes the type must be prominent, and
sometimes the mark must be prominentyou must establish rational size
relationships. In the examples above, A) type is the height of the horizontal
bands, and B) mark and typeface are the same height.
Letterhead, envelope and business card are the three most common business documents.
They are always designed as a package, yet they are really quite different; they differ greatly
in size and have very different proportions. Despite this, these documents must look and
feel the same. The key is to establish rational and repetitive visual relationships between
mark, type and the spaces they occupy. Well show you what that means.
2 of 10
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0608
Before&After
One look
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3 of 10
i U X
Mark and type share characteristics
A close look at the logo reveals a fabric of visual relationships designed to connect
the mark and type on several levels. Lets look at each thread.
GENTX
SYSTEMS
Size and color

Type and mark have a size relationship; at stationery size, type is the
height of the horizontal bands. Common colors create a strong visual
link that can carry across spatial distances and from page to page.
G
Shape and style
Type and mark have a style relationship; simple circles and straight
lines have no thick-thin variation or
fussy detail.
Horizontal
Vertical
Divisions of space
Squint and youll see that the mark is
composed of three equal horizontal and
vertical segments. These phantom rows
and columns have real presence and will
be used to govern distances between
elements on the page.
3 of 10
One look
0608
Before&After
One look
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4 of 10
i U X
Survey the field
Although weve come to regard them as normal, U. S. stationery sizes are just plain odd
ones fat, ones small, ones wide, and the envelope is unnecessarily large for the letter.
Letterhead
8 1/2x 11 (1:1.3 ratio)
Business card
3 1/2x 2 (1.75:1 ratio)
Our task is to make these

three oddball formats (four,
if you include a mailing label)
look and feel as one. The key
will be to focus on the logo,
not the funny proportions.
#10 Business envelope

91/2x 41/8 (2.3:1 ratio)
4 of 10
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i U X
Design the business card first
The confined space of the business card makes it the most difficult to design;
establish composition and spatial relationships here first.
A) Place Measure by eye, and

place the diamond mark a phantom
column from the left edge. This
distance connects the mark to the
page; the white corner amplifies
the marks triangular shape.
GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558 www.gentx.com
Third
B) Repeat the margin on top, and

align the name and address.
C) Step the mark once to the right.
This will designate the type guide.
D) Set the type aligned left to

the type guide and the top of the
mark. Note that the finished card
is a design of rational relationships based on the primary visual
object, the mark. These relationships can now be repeated on
other documents.
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
tel 555.689.1546
fax 555.689.3486
mail richardt@gentx.com
5 of 10
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i U X
Letterhead next
Repeat the business card composition on the letterhead. To retain a proper

sense of proportion, increase the distances between objects.
To compensate for the letterheads greater distances:
B
GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558
A) Place the mark half its

width in, not a third.
B) Repeat the resulting margin on the top as before.
tel 555.689.1546 fax 555.689.3486 www.gentx.com
C) Step the mark downward

twice and over once.
D
Mr. Stan Parker
D) Align the addressee with

the corner.
Note that the type and mark
sizes have not changed.
Universal IT Services
9576 Jackson Road
Napa, CA 94558
Half
Dear Mr. Parker:
Texture and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling. Spaff forl isnt cubular but
quastic, leam restart that cant prebast. Its tope, this fluant chasible. Silk, shast, lape
and behast the thin chack. It has larch to say fan. Why? Elesara and order is fay of
alm. A card whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and
flasp net exating end mist of it snooling. Spaff forl isnt cubular but quastic, leam
restart that cant prebast. Its tope, this fluant chasible.Silk, shast, lape and behast
the thin chack. It has larch to say fan. Why? Elesara and order is fay of alm. A card
whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exating en mist of it snooling.
6 of 10
One look
0608
Before&After
One look
BAmagazine.com
7 of 10
i U X
Finally, the envelope
Repeat again on the envelope, compensating only for its very wide proportions.
This repetition is the key to designing a cohesive business system.
The envelope retains the

same spatial proportions and
placement as the letterhead
with one exceptionthe
mark steps to the right three
times, not just once, to get
the address into the middle
of the envelope. Note that
the type and mark sizes have
not changed.
Mr. Stan Parker

9576 Jackson Road
Napa, CA 94558
Half
3 times
7 of 10
One look
0608
Before&After
One look
BAmagazine.com
8 of 10
i U X
All the same
The three documents now look and feel the same. Because theyre built on rational
relationships, the look can be readily transferred to other documents like the CD.

Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
tel 555.689.1546
fax 555.689.3486
Mr. Stan Parker
Same
Same
Same
Same
Same
name size
mark size
text size
alignment
colors
9576 Jackson Road
Napa, CA 94558
Dear Mr. Parker:

whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exat-
Mr. Stan Parker
ing end mist of it snooling.
Spaff forl isnt cubular but quastic, leam restart that cant prebast. Its tope, this
fluant chasible. Silk, shast, lape and behast the thin chack. It has larch to say
9576 Jackson Road

Napa, CA 94558
fan. Why? Elesara and order is fay of alm. A card whint not oogum or bont. Pretty
simple, glead and tarm.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Thompson
8 of 10
One look
0608
Before&After
One look
BAmagazine.com
9 of 10
i U X
Article resources
1
2
3
Typefaces
1 Avenir 35 Light | 8 pt
2 Avenir 95 Black | 8 pt
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
tel 555.689.1546
fax 555.689.3486
7
8
3 Helvetica Neue Light Cond | 8 pt
Colors
7
C25 M0 Y95 K0
C60 M20 Y25 K35
4 Helvetica Neue Heavy | 8/9.5 pt
5 Helvetica Neue Med Cond | 8/9.5 pt
6 Utopia Regular | 10/13 pt
Mr. Stan Parker

9576 Jackson Road

Napa, CA 94558
Dear Mr. Parker:

whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
richardt@gentx.com
9 of 10
One look
0608
Before&After
One
One look
look
BAmagazine.com
10
10 of
of 10
10
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i U X
Before & After magazine

Before & After has been sharing its practical approach
to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world
has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before &
After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.
To pass along a free copy of this article to
John McWade Publisher and creative director

Gaye McWade Associate publisher
Vincent Pascual Staff designer
Dexter Mark Abellera Staff designer
others, click here.
Editorial board Gwen Amos, Carl Winther
E-mail this article
Join our e-list

To be notified by e-mail of new articles as
they become available, go to
http://www.bamagazine.com/email

323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678
Telephone 916-784-3880
Fax 916-784-3995
E-mail mailbox@bamagazine.com
www http://www.bamagazine.com
Copyright 2005 Before & After magazine, ISSN
1049-0035. All rights reserved
You may pass this article around, but you may not alter
it, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief
sections for review. If you do this, please credit Before
& After magazine, and let us know. To feature free
Before & After articles on your Web site, please contact
us. For permission to include all or part of this article in
another work, please contact us.
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Printing formats
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Before & After is made to fit your binder

Before & After articles are intended for permanent reference. All are titled and numbered.
For the current table of contents, click here. To save time and paper, a paper-saver format of this article,
suitable for one- or two-sided printing, is provided on the following pages.
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Paper-saver format
Corresponding
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Mark
Typeface
0608
Three documents,
one look
How to turn letterhead,
envelope and business card
into a single visual presence.
GENTXSYSTEMS
Mark and type are the same size
GENTX
Uniform spacing
This logo consists of a diamond-shaped mark and distinctive typeface.

Because a logo must flexsometimes the type must be prominent, and
sometimes the mark must be prominentyou must establish rational size
relationships. In the examples above, A) type is the height of the horizontal
bands, and B) mark and typeface are the same height.
1 of 5
Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
Letterhead, envelope and business card are the three most common business documents.
They are always designed as a package, yet they are really quite different; they differ greatly
in size and have very different proportions. Despite this, these documents must look and
feel the same. The key is to establish rational and repetitive visual relationships between
mark, type and the spaces they occupy. Well show you what that means.
0608 Three documents, one look
Mark and type share characteristics
Horizontal
Vertical
Divisions of space
Squint and youll see that the mark is
composed of three equal horizontal and
vertical segments. These phantom rows
and columns have real presence and will
be used to govern distances between
elements on the page.
0608
Shape and style

Type and mark have a style relationship; simple circles and straight
lines have no thick-thin variation or
fussy detail.
A close look at the logo reveals a fabric of visual relationships designed to connect
the mark and type on several levels. Lets look at each thread.
GENTX
SYSTEMS
Size and color

Type and mark have a size relationship; at stationery size, type is the
height of the horizontal bands. Common colors create a strong visual
link that can carry across spatial distances and from page to page.
Survey the field
Business card
3 1/2x 2 (1.75:1 ratio)
#10 Business envelope

91/2x 41/8 (2.3:1 ratio)
2 of 5
Our task is to make these

three oddball formats (four,
if you include a mailing label)
look and feel as one. The key
will be to focus on the logo,
not the funny proportions.
Although weve come to regard them as normal, U. S. stationery sizes are just plain odd
ones fat, ones small, ones wide, and the envelope is unnecessarily large for the letter.
Letterhead
8 1/2x 11 (1:1.3 ratio)
Design the business card first
Third
Dear Mr. Parker:
Napa, CA 94558
9576 Jackson Road
D
Mr. Stan Parker
Half
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
tel 555.689.1546
fax 555.689.3486
whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exating en mist of it snooling.
3 of 5
0608
The confined space of the business card makes it the most difficult to design;
establish composition and spatial relationships here first.
A) Place Measure by eye, and

place the diamond mark a phantom
column from the left edge. This
distance connects the mark to the
page; the white corner amplifies
the marks triangular shape.
B) Repeat the margin on top, and
align the name and address.
C) Step the mark once to the right.
This will designate the type guide.
D) Set the type aligned left to
the type guide and the top of the
mark. Note that the finished card
is a design of rational relationships based on the primary visual
object, the mark. These relationships can now be repeated on
other documents.
Letterhead next
Repeat the business card composition on the letterhead. To retain a proper

sense of proportion, increase the distances between objects.
To compensate for the letterheads greater distances:

A) Place the mark half its
width in, not a third.
B) Repeat the resulting margin on the top as before.
C) Step the mark downward
twice and over once.
D) Align the addressee with
the corner.
Note that the type and mark
sizes have not changed.
Finally, the envelope
9576 Jackson Road
Napa, CA 94558
3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558 www.gentx.com
name size
mark size
text size
alignment
colors
GENTXSYSTEMS
0608
3 times
Half
Mr. Stan Parker
Repeat again on the envelope, compensating only for its very wide proportions.
This repetition is the key to designing a cohesive business system.
The envelope retains the

same spatial proportions and
placement as the letterhead
with one exceptionthe
mark steps to the right three
times, not just once, to get
the address into the middle
of the envelope. Note that
the type and mark sizes
have not changed.
All the same
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
tel 555.689.1546
fax 555.689.3486
Mr. Stan Parker
Same
Same
Same
Same
Same
The three documents now look and feel the same. Because theyre built on rational
relationships, the look can be readily transferred to other documents like the CD.
Napa, CA 94558
9576 Jackson Road
whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exat-

Sincerely,
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
4 of 5
ing end mist of it snooling.
Dear Mr. Parker:
Napa, CA 94558
9576 Jackson Road
Mr. Stan Parker
4
3
5
Typefaces
1 Avenir 35 Light | 8 pt
2 Avenir 95 Black | 8 pt
3 Helvetica Neue Light Cond | 8 pt
5 Helvetica Neue Med Cond | 8/9.5 pt
4 Helvetica Neue Heavy | 8/9.5 pt

6 Utopia Regular | 10/13 pt
C60 M20 Y25 K35
C25 M0 Y95 K0
Colors

Before & After has been sharing its practical approach
to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world
has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before &
After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.
John McWade Publisher and creative director
Gaye McWade Associate publisher
Vincent Pascual Staff designer
Dexter Mark Abellera Staff designer
Editorial board Gwen Amos, Carl Winther
323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678
Telephone 916-784-3880
Fax 916-784-3995
E-mail mailbox@bamagazine.com
www http://www.bamagazine.com
Copyright 2005 Before & After magazine, ISSN
1049-0035. All rights reserved
You may pass this article around, but you may not alter
it, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief
sections for review. If you do this, please credit Before
& After magazine, and let us know. To feature free
Before & After articles on your Web site, please contact
us. For permission to include all or part of this article in
another work, please contact us.
0608
tel 555.689.1546
fax 555.689.3486
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
Article resources
1
2
3
7
8
Mr. Stan Parker

9576 Jackson Road
Napa, CA 94558
Dear Mr. Parker:

whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Thompson
Electrical Engineer
richardt@gentx.com
Subscribe to Before & After

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe, and
become a more capable, confident designer
for pennies per article. To learn more, go to
http://www.bamagazine.com/Subscribe
E-mail this article
To pass along a free copy of this article to
others, click here.
Join our e-list
To be notified by e-mail of new articles as
they become available, go to
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Before&After

Three documents, one look

This logo consists of a diamond-shaped mark and distinctive typeface.

Mark and type share characteristics

Size and color

Survey the field

Our task is to make these

#10 Business envelope

Design the business card first

A) Place Measure by eye, and

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558 www.gentx.com

B) Repeat the margin on top, and

D) Set the type aligned left to

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558 www.gentx.com

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558 www.gentx.com

Repeat the business card composition on the letterhead. To retain a proper

To compensate for the letterheads greater distances:

A) Place the mark half its

tel 555.689.1546 fax 555.689.3486 www.gentx.com

C) Step the mark downward

D) Align the addressee with

Finally, the envelope

The envelope retains the

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558

Mr. Stan Parker

All the same

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558

tel 555.689.1546 fax 555.689.3486 www.gentx.com

Mr. Stan Parker

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558 www.gentx.com

Dear Mr. Parker:

Mr. Stan Parker

ing end mist of it snooling.

9576 Jackson Road

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558 www.gentx.com

GENTXSYSTEMS 3756 Ester Way, Napa, CA 94558

3 Helvetica Neue Light Cond | 8 pt

C60 M20 Y25 K35

4 Helvetica Neue Heavy | 8/9.5 pt

5 Helvetica Neue Med Cond | 8/9.5 pt

6 Utopia Regular | 10/13 pt

tel 555.689.1546 fax 555.689.3486 www.gentx.com

Mr. Stan Parker

9576 Jackson Road

Dear Mr. Parker:

Subscribe to Before & After

Before & After magazine

To pass along a free copy of this article to

John McWade Publisher and creative director

others, click here.

Editorial board Gwen Amos, Carl Winther

E-mail this article

Join our e-list

Before & After magazine

Before & After is made to fit your binder

For presentation format

For paper-saver format

Three documents, one look

This logo consists of a diamond-shaped mark and distinctive typeface.

0608 Three documents, one look

Mark and type share characteristics

Three documents, one look

Shape and style

Size and color