Holidays as a Designer
by Donovan Beery, (10 comments)
Don’t ask me what I want for a gift, I probably saw it and bought it already on an impulse. I don’t do the best with actually waiting for stuff like that. Everything I end up putting on my list will probably make you laugh anyway, or make you think I was still ten years old.
Every year I picked out holiday cards got tougher. Yes, it does bother me greatly when I see certain typefaces used on the inside of the card. I eventually started making my own cards because it was actually easier on my stress level than fretting over having to send that card I settled for to people I know.
I don’t mind getting the typical newsletter from friends and family, but reminding me that people out there actually use Publisher is not good.
Shopping for ornaments and gift wrap with me is probably the worst though. How can someone who is an impulse shopper be so picky? And about such trivial things? Does anyone really notice that stuff? I can’t help it, spending hours trying to move a gif over two pixels on a website will do that to a person.
At least I still enjoy looking at the overdone lights and commenting on those that have badly designed color schemes.
Comments (10)
tkd said:
I can relate to the part about cards. I hate hate hate buying cards. Funny cards, not as much, but I can never find anything I like. A lot of them look great, but just don’t work for me. The copy…the rhyming…eh.
So I’ve ended up making cards for my wife and kids for every holiday as long as I can remember. Other people too occassionally. I’d make them for everyone, but I’d end up spending most of my time making cards during the year, I think.
Posted on December 1, 2006
DC1974 said:
The problem with cards is the nice ones are really, really expensive. There are these beautiful cut paper holiday cards (that open like a pop up book) from MOMA that I may indulge on for a few people. But in the end, it’s probably better just to make your own.
The high cost of living in DC (and the relatively low pay) means that I rarely buy what I want when I see it — but I see stuff all over the place and so my gift list becomes like a bad scavenger hunt. I tried to minimize that problem this year by including a list of like 25-30 books that I want, but my family doesn’t seem to like to give books. So I try to include nice clothes on the list, so my family (who thinks I dress like a bum) can feel like they are positively contributing in some way to my outward appearance.
Sure, a lot of that will be exchanged — but that’s the kabuki dance of gift giving.
Posted on December 1, 2006
Joe Moran said:
I use the funny papers to wrap presents. Its been a personal tradition for the last 10 years or so. Poeple kind of laughed at first, but now people know the gift is from me right away. And I’m amazed how people actually take care to not rip the funnies. And then they read them, too. Makes for some good conversations.
VR/
Posted on December 1, 2006
Mike Miller said:
My parents always wrapped the presents for my brother and I in the funny pages (we grew up in Blue-collar Buffalo, NY). I think at one point when I was little I actually thought they sold it on a roll like the rest of the wrapping paper…
Those were the days…. curse you horribly easy and practical (yet soulless) gift bags and tissue paper…
Posted on December 1, 2006
Bill Kerr said:
Yeah, I got sick of trying to find good xmas cards… so this year I am letterpressing my own. Plus, DIY always feels warm and fuzzy.
Posted on December 1, 2006
derekb said:
I’m going to send this post to my whole family, this is exactly how I feel each year again! Except for the wrapping issue, since I always forget to buy it and I end up either newspapers or magazine spreads. Or alumium foil (if I’m in a festive mood).
Posted on December 2, 2006
manofsuede said:
when my brother and I were kids, my parents always wrapped all our presents in the comic strips from the newspaper. for some reason as a kid it made me mad that they wouldn’t go out and buy paper. I thought they were being cheap, so I got smart and grabbed the comics from every paper from then on and hid them! what a brat I was…
Posted on December 4, 2006
diane witman said:
I hand lettered my own holiday cards this year. It just came about while sketching and so it turned into hand lettering each and every card. It was fun but I don’t know if I’ll do it again.
Posted on December 13, 2006
sldesigns said:
Too funny…my family thinks I’m nuts. Top of my Christmas list: vintage light-up plastic holiday decorations. Seriously. Wrapping paper is a challenge and probably only important to the wrapper not the unwrapee. Bring on the gaudy lights and let’s snicker at the poor sods who think one color - inevitably white - is elegant. Almost as bad as University on a card. {shiver}
Posted on December 14, 2006
dave nelson said:
the best cards i can find, and i actually get excited about buying are at truck stops.
i just loaded up on some cards of a painting with a horse running through the field with a lion’s head faintly in the sky with glitter on the lion’s mane.
Posted on December 15, 2006