Buckslips, Buckslips Everywhere!

Personalized Buckslips

One of my personal favorite stationery items is a buckslip. What a wonderful casual note. And it is the perfect size to fit into a No. 10 envelope - policy style of course. Not everyone has works at a place where this is part of the standard business stationery. I was fortunate to have learned about these handy note cards.

For those of you wondering the origin of the name. It was a small vertical note that was the size of a dollar bill - a buck. Our dollars are smaller now and for my designs, I have made it larger.

These buckslips were commissioned as a gift for a friend's wife. She has a love of paper and an appreciation for buckslips. Instead of getting one design I recommended that we do a personalized variety pack. This way she can use a different design depending on her mood or the person receiving it. Since I love buckslips, this was a great project for me!

Custom Buckslips

G-star logo design

I was commissioned to design a buckslip. They would be for G-star, and she works in the entertainment print industry. So not only would I be designing for a client, but it would be a gift for a print professional. 

I began by choosing a font that I thought had a good shape. Then I altered the letterform to make the counter in the lower part of the g larger (The counter is the empty space in the lower part of the g). This gave me the perfect place to put the asterisk, which became the star. I found the perfect asterisk that went with the g and gave the logo the right balance. The hot pink color was an easy choice as it is a color she uses when signing off her emails. I placed the logo in the upper left corner bleeding off the top and left side. Some people are uncomfortable when artwork is cut off, but I loved the way the negative space worked with the edge of the buckslip.

The client and the recipient were both happy with the results. 

Wild Mustard Buckslips

For the love of Buckslips

During the spring, wild mustard would blanket the hills in the Valley in yellow. There are less open hills now, but you can still see them popping up. My reimagined version is a little more modern. This let me change up the color a bit, to a deep orange. 

Buckslips are such versatile pieces of stationery. They can be used as for informal correspondence – when you just want to write a short message and a post-it note is a little too informal. You can use them as a one-sided notecard or thank you card. They fit right into a standard No.10 envelope. How perfect is that! I even use them to write my project "to do" lists. They got their name because they were around the size of a dollar or "buck." They have been a part of my work stationery essentials for a while. So I thought I would design a version for personal use. I often get comments from people that they love buckslips. So I know I'm not the only one.