typeface Estilo by Dino dos Santos
So here we are, another year, another Christmas Card Challenge gallery. First of all I’d like to wish you and your loved ones a marvellous, happy new year in perfect health. I hope you’ll keep following this blog as well as The FontFeed. While Unzipped focuses mainly on the Netherlands and Belgium, The FontFeed could be considered its bigger – international – brother. And don’t hesitate to comment on both blogs and interact with them by any other means, because that makes it so much more fun. Talking about interaction, let’s take a look at the submissions to the Christmas Card Challenge so far.
Modelling by Sabine Martens | Bienemien · Cute & Funny in Three Dimensions
But before we do that I’d like to show you some cards I received, and the one we are sending. This year no ego-tripping for me, but a creation of my lovely – and talented – wife Sabine. She started working in April 2007 for local company Deltareference which amongst others imports the “magical modelling material” Doudah (called Jumping Clay in its native South-Korea). It’s a pretty amazing material, far better than any other modelling clay I ever put my hands on (no, this is no promo talk ;). The things Sabine creates with it are brilliant, both cute and funny, with an impressive level of detail. I might post a little gallery in the future. The star of our 2009 new year’s card is SupaRudolf coming to the rescue of a jolly gang of Santa Clauses, penguins, rabbits, and an acrobatic mouse.
Only four more miles (Anza Borrego desert in California)
Besides the traditional cards FontShop BeNeLux received a great picture by Volker Rosenfelder, FontShop International’s font technician & database engineer, and office patriarch. Font’s Point? That’s where you want to be! ;)
Let’s fight together against the sword of Damokles.
Verena Gerlach showcases her most recent creation, FontFont’s FF Chambers, and starts the new year with a reorganised website. I love the navigation integrated in the nameplate; a simplified take on Warp Records’ orgasmalicious website by hypermodernist design legends The Designers Republic.
keeps it simple with a typical seasonal image and some delicate unicase serif face which I failed to identify – unless there is a variation of Aquamarine that I am unaware of.
What else could we expect from Argentinan script master Alejandro Paul but a gorgeous script? As usual it is full of beautiful little details and OpenType contextual trickery.
So here it is, the gallery with all the submissions so far. I will add new entries as soon as I receive them.
Artistiek Bureau Vrije Ruimte | Mariakerke | BE
This project by Vrije Ruimte wasn’t an actual entry but also an e-mail “card” I received personally. Yet I like the idea and find the accompanying video quite amusing, so I thought I might as well enter it for them. I hope they don’t mind.
Janno Hahn for Opleiding Ontwikkeling Metaalbewerking | Amsterdam | NL
Janno Hahn invariably sends me good stuff, whether it’s work in association with René Knip or one of his own projects. This is a purely typographic card he designed for Opleiding Ontwikkeling Metaalbewerking (O O M); a project commissioned by Team Hilgersom art director Arjan Hilgersom. The card was silk screened in a single colour on 1mm grey cardboard. It supplies O O M business (and other) relations a kit for a prosperous 2009. The design uses Janno’s own letters.
(The Man from) Gotcha! | Gistel | BE
(The Man from) Gotcha! tributes Shaft. “Do Your Thing” is the end song on Isaac Hayes’ motion picture soundtrack for blaxploitation movie Shaft. It could/should be the persona anthem of every creative person, specifically for its lyrics. The song had been waiting in a drawer since a couple of years for an opportunity to use it on a new year’s card, but Isaac Hayes’ death last August made this – regrettably – the appropriate occasion to remember him and other artists who passed away last year.
The original idea was to print the new year’s card as a blaxploitation movie poster, but the recent financial woes of the banks ;) caused it to end up a “mere” A5 flyer. Back covers of inspiration sixties/seventies albums were used as a reference for the look & feel of the design: black-and-white approach, slightly grainy, with adapted typography – Compacta and Univers. The design was kept subdued on purpose as Kristof certainly didn’t want the card to veer towards pastiche.
The new year’s card for account agency An Brysse “Jump” is a lot more upbeat and also more colourful. The whole concept revolves around “the jump towards 2009”, hence the pictures of bathing beauties and senior polar bears, and red plastic envelopes which strongly refer to Baywatch “uniforms” and swimming arm bands...
Clotilde Olyff | BE
This card by Clotilde Olyff is brilliant in its simplicity. Discover it, and marvel at its inventiveness.
Philip Stroomberg Grafisch Ontwerp | Amsterdam, NL
Philip Stroomberg sent us a sock to keep our savings in – a funny reference to the current credit crunch. The back of the label wishes “a special and fortunate 2009”, guaranteeing the sock is “100% save” (sic), with a “fixed interest rate” (“rentevoet” in Dutch, which is a word play with “foot”), and urges not to whitewash (“witwassen” in Dutch; a reference to money laundring). Philip was the only one to make a witty connection to current events. The friendly script is Underware’s OpenType-savvy ; the back features FF DIN as well.
Postcard of A Painting | Hasselt, B
The New Year’s card from Debora Lauwers & Daan Linsen actually are a set of four cards. Their design bureau is called Postcard of A Painting, so it seemed a fun idea to compose a small package of postcards. They are held together by a yellow wrapper featuring the wishes. The concept for the cards are sayings which are applicable for the graphic industry. Debora and Daan used a smattering of different fonts, including Diamante, , Neue Helvetica, , , , and Monotype Script Bold.
Le Poisson Illustré | Hasselt, B
Illustrator Dion Boodts sent us a gorgeous, strangely poetic illustration.
Strass Interactive | Temse, B
Strass Interactive go disco with a whacky animation reimagining the nativity story.
Beng | Amsterdam, NL
Beng designed their digital card with beautifully layered, colourful techno type, most probably a custom designed alphabet, with Basic Commercial at the top.
Staal & Duiker Ontwerpers | Haren, NL
The theme of the sixteenth edition of the Staal & Duiker Agenda 2009 is Do It Yourself. True to that spirit the design agency only sent out the 09KIT consisting of a hardcover and binding rings. The content pages can be downloaded from their website and printed on 54 A4 pages by the recipient, who then needs to assemble the agenda him/herself. An instructional video shows how it’s done. A “light” softcover edition is also available for those who didn’t receive the cover set. Monotype Script Bold on the cover is combined with and ’s Capitolium on the inside pages.
Wim Vandamme | Kortrijk, B
Wim Vandamme designed a New Year’s card using the two colours of the L(ange afstands) F(ietsroutes) (Long distance Bicycle routes). The bike on the card is his own Daws trekking bicycle.
Stéphane de Schrevel | Gent, B
More of the same, but different: six different numbered post cards printed in letterpress, for which a grand total of 2.879 lead letters were set by hand.
Stéphane sent nuanced New Year’s wishes to exactly 96 addressees. The concept of nuance is mirrored in the use of “regular” and “bold” characters. Those were arranged in such a way that a halftone screen effect appeared. When laying out the cards in the correct configuration a big 9 appears (provided that you’ve got all the cards). But that’s a detail of course.
Stéphane wishes to thank Jos Pastijn for supporting this project.
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I have updated the gallery with a bunch of new entries. You have till Saturday to submit your cards.
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After careful evaluation and long deliberation we have decided to award this year's Christmas Card Challenge to Staal & Duiker for their 'Do It Yourself' agenda. It's a great concept, very well designed using a nice selection of typefaces, and on top of that it is a novel answer to environmental and economic concerns. Congratulations!
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