Hallmark brief

The aim of this brief: to create a concept card range or signature idea which showcases our illustrative/mixed media capabilities and skill sets.
Required: interpretation of the greetings card market, use of colour and composition, use of materials and processes and diversity (showing how the range could be used on different products, i.e. wrapping paper, bags, stationary etc.

Surprisingly, i found the research side of this brief more difficult than other projects. In retrospect, this is probably because i came up with my idea before i did too much research and so this didn't inform my design process as much as it should have.
Despite the research hiccup, i found some trending patterns, colours and concepts which enhance my idea and overall i am happy with the outcome.

I developed this character which i plan to use on a range of cards in the same pose but with different objects depending on the occasion (birthdays, christmas etc). I was inspired alot by Jon Klassen's style of illustration and by lots of illustrated greetings cards i found on Pinterest.

I decided to use brown paper because another feature of my card range would be it's recycled nature and eco-friendly connotations. This in itself is another trend.

I also plan to create a wrapping paper sample based on this concept. watch this space!