It’s important to get your envelope opened, but spending too much money on it can be self-defeating. Finding a balance requires testing ideas, new and old.

By Abny Santicola

“I always tell people to feel their paper samples, as silly as it sounds,” Kinch says. “When you’re holding a piece of mail, it has texture; there’s reality to it. A lot of times we’re just thinking about the words on the page or the design … We’re not always thinking about how it’s actually going to feel.”