Special Supplier Feature: An interview with stationery designer Prettywild

It’s not often that you find something on the internet that makes you stop in your tracks and think “wow”, but that’s exactly how we felt when seeing the work by Kent based stationery designer Suzanne Osborne from Prettywild Design. As soon as you check out the Prettywild website, you are presented with some exquisite examples of design work, from wedding invitations through to birthday and anniversary invites. Each piece of work is thoughtfully crafted from start to finish.

A beautiful and clever letterpress printed design.

Suzanne has kindly let us ask her a few questions about Prettywild, giving a great insight into what she does and how she works:

Q&A…

How long has Prettywild been going for?

I started Prettywild Design in 2006 but the desire to have my own business took root a long time before then.

Did you train as a designer?

I spent 4 years at Ravensbourne College in the late 80′s on a foundation course and Graphic Design degree course. Our intake were the first to have access to Apple Macs so I was an “inbetweener” of two generations of design practitioners. In addition to being part of a technological revolution we also learnt old-school type mark-up, manual artworking with a bromide & scalpel, and preparing pristine mock ups for clients, tracing from type sheets with a 0.25 rotring pen, which was still used in some the places I worked after. They were all important disciplines that have given me really meticulous handskills for some of the work I do now.

Do you design on the computer, or do you create things by hand?

For a brand new design I always start with my trusty sketchbook and then later work up ideas and artwork on the Mac. That way it concentrates the idea first, rather than getting bogged down playing with the details before the idea is fully explored. It will also evolve over the stages of making prototypes. I have to keep in mind that I could be making them in batches of hundreds so they have to be feasible time and budget wise. It’s not unusual to find me weeping whilst attaching my 874th diamante and vowing never to make them again!

An elegant wedding invitation.

Take us through the stages you take when producing some wedding invitations for a couple.

Most of the orders are based on my own pre-designed invitation styles from my website which are customised and personalised to suit. In this case either hard or digital proofs are sent to the clients for approval prior to making up the full order.

Bespoke commissions work in a different way. I’ll usually spend several days researching and brainstorming ideas in a sketchbook based on a client brief. I’ll choose the three or four that I consider are the most suitable and initially present them to the clients as a series of computer roughs and notes. The client will usually have a favourite but often like bits from the other ideas too so the next stage will be to create a workable sample set addressing their comments, likes and dislikes, and put together a realistic quotation working to their budget. From there I’ll produce full proofs and the order is made. It can be quite a long and involved process so an initial design fee is required for this type of work.

Do you like couples to come to you with ideas, or do you prefer to create something completely from scratch?

I think couples tend to choose a bespoke design because they already have something in mind or a specific theme that they have been unable to find ready-made stationery for. But the most successful designs result if the brief is kept quite loose and the clients are open to ideas and suggestions. I like to find out their favourite colours or a scheme they are already working to, any items & services they’re considering for their big day and a little of their personalities and hobbies.

Do you find the gals have more ideas than the guys?

90% of the time I’m contacted by Brides. The other 10% are a mix of Grooms and parents. I often find that if the Groom is liaising directly with me they tend to be surprisingly conservative and prefer very plain, but elegant and traditional style invitations. I’ve wondered if this is perhaps because it’s Brides that overwhelmingly buy wedding magazines and tend to research every minutiae of weddings on the internet so they will have seen so many other possibilities. They’ll often consider the style of the day as a whole, reflecting their own and their bridesmaids’ dresses, flowers, table decor etc. But that is a huge generalisation. I particularly love it when Brides come back to me and say “I’ve just shown my Fiancé your designs – it’s the first time he’s been really enthusiastic about the planning”.

What’s your favorite job you’ve worked on so far?

Loads, but the two in particular are a bespoke commission from a few years ago loosely based around an Alice in Wonderland theme, and recently a music festival style table plan poster, based on the couple’s shared love of certain gigs they’d experienced together. Both couples were amazing to work with.

Truly wild! A unique music festival table plan poster.

Have you had any strange requests?

I worked for a lovely couple who were marrying by a Scottish Loch and specifically wanted two otters on their invitations. You often get strange requests for table names on seating plans eg. Carry-on Films. What one couple may consider strange and “unweddingy” is another couples to a tee. But I love ‘out of the ordinary’ – it gives the stationery personality.

You can find out lots more about Prettywild by visiting prettywild.co.uk. Suzanne also tweets regularly: twitter.com/Prettywildwed