Stationery Suite
Standard sizes for the four core pieces of a print identity system, shown to real proportion with a safe-zone margin. Runs in your browser — no server call, no tracking.
Where the Business Card Started
Trade visiting cards ("mingpian") were already in use in 15th-century China. In 17th-century France, aristocratic calling cards became a formal social ritual — leaving one signaled a visit even if the host wasn't home. Modern standardized business-card sizes settled into their current dimensions through 20th-century mass commerce.
The #10 Envelope
The US #10 envelope (4-1/8 × 9-1/2 in) became the default for business correspondence because it's the exact size that fits a standard 8.5×11in letter folded in thirds — a dimension chosen entirely around a piece of paper, not aesthetics.
Why a Safe Margin Matters
Every commercial cutting process has real tolerance — the blade won't land in the exact same spot on every sheet in a run. Keeping text and logos inside a safe margin (not right at the trim edge) means small shifts in cutting never clip your content.
A Suite, Not Separate Pieces
Business card, letterhead, envelope, and notecard are designed together deliberately — shared margins, consistent logo placement, and the same type scale across all four is what makes a stationery set read as one coherent identity rather than four unrelated printouts.