 For my first wedding (don't even ask how many years ago!) I had only a handful of things to consider when picking my invitations. This was at a time when we didn't have the Internet and had to use a local print shop. Paper stock, black ink or blue, embossed or not, and what font style were pretty much the only things to think about. Fancy meant putting a small stock image on your invitations. Back then, you would put in your order along with handwritten notes and sketches showing what you wanted, wait a month, and then hope like crazy that you got what you'd envisioned.
Today, this is far from the process. Thanks to all kinds of technology, choices on the Internet are abundant. In looking, I’ve found that the top trends in wedding invitations for Spring 2011 bring together multiple colors, bold graphics, and a theme for the wedding. Add Some Color Color seems to play the biggest part in the new look of wedding invitations. Whether bright colors or more subtle tones are being used, it’s the combination of colors that seems to be the most important. Invitations should act as a preview of the wedding, so choosing invitations that encompass at least two of the colors that have been selected for the wedding’s color palette is common. According to Lisa Barr, NY Fashion Bridal Examiner for Examiner.com, natural palettes and hot colors were the top trends for 2011 at this year’s National Stationery Show. Michelle Mospens, who annually follows wedding color trends has put together a great display showing the range of bright colors coming next Spring at “A Wedding Sketchbook.” Pop In a Graphic Graphic design is being strongly incorporated, be it through monograms, silhouettes, photographs, patterns or other meaningful images–right on the front of the invitation. Themes Are the Way to Go And for themes, vintage or retro designs are HUGE! One of the top ideas trending in wedding plans is a “Mad Men” inspired wedding. This trickles down to the invitations and an unbelievable array of designs. Reflective of the TV show, darker and more earthy colors (see Part 2 of Michelle Mospens display) are used along with bold and sleek designs and large but minimalistic copy. Think of slick magazine advertising from the ‘60s and you’ve got a perfect invitation that will evoke the feel of this theme. Show Who You Are Since society has become much more accepting of invitations that are brighter, more fun, and really represent the engaged couple, they are more readily available and the costs are less prohibitive. Whatever combination, today’s invitation should be fun and offer a glimpse into the spirit of the soon-to-be newlyweds.  In the early 1970s, The Six Million Dollar Man (based on Cyborg, a science fiction novel by Martin Caidin) first debuted on television. The show followed the life of astronaut Steve Austin who, having been severely injured in a crash, lost functionality in two limbs and one eye. The show’s opening credits said: “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.” With that, viewers got the first glimpse of a bionic man. While a far-fetched idea at the time, the state-of-the-art technology featured in the television program has come to be a reality, including the “bionic” eye, a new and quickly advancing frontier in bionic medical devices.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
To put the technicalities of a bionic eye into perspective, consider seeing something made of pixels (the small boxes used to make images on a computer monitor). The more pixels used in an image, the better the image definition. Early versions of the bionic eye used only four electrodes (representing a 2” x 2” pixel image), while current implants feature 60 electrodes. Scientists and engineers are working towards implants with 1000 electrodes, which they hope will allow facial recognition. Further down the road, scientists plans to introduce electrodes that will allow recipients to see color as well. Originally Published in Headline Discoveries |
