[tpicco]

please someone help this american designer...

I have to design stationery for a company with American & European offices. They have no European samples 'cause they are just opening that branch...

Googling produced this:
Letterhead: 210mm x 297mm (8.27" x 11.69")
Biz Cards: 90mm x 54mm (3.54" x 2.13")

Is there a standard business envelope size???

[Dork.]

European paper sizes (actually, ISO paper sizes -- most of the world outside the U.S. uses them) are set up so that by putting two pieces of paper side by side, you get the next size up. Also, folding a piece in half gets you the next size down.

Everything you ever wanted to know about them, (and I mean everything!) is here:

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html

[tpicco]

So a business envelope for a 210mm x 297mm letter would be...

C6/C5 = 114mm × 229mm, or traditionally DL = 110mm × 220mm?


(Gosh, who would think only the U.S. would refuse top cooperate with worldwide standards???)

[tooki]

Stationary: not moving
Stationery: letterhead and matching items

Why did Googling not produce enough? 5 seconds of Googling found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size and tons of other useful pages.

tooki

Edit: and a little more reading on Wikipedia found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envelope_size
and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_card#Dimensions (European business cards are the same size as a credit card, or use DIN A8 or C8. Business card formats aren't as fixed, here or there, as paper sizes.)

[tpicco]

I spelled it write!!!













that was deliberate

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by tpicco

(Gosh, who would think only the U.S. would refuse top cooperate with worldwide standards???)

Good one.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by tpicco

So a business envelope for a 210mm x 297mm letter would be...

C6/C5 = 114mm × 229mm, or traditionally DL = 110mm × 220mm?

I’m not sure how it is in other European countries, but in Denmark, the 114 x 229 envelopes are quite rare (and becoming rarer and rarer, if my subjective experience is correct); the most common size used is C5, 162 x 229 mm. That’s the size of the normal envelopes you buy in the post offices, and also of the letters you receive from various companies, firms, banks, municipalities, etc.

I don’t think I’ve ever received a letter in a DL envelope.


Also, as tooki says, business card formats are nowhere near as standardised as paper sizes: the ‘standard’ (i.e., most common) size is credit card size, but there are many companies and firms that have cards of varying formats.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by tpicco

(Gosh, who would think only the U.S. would refuse top cooperate with worldwide standards???)

This country has its head up its ass in more than one sense.

[PiperH]

in the 2 euro countries I know about, UK and Spain, the commonest envelope for A4 paper is the DL size. The paper folds nicer in it - two parallel folds instead of the right-angle fold.
Business cards seem to be any old size though rarely bigger than credit card.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by PiperH

in the 2 euro countries I know about, UK and Spain, the commonest envelope for A4 paper is the DL size. The paper folds nicer in it - two parallel folds instead of the right-angle fold.

Just goes to show that there is no ‘European standard’ to speak of, really (see my above post).

What exactly is a ‘right-angle fold’, as opposed to two parallel folds, though? Letters are usually only folded once up here, turning the A4 paper into A5 letters, fitting snugly into C5 envelopes.

[PiperH]

sorry to confuse. The C6 size is the A4 sheet folded twice, at right angles. BTW, I find the C5 too big for your average letter and if I receive one it's usually a sign of unwanted junk mail / enticements / etc

[Oisín]

Ah, I see. No, we don’t use C6 envelopes for anything up here, really. If I receive anything in a C6 envelope, I’ll know with 99 per cent certainty that it’s a hand-written letter from a friend.

The only place I’ve ever received C6/C5 envelopes from was my grandparents’ lawyers. It might be more common to use C6/C5 (perhaps even DL) in specific circles, such as law firms; but for anything else, C5 is used—only one fold down the middle.

C4 envelopes are not uncommon either, by the way, for heavier letters—they’re usually used for contracts, for example.