Functional Postcards

Back in college, the fellowship I was in asked me to make a promotional postcard. Given that 95% of the flyers on campus involved some permutation of neon colors, glowing font, and fairy dust spirals (not to mention the ever ubiquitous, half-naked party girl giving a sultry look), I wanted to make something that was simple and functional. Simple so that the recipient would immediately know what we were about and functional so that the retention time would be as long as possible. I also wanted to create a unifying brand identity that the fellowship could rally under.

Challenges:

-Increase retention time: Most postcards get discarded after a few seconds. The only people who seem to keep them are those that were previously interested beforehand.
-Make something "different", i.e. functional

My first postcard was a desk toy pendulum.



Meant to stay on a desk (long retention time), I had hoped that it would appeal to people's desire to construct and "see how it would work". Not everyone cared (though many were pleasantly surprised and took extras) but at least more people took a look at the card (instead of shoving it directly into their bulging bags of free giveaways).

I only changed the color of the logo for the next year but faced the challenge of creating another simple and functional design that would fit on a postcard. 4-5 prototypes later, I had my windowsill/AC unit pinwheel.

  

Certainly an improvement from the cards I used to do in highschool/early years of college, but still a way's to go!


2 comments:

  1. Use images that are relevant to your message. Avoid making use of unnecessary images. Also, find a memorable photo so that your postcards will bring impact to anyone who receives it. post card printing

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  2. LOVED it. A logo challenge is always a great quiz challenge, early finisher station or team work challenge. Easily made and easily done - why not even let the pupils create their own for swapping to challenge their peers? A nice activity for ICT time!postcard printing

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