Mathias Tanguy stationery design

Mathias Tanguy is a personal finance adviser based in Paris. Mathias needed a strong but subtle visual brand identity putting the emphasis on both networking and communication concept as well as on professional ethic and principles.

I designed the visual identity around a geometrical pattern that is creating network connectivity. Placing the letters in the centre of each of the graphic polygonal shapes allowed the name to be the core of the geometrical network pattern. Extracting the letter M and T with their surrounding polygonal structures created a logotype working as an ingenuous monogram. The simplicity of this geometrical shape allows the use of many different high finish print processes, as metal and black foil blocking on the compliment slips and business cards, blind embossing on the envelops and photo chemical etching on the metal side of the business card. The monogram can also be easily stamped using an embosser or rubber stamp machine to personalise letters and cards, and for authenticating important documents.

Mathias desired a highly finished metal business card but I was convinced using only a metal card would not give a really exceptional result and won't allow a subtle contrast and distinction between both card sides.

I knew that creating a card with both metal and paper would be a really difficult assignment to manufacture. The project involved working with three different printers. The metal cards were manufactured by Photofabrication Limited, a company specialised in chemical etching process, also known as chemical milling or photo etching, using acids along with other chemicals to dissolve unwanted material. The paper blind embossing, foil blocking and lamination process was carried out by Greywell Press Limited. They have done an exceptional job and are the only printer that told me that “Nothing is beyond possibilities”. They have tried really hard to find a solution to efficiently and precisely laminate both, already trimmed to size, metal and paper boards. The job required them to build a bespoke tool for the lamination process and the result is impeccable and faultless.

Business card paper side was printed on a 350gsm Black Ebony subtle uncoated smooth paper with new leather embossed surface manufactured by GF Smith. The business cards metal side was chemically etched on a high-grade 0.4 mm stainless steel metal board.

Compliment slips are manufactured with duplexed uncoated smooth boards produced by GF Smith. Frontside is stamped with a glossy black foil on a 350gsm Ebony Black paper substrate and the backside is stamped with the same foil on a 350gsm Pristine White paper substrate, making the finished slips a 700gsm board.

Mathias Tanguy identity is set up using Arno Pro typeface. Named after the river that runs through Florence, the center of the Italian Renaissance, Arno draws on the warmth and readability of early humanist types of the 15th and 16th centuries. While inspired by the past, Arno is distinctly contemporary in both appearance and function. Designed by Robert Slimbach, Adobe principal designer, Arno is a meticulously crafted face in the tradition of early Venetian and Aldine book types. Embodying themes that Slimbach has explored in typefaces such as Minion® and Brioso™, Arno represents a distillation of his design ideals and a refinement of his craft.