Monogramming Madness

From iPad covers to dishes, everything has a monogram lately. Pottery Barn features a whole online monogram shop with towels, table linens, glasses, picture frames and jewelry boxes. Etsy.com features baby clothes, linens, wall art, hats, soaps and even decorative pillows. Home décor catalogs are showing headboards, lampshades and bedspreads with monograms.

Giving newly married couple monogrammed gifts isn’t a new idea, but decorating our homes and offices with our initials is a current trend. Since when do we need to have our initials on everything we own? I doubt it is because we think we might lose our belongings. In this mass-produced world we live in, it just might give us a sense of having something uniquely hand-made and exclusively “ours” as it incorporates our own personal flair.

Monogrammed or personalized stationery has been popular for a while, but using an initial as a personal trademark is a trend that looks like is here to stay. It gives something a personal touch – a kind of human ‘territory marking’.

Back in the Victorian era, monograms symbolized the upper class. Those in higher classes adapted the monogram as a symbol of their place in society. Today, corporations often shorten their names to initials and then use the monogram as a design element. Law, engineering, consulting and architecture firms often go for this approach as their firm names are commonly made up of three last names and one is sure to be too many syllables!

For instance, it is much easier to use the shortened ‘PWC’ instead of ‘Price Waterhouse Coopers’. The space that the full three-word name takes up for a logo or design element is quiet long. But do big scrolling initial letters as a design element really say anything about what service or product a company offers? An embroidered ‘LK’ on a golf shirt doesn’t immediately read top-rated law firm or a brochure with a BKV doesn’t necessarily say ‘award-winning architecture firm’. Just like an appliquéd pink “M” on my briefcase doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know my name. But people are drawn to monograms because they give a sense of personal pride. My briefcase screams, “I am ‘M’!” A monogram then becomes a personal logo of sorts.

When it comes to this monogramming madness craze, less is more. One article of clothing or an accessory works but embracing this trend throughout our home décor becomes overkill. Linens are one thing but soaps, pillows, lamps AND a bathmat? What’s happens when you want to donate that “W” pillow to Goodwill? These items become harder to reuse for sure. Using company monograms as a design element can work too but used in the right instance. A simple watermark on a letterhead done correctly can be beautiful but using initials in a direct mail piece probably isn’t the best marketing idea. Let’s remember that not everyone always knows what those letters stand for!

Long Live Handwriting!

What will happen when the world no longer knows how to sign their names? Will everyone use printed block letters to sign legal forms or checks or even credit card receipts at a restaurant?


There is a great debate going around not teaching cursive in schools. Many schools have already shifted from less penmanship to more keyboarding. Supposedly, there is not enough time in the day for all the subjects kids must learn today and handwriting is one of those getting cut.

While keyboarding is ever important in our digital world, what will happen to the lost art of cursive? And if script writing it isn’t taught, will our children know how to read it? Many historical documents are in cursive including The Declaration of Independence. Formal wedding invitations with lots of loops and curls could be a thing of the past. Script fonts could go away entirely. Those fonts designed to look like handwriting will lose their relevancy for sure.

What happens to our personal brands if we no longer have signatures? A signature is a direct link into a person’s identity. The long curves of our capital letters and way we scribble our middle initial is unique. A slanted signature can show that the signer is left or right-handed. Handwriting experts have said that Barack Obama’s signature shows “intelligence, fluidity and fast thinking.”

No one will collect souvenirs with famous people’s autographs anymore without unique signatures. Trying to sell that foul ball you got signed by the baseball star on eBay won’t be worth as much when the name is spelled out in 3^rd grade all caps letters. Will there be such a thing as ‘book signings’? I can’t imagine authors sitting at a table printing their names.

When future generations grow up to sign away their life on their student loan forms, they will block print their names. When they write a thank you note it will be in print – WAIT – they will never send a handwritten thank you note. They will type it or just send a text, right? Maybe this is why children don’t need to learn how to write in cursive because everything is being done electronically. Some students can even use computers for standardized tests now.

A signature is something that is supposed to be ‘one of a kind,’ similar to our fingerprints. Used on everything from mortgage papers to driver’s licenses, our signatures are even used by banks it to verify deposits. Forgery would be more common if everyone printed his or her names. In the future, will our signatures become some form of electronic signature using fingerprints or microchips?

Formal letters from CEOs and Presidents are signed to show importance as well as give a personal touch. It looks like they took the time to sign that formal letter. Our signatures say something about each of us. It’s sad to think that a ‘#’ or ‘@ ‘before our name will be the new signature. The “new handwriting” will be designated by the font style in our emails. Is script doomed to be forever dead?

It is Just too Easy to Share...

It can make us all squirm – thinking about the threat of a colleague or employee crossing the line with your corporate brand via social media. Social media is difficult to ignore for its power to communicate. But what if it’s not always positive? An American Red Cross employee accidentally tweeted a beer-related post to the charity's Twitter account, rather than to her personal account. Not long after that came the Chrysler Corporation that tweeted about the bad driving habits of people in Detroit.


Freedom of expression and ease of use makes everyone a ‘publisher’ nowadays. Companies have been afraid to open the floodgates on social media in case people say bad things about them because online opinions can spread far and wide – and quickly. But ‘word of mouth’ has always been around – these technologies are just new ways of spreading it. These conversations would be going on anyway, so businesses might as well figure out a way to join in and effectively manage their message.

Whether it’s a disgruntled employee or an unhappy customer, negative posts can be damaging to a brand and business. Here are some tips to prevent an errant ‘post’ and manage your online reputation:

1. Develop an internal social media policy including who posts for company. It should include guidelines for response comments and privacy rules.
2. Carry your brand voice and common sense to social media. It’s public!
3. Know the legal issues around identity disclosure on comments. No ‘fake’ reviews!
4. Review posts frequently and quickly remove any out of bounds posts. Use online tools to monitor your brand and all activity.
5. Take a deep breath before responding to comments. If you’re unsure, have someone review your post for tone.

But mistakes happen, even on large companies’ sites, but monitoring often lets you catch mistakes faster and minimize the damage. There are all sorts of new social media tools out there that can automate this process and allow you to respond quickly to negative discussions.

If there is unfavorable chatter, here are some ways to put out the flames. Always own up and admit the mistake. Make sure to apologize publicly and personally to any one harmed by the mistake. The Red Cross has been praised for using humor in response to their employee’s beer-talking tweet and turned it into a way to gather donations.

Then make sure to pull any damaging content offline– but don’t pretend ‘this never happened’. Use the mistake as a teachable moment and don’t stop the conversation or social media initiatives all together. Not everyone is going to love you, your business or your product so pessimism is inevitable. Hopefully any negativity can be easily downplayed and turned into a positive.

My Digital Wish List

From how far digital presses have come, they still have a ways to go to overcome some common challenges.

I wish digital presses could…


Print letterheads. 
For the small identity project, this would be ideal. For some reason the letterhead isn’t an option because the digital presses leave a slight coating on the paper that makes it hard to rerun it through a customer’s inkjet or laser printer afterwards.

Print envelopes. 
Envelopes, we all know this one. They just can’t line up right unless they are run flat and then converted which is too pricey for most jobs. #10s would complete the identity package or announcement envelopes would be great for party or wedding invitations. Think of the impact of 4-color printed envelopes in combination with variable data?

Print spot colors. 
Ever wish you could match something else that ran offset? Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to run a spot color along with a digital job? HP just introduced white ink; maybe spot ink is next?

Print heavier stock/130#. 
In the design world, the thicker the better – that’s been the trend. Some business cards are now like chipboard they are so thick. Does heavier imply more expensive or important?

Increase the sheet size to accommodate folders. 
13x19 is a bit limiting right? Folders would be the ideal project to run digitally as many customers tend to not need very many. These are expensive projects as the converting and die costs add up. Many times folders are done with just 1 or 2-color printing to keep the costs down. This is a design challenge, especially for company that uses a 3 or 4-color logo.