Looking at a wedding invitation designed by Monica Majors at Paper Cut Industries is like looking at a snippet of a story. Her custom invitations and stationary focus on using smart designs that highlight the unique characteristics of the bride and groom.
“It’s about grabbing and capturing the personality of the couple,” Monica said. “I bring to life their look and feel and who they are‚Äîand specialize in that.”
Monica has been studying graphic design since high school, and she graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in art and an emphasis in graphic design. Since then, she’s worked in packaging, labels and hang tags, and stationery; including the corporate powerhouse Knock Knock, where she was moonlighting when she launched Paper Cut Industries in 2008.
“All of these jobs formed who I am now,” Monica said. “To me, it’s all the little details that make a great design.”
To get these essential details unique to every couple, Monica presents her brides with an extensive questionnaire, which asks about everything from the bride’s style of dress and choice of flowers to her color scheme.
“Then, I kind of get an idea of their favorite music as individuals and how they describe themselves; non-standard questions that set the base, to me, of who they are,” Monica said. “[After that] we’ll dive into graphics and other details‚Äîinstead of making a cookie cutter design for them, I take into consideration everything that is who they are.”
While she loves creating stationary from scratch, she often takes the brides’ ideas as “stepping stones” in the process.
“I’m going to make it great. I’ll bring something to life,” Monica said. “If a bride brings in an element like a peacock feather, I’ll throw it out on all of the elements in the stationary so it looks really regal together. I knead it into different graphics rather than just show the feather throughout.”
Monica emphasizes that each of her designs have a concept, an idea beyond color—a skill she has gained from her schooling and past career.
“When you look at the stationery, you feel like you know that couple because it’s telling a story of them, versus seeing generic pink blossoms and thinking, ‚ÄòI don’t know anything about them,'” Monica said.
Yet her designs cater to a mid-level range, between the DIY bride and “silk boxes.”
“It’s a custom design made by a professional … I appreciate style and craftsmanship,” she explains. “I call it smart design.”
What’s most inspiring about Monica, however, is the passion with which she dives into each new project.
“Every new design is my favorite!” she laughs. “Since I do custom, I spend a good amount of time on it‚Äîat least a month for one.”
Her newest venture is branding. She’s been a freelance graphic designer and she loves the idea of working with a branded image and offering it to small and new businesses, just as does with a couple’s unique brand.
“I’m creating a whole new look and feel throughout each of their elements,” she said.
After checking out these amazing productions for ourselves, we’re sure you couldn’t call her fast enough.
