Christmas Card dilemma!

Owenjones

Member
Hello people,

I'm sure I'm not alone here in having a last minute rush job to design a Christmas card for the design agency I work for to send out to clients!

I've got today (Friday) to do it (it's so busy here I think they've decided to send it out as an html email rather than printed piece!) and am a bit stuck in an overused rut. Our company logo is the number 2, made up of a series of circles - check out mutual ideas+enter to see it.

The main idea I've had is to replace the circles with Christmassy/related items (ie. snowflakes, hanging baubles etc) and make the '2' up with them, although I'm pretty sure we've done things like this before! I was thinking perhaps pieces of coal on the front of a snowman (see attached rough visual) could be a possibility. Alternatively making a snowflake up of small circles, in the style of our logo. Might be a tad dull though and not that creative.

Another semi idea I've had is to use a phrase along the lines of 'get creative this Christmas' or something, and use a witty 'top tip' in illustrated form but my mind draws a blank - probably because I know there's not a lot of time available.

Anyone any thoughts?

Thanks all!
 

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Maybe have 10 snowmen or however many it takes to create the number two?

This wont help you I dont think, But its creative! (attached)
 

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Cheers Br3n, that's a wicked attachment!! Very clever.

There are 12 circles in our logo, so 12 of anything (christmas trees, presents, stockings etc) could be possible - I'm just concerned it'll be a bit dull!
 
Maybe go for something completely different then - most people will get a stack of xmas cards through the door and they'll all be typical xmas/angles/trees/snowmen.

Maybe something which makes them think of the number 2 but doesnt actually say it, perhaps something thats completely non related to christmas, until they open it? Its essentially something you'll get no feedback from, if they dont understand the message you wont have lost anything, it'll go on the pile of cards from everyone else. If however you make them think "heh, thats clever" you've done better than 99.9% of xmas cards and chances are you'll make them think of the company in a good light.
 
Hi Owen,

I know you wanted to avoid the obvious things, but, how about 2 Santas?! If you had time you could have had an illustration with both Santas arriving on a roof, then looking across at each other perplexed... this would give the suggestion they have shared a mutual idea, and links well to the number 2 of your logo!?

Good luck!
Greg
 
Greg said:
I know you wanted to avoid the obvious things, but, how about 2 Santas?! If you had time you could have had an illustration with both Santas arriving on a roof, then looking across at each other perplexed... this would give the suggestion they have shared a mutual idea, and links well to the number 2 of your logo!?

Greg - very clever and helpful thanks - I like it! Not sure if I have time to do the illustration but will suggest the idea.
 
No problems Owen, I wasn't sure whether to suggest or not given your tight deadline on this one! Still trying to think of other ideas or a simpler alternative to that one...
 
Actually, there's lots of ideas that could spring from that. Like two snowmen wearing the same scarf, or worse, snow-women in the same party dress! Or just two people giving each other the same present. Now to try and work it into something I can illustrate or retouch in a matter of a couple of hours!!
 
Yes that's true, could be some funny options from that.
Other than that just thought you could have a very simple design with nice typography, and 12 creative ideas for Christmas, go round the office and get the best ideas in, could end up being quite funny :D
Good luck and let us know how you get on, whichever way you take it, Greg
 
...I'm liking this - on a bit of a roll! Maybe a Christmas tree with loads of presents of the same size, and distinctive shape (maybe footballs - any other ideas?), wrapped exactly the same?
 
Hmm. The boss doesn't like the ideas I've submitted...... how annoying. Wants me to have the members of our team as 'festive pixel people' with a typographic 'stamp'. Shame! I'd got quite into the idea...
 
I'm liking this forum as a resource for creative brainstorming... you mentioned the 12 dots which make up the logo and I instantly thought of the 12 days of Xmas, so whether you could play on that?

I do like Greg's idea for the 2 Father Xmas's on a roof looking perplexed at each other.... make the 2 out of stars in the night sky with a speech bubble about one with a question mark in it as in 'consider 2 for creative ideas over the Xmas period?'
 
Hello, just thought I'd find a minute in utter chaos to thank y'all for your help and suggestions.

Nik, yeah I'd thought of something to do with 12 Days of Christmas, but decided I didn't have time to do it justice - maybe next Christmas?! ;)

As it happens, the final decision was to make an ecard, based on Christmas themed Pantone swatches. Not the most original idea but the boss was kept happy. We then noticed a very similar idea on a poster, posted on FormFiftyFive about 2 days later... Annoying. Ah well, it was quite fun coming up with colour 'names' including Blue Christmas, Granny's Cheeks and Queen's Peach!
 
Thanks for the updates Owen, good to hear you got a concept completed in time and kept the boss happy! :) hope all is good with you!
 
Hello people. Long time no post. Just thought I'd rewind a year to my Christmas Card Dilemma and show my solution for this year!

Nik suggested a brilliant idea which I'd been thinking around last year and really wanted to do but didn't have the time. It involved using the 12 dots of the Mutual Ideas logo to illustrate the 12 days of Christmas, and I've found time to make an early start on it for the 2009 card. Here's my illo's, let me know what you reckon!

Ps. The final layout and design isn't yet finalised, and I probably won't be allowed to post that, but there will be some form of floral swirl pattern going on weaving around the illustrations.
 

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