Common mailing design issues

• Text within regulated areas
• Insufficient margins for regulated areas
• Images within regulated areas
• Indicia / print contrast
• Incorrectly formatted addresses
• Improper kitting
• Improper dimensions

Source: Overnight Prints

Source: Overnight Prints

Source: Overnight Prints

Source: Mailing Systems Technology

Source: Mailing Systems Technology

Indicia

• Pre-paid mark
• Replaces stamps for bulk mail
• Usually provided/validated by postage services
  • Typically EPS format
  • Permit number
• Linked to mail sortation facility and date

Indicia

Line 1: Class marking

Line 2: The words "U.S. Postage Paid"

Line 3: City and state where permit is held

Line 4: The word "Permit" and your permit number.

Address Standards

• Software for validation / normalization
• Several acceptable formats
• OCR in use, typically mono-spaced font
• All caps is a good idea

Address Standards

USPS:

Format all lines of the address with a uniform left margin.

Uppercase letters are preferred on all lines of the address block.

Address Standards

Secondary Address Unit Designators can be abbreviated. Reference.

Address Standards

No punctuation is preferred for address block

Other recommendations

• Pound sign (#) should be separated on both sides by a space
• Zip+4 code (55555-5555) is best
• Street name, direction, type, and unit on single line
• Punctuation is normally limited to periods, slashes, and hyphens
• Abbreviations are preferred

 Intelligent Mail barcode

65-bar code denoting routing information (zipcodes)

Pro tip

• You can use the address block for ID
• Consider best way to encode QC informaiton
• Top-left preferred for easy auditing
• Bottom will cause mailing challenges!

International Considerations

Canada post

Singapore post

Royal Mail (UK)

Source: Printing For Less

Source: Printing For Less

Overall Standards

• All sides: 0.625"
• Indicia: 1.25" from top and right
• Mailing Address: 2.75" x 2.75"

How do you
make a party
for the
Solar System?

⚠️ Bad dad joke alert ⚠️

⚠️ Bad dad joke alert ⚠️

You Planet.

Plan the postcard!

On your own, find an example
of a cool postcard design.

Tips

1. Find an example for your vertical
2. Search Google Images
3. Look for personalization 👀

⏰ 5 minutes ⏰

Plan the postcard!

On your own, come up with
3+ text/images you think need
to be on the postcard.

Don't include the following:

1. Address
2. Indicia
3. Return address

⏰ 5 minutes ⏰

Plan the postcard!

As a group,
compare + determine:

1. What data is required
2. Which items are essential vs. nice to have
3. Layout of front/back (wireframe)
   create 2+ layout options

⏰ 15 minutes ⏰