2007 Winter holiday/new year cards
2007 winter holiday/new year cards
Size: 4.25" x 5.5", after folding
Category: greeting card, personal design, print design
I decided in 2007 to design my own holiday cards to send to my friends around the world. Having just returned in August 2007 from working in Japan for two years, I wanted to send several dozen cards to friends and former coworkers in Japan in accordance with the culture and just as a friendly gesture, as well as cards to friends back home, to reconnect and say hello. It ended up being far more personal--and cost-effective--to design my own.
The front cover was supposed to reflect elements of the Japanese and Indian aesthetic/visual influence, both of which have influenced my own personal style. The color red is auspicious in India (the country of my heritage) and Japan, as well as relevant to the western winter holidays. The lines of non-English text are the cultural equivalents of "Happy New Year" in Tamil and Japanese, as that is the dominant December/January holiday in India and Japan. Both the shade of red and the cherry blossom (a symbol of spring) are there to convey warmth.
The inside is mostly blank, with a paisley pattern to reference Indian culture, and a simple message, to give me plenty of room to write personalized messages.
The idea to design these only occurred to me fairly late, in mid-October, so I had these printed at my local OfficeMax, and they did a decent job for my purposes.