Project: Christmas Coupon Booklet
Role: Visual Designer
Timeline: December ‘20
2020 was a strange year. We witnessed global disaster, experienced huge changes to our ways of life and for many of us, our outlooks changed drastically. Like many, I experienced personal tragedy, but also gained huge perspective. I bought less, but grew more (personality and vegetables), connected less frequently, but more deeply. Overall, it was several months of challenge and change.
For Christmas in 2020 I wanted to lean more into that with homemade gifts. I’m terrible at crafts, cannot draw to save my life and I don’t think mixtapes are a thing anymore. But I do love art, and activities, so a coupon booklet felt like something really fun to put time into.
Getting started
I set myself the task of designing one coupon each day of December, up until the print date (20th). I spent the first day creating the list, and each subsequent morning I’d wake up early, pick one and get started.
On weekdays I’d be time boxed to the hour or two before work. Weekends I’d take as much time as I needed (it’s definitely possible to pick out the weekend ones!).
The challenge
I’m not a visual designer, nor an illustrator. I can make things look presentable but when it comes to imagination and originality of thought, my experience can be limited. I’ve also never really tackled something purely graphic-based before.
To overcome this, I took a very iterative approach to each coupon. I’d start by collecting inspiration from various sources, then write the copy for the card (in my view, the visuals had to complement the wording, not the other way around), and finally, I’d set out a very barebones template and work from there
What I found was genuinely delightful, that:
It didn’t matter how basic it started off or how sparse my inspiration was, if I kept iterating I’d get to where I needed to be eventually.
When I had more time, trusting my gut on where to stop and what was enough proved more than good enough.
It must sound like I’m teaching a visual designing fish how to swim but I found the process really rewarding. You can see what I mean below.
The evolution of my day 10 coupon
Final result
On December 20th I had the full collection and front/rear cover printed on card, using PVA glue to create a tear-out coupon booklet. You can see the final designs below!
Retrospective
Overall this was the most happily received gift I’ve ever given. *cue warm fuzzy feelings all round* I also had an incredibly fun and fulfilling time making them, and my design skills improved in the process! I’ll definitely be creating more gifts in the future.