Any notebook can hold writing. Clients choose the one they want to pick up.
Stationery is small and softly priced, and easily compared with hundreds of similar items. Sinh Vũ gives your brand a shape and a voice of its own, so clients choose for love and not because it's the cheapest.
Three things first: a style of your own recognizable on the cover and packaging, a way to display many styles without clutter, and a gift set that's easy to give. A low-priced item without those three can only compete on price.
Color, type, pattern and the way the logo is placed, so a glance along the shelf is enough to recognize it.
Many styles and colors that still form one line, in an order that makes choosing easy.
A few pieces gathered into one neat set in a nice box, ready to be a gift.
All of it is writing and note-taking goods, but each piece has different buyers and a different way of being bought.
Their customersYoung clients, students and working people, choosing by cover, paper and binding, and often buying as gifts.
Brand challengeShow clients the notebook has character, and let them feel the paper through photos and packaging.
Their customersClients buy by how the pen feels in the hand; pen lovers are very picky, while everyday users compare prices.
Brand challengeMake clear why this pen is different, through its shape, its line and its box, and not just its price.
Their customersMostly young clients who buy many small items and by collection, and who love to photograph and show off.
Brand challengeEach design has its own look yet belongs to one house, so clients keep collecting.
These are the places where stationery brands tend to lose clients, and a good item can't save them.
Clients photograph a notebook and ask elsewhere whether there's a similar one for less.
Give each product line a style and a story of its own, with packaging, so clients can't compare piece for piece.
Start from this problemDozens of covers and dozens of colors with no system, so the shelf and the sales page look messy.
Organize the lines as one system: color, size, code and pattern placement rules, and every new design follows them.
Start from this problemBent notebook covers, scratched pens, crumpled stickers: a good product that looks poor when it reaches the client.
Packaging that fits snugly, protects the fragile spots, and is printed with just enough information and pretty enough to give as a gift.
Start from this problemClients have to pick each item and wrap it themselves, and many give up the idea.
Design a few gift sets by occasion: back to school, new year, a gift for a colleague, in a neat box.
Start from this problemAt the Buy stage. Clients like it but must choose among many similar styles, and with no reason to pick this one over that one, they pick the cheapest or walk away.
Touchpoints are the places where clients see, touch or hear about the brand. You don't need to do everything at once. These five touchpoints decide most of whether clients remember you and buy again.
It's the first thing clients see on the shelf and in photos.
Clients see it every time they use it, so it is the most lasting mark.
Draws in more clients buying to give, and each order is worth more than a single purchase.
Small items have to be looked at very closely through photos before the difference shows.
When selling inside another store, the shelf is the only chance to meet clients.
Listed in the order to do them. A new brand can stop at step two or three; a brand with many lines goes through them all.
Name, mark, color, type and a pattern system for notebook covers and stickers.
Packaging for each item and the gift set box.
A photo template for paper close-ups, pen strokes and paired sets.
Rules so new product lines follow the system.
Display shelves for selling inside other stores or at fairs.
Sinh Vũ hasn't published a stationery project. The two projects below are close on the problem of gift sets and a packaging template that runs across many products.
GIFT for LIFE started out in corporate gifting, and needed a brand trustworthy enough to stand beside the biggest names. Sinh Vũ built the identity and packaging system…
Corporate gifts: a gift box that carries the giver's heart, close to a stationery gift set.
A packaged consumer goods portfolio with many lines, all going to shelf from one shared die-cut: Sinh Vũ built the logo system, identity and packaging…
One die-cut template, a whole identity system: close to the problem of many designs that still form one line.
The principles behind it
Compact, and able to be embossed or foil-stamped on the cover. The imagery should come from the notebook's character (who it's for, what it's written in), and avoid pens or books, which are very common.
It should fit snugly so the cover doesn't bend and the pen barrel doesn't scratch, and let clients see the paper or the pen stroke through a small window or a printed photo. A rigid box makes a better gift.
Split them into lines, each with one theme and one color palette, and every design shares the same logo placement and code. New designs follow the rules, so you never need to redesign the system.
A few items that go together (notebook, pen, stickers) by occasion: back to school, new year, a gift for a colleague. A neat box that looks good opened, with a short greeting card.
Yes, because craftsmanship is the reason clients pay more than for mass-market goods. Tell briefly who makes it and how, with close-up photos, and don't exaggerate.
Sinh Vũ hasn't published a stationery project. The closest are GIFT for LIFE (corporate gifts) and the die-cut and identity project.
A few lines about your products, your clients and what is holding you back is enough. Sinh Vũ reads it and replies within one working day.