Summer is still upon us but fall is around the corner and the design community is on top of what’s trending for fall this year. There are some many great reasons to celebrate in the fall and so many party invitations to send out!  Back to school invitations, Halloween party invitations, birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, bridal showers, housewarmings invites and more. The change of season can be so inspiring.  We looked to Esther on PurpleTrail’s design team to see what’s going on in the design world and share with us some standout Fall Trends.  She also highlights some great PurpleTrail fall designs for a variety of occasions.

There are so many fun colors and trends for fall, I had trouble narrowing them down to one blog post!
Here are my top three favorite trends for Fall 2011:

COLOR:  This fall is full of deep color with pops of bold and bright.  I’m seeing Apple Green everywhere, paired up with deep orange, turquoise, and bright pink, sometimes even neon!

FUN FLORALS: These bright florals add fun to every day!

2012 Snow & Graham Grid Calendar – Paper Source:

Vicor Fox surface design via Print and Pattern

Madeline Weinrib- pink and orange Sunder pillow

BRIGHT GEOS:  These chevron patterns are everywhere, from stationary to fashion

From ohJoy! blog

Lined Notebook in Kilim Weave- SusyJack

Jonathan Adler iphone cover via PaperSource

Check out these fresh new PurpleTrail designs with fall colors

Trendy Green New Address Moving Announcement

Home Sweet Home Linen Floral Moving Announcement

Blue Monster Halloween Birthday Party Invitation

Blue and Orange Striped Pregnancy Announcement

Let's Celebrate Wedding Anniversary Party Invitation

Thanks Esther. We look forward to showcasing more fall designs from our team!

Every year the nautical trend comes back in full force, and new products appear in stores with slight variations on the theme.  Here in Seattle, we have much to inspire us all around our Maritime city.  We pay homage in many different ways to maritime tradition.  From the Center for Wooden Boats where you can learn about the classic craftsmanship to exploring the waterfront full of historic hotels sea inspired folklore. At PurpleTrail, our designers are right on trend, bringing you nautical designs for many occasions.

Esther, our lead designer, loves to pull from all avenues of design for inspiration.  She put together these images that show how the nautical theme is represented all around the design community. From the culinary world to fashion, you’ll see that you can play with the nautical theme in many creative ways.

Nautical Lettering

Lettering/Illustration by Mel Chadwick, embracing the nautical theme.

Nautical Baby Onsies

Anchor Twin Bodysuits Natuical Baby Gift found on Etsy.

Nautical Cloth Tote

Ahoy recycled sailcloth bag found on 44 knots.com

Nautical Cupcakes

Even desserts can be nautical in nature. These nautical cupcakes were on cakecentral.com

Nautical Dress

Of course fashion has something to say about the nautical theme. This petite indigo stripe jersey dress is from debenhams.com

Nautical Gift Wrap

Wrap up your gift in this fun anchor wrapping paper from Minimega found on fromscandinaviawithlove.com

Nautical Knotty Rope Bracelet

This knotty rope bracelet with silver toggle is found on Etsy.

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If you take a look at PT nautical invites and announcements.  You’ll see that our designers have pulled from all the local and widespread inspiration to create a fun nautical themed collection of  greeting cards, announcements, and party invitations.

Blue Anchors Boy Baby Announcement

Sailing Themed Boy Baby Shower Invitation

A darling sailing inspired baby shower invitation.

Navy Striped Boy Baby Announcement

This cute striped baby announcement is perfect for a little boy!

If you are seaward bound for your nuptials then this nautical themed wedding invite is perfect for you!

Cruise Themed Party Invitation

This invite is great for a day cruise you are planning for friends or even business event.

Summer Beach Party Invitation

Seashells by the seashore. A perfect beach party invitation.

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A nautical theme is great for a birthday party, wedding, baby shower and more.  Tie in your favorite elements and personalize any of our nautical themed invitations for a party invitation that is on trend!

We love to help you do everything possible to make a your party invitations that best they can be.  We talked with Leila on our design team about how to best organize the text in your party invitations to maximize not only the design integrity but also make sure you can clearly convey the important details of your invitation, so it doesn’t get lost in the design itself. Here is Leila’s insight on design hierarchy.

Hierarchy helps clearly separate information from level to another. It helps establish what readers should be drawn to first, second and so on. Hierarchy is essential when designing because it allows you to subdivide your information.  When working with invitations it is important to separate your information into categories.  For example, in a wedding invitation you may want to highlight the names of the couple and then list the information secondary.  There are many ways to accomplish this.  One way would be to use a different color.

In this lovely pale yellow wedding invitation, we used a complimentary color to highlight the names of the happy couple.  Let’s face it they’re the main event anyway right!

Classic Pale Yellow Wedding Invite

Pink Typographic Baby Girl Announcement

Blue Doily Boy Birth Announcement

In the pink girl’s baby announcement our designers use both font and size to organize their invitation.  By using different fonts and size of text the information is presented in a fun way.  The common thread here would be the color and the block shape the type was arranged in.  This type of type treatment may take a little longer to achieve but the end result is stunning

In the powder blue birth announcement, our designer uses color and size to highlight the newcomers name.

Often we see designs that are missing something.  People often tend to use one font to list all of their information and put it into one large text box.

The solution? BREAK IT UP!!

Try putting your information in separate text boxes.  By doing this you can have more control over the spacing which will help create a nicer overall look.

Suggestions:
Put the time and date in it’s own text box.
Put the name of the honored party or event in its own box.
Put the name address of the event in it’s own text box.

Here are some examples of breaking up text.  In the invitation design for the couple’s shower, we use color and font to highlight pertinent details.  The rest of the info was broken up into separate text boxes and the spacing was manually adjusted in order to present a more cohesive invite.

Pregnant Belly Photo Couples Baby Shower Invitation

Navy Blue Mobile Baby Shower Invitation

In the baby mobile design,the name is highlighted by using a different font , size, and color.

So don’t be afraid to play around with hierarchy.  Breaking information up with font, size and color can really make your invitations and cards stand out.  Follow these tips and personalize your own baby shower invitations or baby birth announcements using the PurpleTrail Design Center.  Our designers have recently refreshed our collection of baby shower invitations and birth announcements and it’s full of fun and fresh designs.

Thanks to Leila for sharing these great design tips!  Look for more design tips from Leila to come.

‘Trends exist everywhere, even in party invitations.  Our designers draw their inspiration from many places.  We love checking in with them about current trends they are seeing and how they are using trends in their designs for PurpleTrail.  We checked in with Esther, one of our head designers to see what she had to say about what is trending right now in stationary and invitations.

“I got very inspired walking around downtown early this Spring, seeing all of the new lace trends in fashion.  This trend doesn’t stop with store windows…it is hitting the stationary and home decor markets- there are even some fun party planning ideas with lace themes out there!”

Here are some of the places Esther found inspiration from lace.

Lace Cake

This beautiful lace cake was featured on Real Simple.

Lace on the Runway

Style Bakery shares all the latest lace on the runway trends.

Lace Top

A lovely lace top from TopShop. This little number is called Petite Chemical Lace Vest.

Lace Shopping Baskets

Going green is going gorgeous! These are lovely Lace Shopping Baskets from the Container Store.

Lace Coaster

Who wouldn't love these sweet lace inspired coasters. Find them on Etsy; Cake Lace Coaster Set.

Lace Banner

A beautiful lace banner can add elegance to any celebration. This on is on Esty and is called Las Flores.

Paper Lace

This inspiring DIY paper lace party doily is from missspartysmarty.com

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Lace is so elegant but it can easily be transformed into something modern and cutting edge.  From fashion to food lace, is showing up everywhere.  It doesn’t have to be Grandma’s doily that speaks to you. Although, take a few of Grandma’s doilies and you could create a fun vintage decor for a bridal shower or even a baby shower.  There are so many things to draw from, both old and new when incorporating lace into a party theme.

The PurpleTrail Design Team found a way to create a few different styles of lace laden designs.  Since lace and weddings go hand in hand this trend is perfect for some of our new wedding invitation and bachelorette party invitation designs.

Black and White Lace Wedding Invitation

Coral Lace Wedding Invite

Aqua Lace Bachelorette Party Invitation

Purple Floral Lace Bachelorette Party Invitation

We want to hear from you

What’s your favorite trend right now?

What’s the most creative way you’ve seen lace being used?

Where do you find your inspiration for getting creative?