Trends spotted at NSS 2011

The National Stationery Show (NSS) is a trade show that sells stationery and associated products for retail. Not only are greeting cards found at the show but wall clocks, calendars, coasters, gift bags, journals, totes, digital products, and stationery goods of all kinds. From reading the many blog and magazine articles written about the 2011 show, it seems that the largest trend was all kinds of products using Letterpress printing.* Personalizing and customized stationery was popular. Products for weddings and parties were prevalent. And brighter colors seem to be immersing for paper products with a lot of bright pink which is not surprising because Pantone announced that the 2011 color of the year is honeysuckle (bright pink).

*Letterpress printing definition from Wikipedia: Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image.

Read the following articles for more information on trends that were seen at NSS by publication editors, buyers, and others attending the show. Many of the articles include photographs showing the latest designs on paper products.

• Gift and Decorative magazine: "Direct from Market: National Stationery Show"

• Design Sponge (4 articles):
"national stationery show 2011: part 1"
"national stationery show 2011: part 2 (bright colors)"
"national stationery show: watercolor washes + gold"
"National Stationery Show 2011: the final roundup"

•Always a Blogsmaid: "National Stationery Show Overview!"

• B. Nute: "National Stationery Show 2011 Round Up"

•Felt & Wire: "National Stationery Show 2011: Lights, action, color ..."

• GCU Community: "Guest Blog: Mindyrosso, National Stationery Show 2011"

• Mom Trends: "2011 Stationery Trends"

• Oh So Beautiful Paper: "National Stationery Show 2011 - Part1: Big Debuts" (first of 12 posts)

• Post Boutique: "Trends at the 2011 National Stationery Show"

When reading the above articles, it must be remembered that writers may have specific objectives and background when viewing trends so that her or his impressions may be perceived differently from other writers. For instance, the writer(s) for Design Sponge blog concentrate on contemporary designs so the articles that were posted on the blog were about contemporary. Although contemporary designs for paper products is presently very popular so their trend observations are most likely correct. This was very apparent when looking at the New Product Display at NSS. Most of the products had either no designs or were very simple and contemporary looking.

Comments are welcomed. Please click on comments and write them in the comment window at the bottom of this article.