I have recently submitted a YCN competition brief for UK Greetings. The requirements were to produce two greetings cards, a boxed notecard set, a gift bag, gift wrap and a notebook cover.
When researching existing card companies, I found two problems that I wanted to approach. Firstly, there was pretty much no market for cards from children; parents often feel obligated to buy cards on behalf of their children but then the children have nothing to do with the selection and sometimes are too young to even write in the card. Secondly, I found that people often don’t know what to do with cards they have received once their birthday or Christmas has passed.
I came up with a range of cards that allow young children to personalise them with their fingerprints and turn the card into a piece of artwork that the recipient could then frame and keep.
I named my collection inky pinkies which I think suits the target audience and I made a logo out of my fingerprints.
I decided to design one card for Mother's Day and one for Christmas because I think these are occasions that children are most likely to send cards. You would purchase the card blank and then at home, personalise it with fingerprints. Potentially the card could come with an ink pad but I haven’t investigated that yet. I completed the illustrations by hand and then traced them in illustrator.
For my notecard set, I decided to make thank you notes that children could send to family and friends after parties or birthdays. They feature less intricate designs again would be purchased blank and then personalised at home. I’ve also designed a box for the cards and you can see how any of these designs could be kept and framed.
For my gift bags and gift wrap, I used the designs from the notecards as they worked better on a small scale. These could be sold like the cards and then personalised at home but that could be quite time-consuming for a young child so I’ve used the already filled in design.
I also have applied these designs to the notebook covers which could also be blank - I think it depends on the age of the person it is being bought for.
I am pleased with my outcome for this project. I think It is a unique idea and it is more experimental and adventurous than my previous work.