Personalising an item can sometimes seem easy - you pick your item and let us know what you want engraved. But when it comes to the actual engraving, you may find yourself a little lost. Is just a name enough? Will a message take up too much space? Personalising an item can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! Here’s a tip if you’re looking to engrave a name or a simple message without it looking too cluttered. At Bspoke Engraving, we call this “The Card Format”. 

What is “The Card Format”?

“The Card Format” is the layout in which we engrave your text. When writing a birthday card for example, we write who it’s to, what it’s for, and who it’s from. This is exactly how we suggest engraving an item – but with a few tweaks. Let’s say we’re engraving a lighter. Below is an example of text that would generically be used in a birthday card. Looks fine, right? But, just dropping a couple of words not only makes it read and look aesthetically better, but it also makes it more personal.

So, which words should you drop? We would advise, “To” and “from” as they’re unnecessary words that just take up space. Look at the image below without those words. Can you see how the lighter already looks cleaner and uncluttered? This format works for any occasion, whether it’s a birthday, valentine’s day, or even a retirement gift. When using this format, we tend to make the name slightly bigger than the rest of the text, making it more personal for the recipient as their name is more prominent. We also space out certain lines, we believe this makes the engraving flow better when reading.

Give it a try and let us know how it works out for you and your gift receiver! Bspoke Engraving takes pride in all the engraving that we do. Please don’t hesitate to contact us before buying if you’re unsure of what to engrave - we’ll be happy to assist and advise.