Personal Project: Birthday Invitation Process

WARNING: Very detailed!

I have decided to come up with my own little project to keep me occupied over the summer, and this time I aim to design a children's birthday invitation. After much thought I have created the following brief:

To design an invitation to celebrate a five year old boy's birthday, who wants to host a pirate-themed party.

With the brief done I can now start my researching process.

Moodboard
Even though I know the theme of the party I want to take a look at other children's invitations so that I could pick out some of the aspects they have e.g. what kind of wording they use, how the illustrations are set out etc.

http://theplaygroundph.tumblr.com/post/54599950750/ethans-mom-asked-me-to-design-a-safari-themed

“The Playground” designed this invitation, and what really caught my eye was the illustration. It’s simple, clean, without shading… Perfect for a child (as they wouldn’t really focus on anatomy and extreme detail). The way they drew the eyes makes the cartoons appear extremely cute because they are simple and remind me of the eyes on my old teddies I had when I was a child. This could also make the parent of the child reflect on the toys of their childhood because of the eyes and happy expressions.

It’s quite colourful as well which will attract the attention of the child invited. There is a lack of lines but because it’s all done by ‘block colours’ each shape is separated by a different shade.

The curved border of the box makes the invitation appear softer, therefore childproof because it doesn’t have any sharp edges. This makes the invitation appear friendlier as the recipient would then forget about the ‘real’ corners of the invitation as it takes the attention away from it.

I noticed that there is quite a lot of writing on this invitation which is quite unusual – as we can see from the mood board – so this could be because the invitation is actually directed to the parent, as they would decide whether their child is available to go or not. The parent could then read this out to the child as if some sort of bedtime story due to the rhyme.

The rhyme aside, the wording is fairly simple as it just says, “please join us as we celebrate… on (date)… at (place).” And then the person telling the guest that they look forward to seeing them.

Conclusion: There is a lot of emphasis on the illustration as it takes up a lot of room, and yet they’ve left enough space for the writing. I like how they used really simple shapes for each character.

Wording:
Come join us on a jungle safari,
who knows what you'll see?
Could it be a lion or a monkey on a tree?
A giraffe who stretches his neck out to see,
Or an elephant who waves his trunk with glee.

Please join us as we celebrate
Ethan's first birthday adventure
On June 29th... Etc...

(I'm now going to do the analysis with bullet points as it's easier for me to pick things out that way!)

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Vans-1st-Birthday-Invitation-Design/9416387

Illustration - fairly simple, only a few objects (the whale & anchors) and there's a repeated pattern to fill up the space
Colours - 5 - two shades of blue, green, white and red for the (1)
Simple forms for the illustrations
Reminds me of a fish & chip shop poster or advertisement
Type layout - a bit all over the place... Too complex for a child? Too "all over the place"?
Important information is highlighted in green
Two typefaces used but in different styles (italic and normal). Serifs - elegant - too elegant? Should probably use sans serif for that "childlike" appearance
The words in the banner - quite annoying - looks more like a title of a story - should probably put them all in uppercase or all in lowercase? However, similar to rest of invite

Wording:

He's cute, bubbly & so much fun. Our little squirt...

is turning one!

Please join us for Estevan's 1st birthday

(details)

Conclusion: At a glance this invitation was really eye-catching, yet when I started to analyse it I began to see all of the little things that could've been changed such as the choice of typefaces. However, I really like the illustrations and colours used!

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Wesleys-First-Birthday-Invitation/8513167

Typefaces - most likely hand lettering - perfect! Has that childlike appearance because of the variations in each letter, almost like a scribble - like a cartoon itself. Works well with the cartoon and contains aspect of it (such as the way they've done the lines around each letter)
All elements fit together perfectly as if they are all part of an illustration
Illustrations - very cute - simple forms and shading - different thickness in strokes. Love the sea monsters! Even the shark doesn't look too scary
Colours - block colours. All relates to the overall 'sea' theme
Layout - easy to follow, leads the eye down

Wording:

Sat. May 18th

Mr Wesley's first birthday party

(details)

Conclusion: Overall perfect, funny, and fairly cute (in a way) design! I really like the hand lettering in this as it is a part of the invitation design as a whole so that everything becomes a sort of illustration.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Minnie-Mouse-Birthday-Invitation/5835769

Colour scheme - pink and black. Very girly.
Illustration - I like how the writing is within the Minnie Mouse logo, and that this logo is diagonally across the invite to take up space and make it seem "full"
Type - quite close together, not too keen on how some of the leading is very small such as that on the RSVP line, and the TWO in TWOska is very close to Madison
Sans serif - friendly, childlike
Simple forms, not extremely decorative

Wording:

Meeska Moo

Miss Madison is turning TWOska!

Join us as we celebrate... etc...

Conclusion: Quite like the layout of the Minnie Mouse logo and the colours used - very girly! However the leading could've been adjusted slightly.

Overall Conclusion: Looking at all of these illustrations there is at least one thing in common; the illustrations are very simple. Most tend to be without lines and just made up of block colours to make it appear more friendly and cute, and I like the colours they've used.

In terms of wording most seem to go for the minimum, just stating who's party it is, where it is, and when as well as the RSVP.

Sketches
Taking inspiration from my mood board I came up with the following sketches, which all lead me to my final idea.

Designing Process
After finalising my idea I brought the sketch up onto Illustrator and started to draw it up using the pen tool. This took me around 5 hours to do and once done I had two versions; one where the wave layer is on top of everything, and one below.

When it's the top layer it gives the invitation a more realistic view because there is a slight transparency to it so that it looks as if the octopus is actually underwater, yet the colours are somewhat "dimmed" because of this.
The colours are a lot bolder in the first design, yes, but... It's not very realistic, and I know that if I submit this design online that it'll annoy me so much that I would go for the second one anyway. The main thing is that the octopus is one of the main focal points and because of it size - no matter if the colours aren't as bold - it will be.

So in the end I went with my second idea, and now that that's done I could focus on the wording (I added a little skull and crossbones to the ship's flag at the same time).

Figuring out the Type

I now need to think about which typeface I’m going to use; I know that I want it to look friendly and childish, therefore possibly going for a sans-serif font, but it also has to have that “pirate” feel to it.

I’m going to look for two typefaces; one for the heading, and one for the main body. But first I need to look at the fonts used on existing pirate-themed invitations to get some inspiration.

Image sources: http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/37989947/pirate-themed-birthday-party-invitation http://delightinvite.com/pirate-birthday-party-invitations-p-1613.html?zenid=8b1b3b10d5a1fbe77d06159283c5b68d http://www.behance.net/gallery/AHOI/9145117 http://www.beeyondpaper.com/pirate-invitations-pirate-treasure-paper-so-pretty/ http://www.behance.net/gallery/Wesleys-First-Birthday-Invitation/8513167 http://www.myexpression.com/prodDetail.cfm?ProductID=11716 http://www.zazzle.co.uk/pirate_birthday_party_invitations-161068948717279913 http://www.zazzle.co.uk/pirate_treasure_chest_party_birthday_invitation-161002830259394192 http://www.zazzle.co.uk/ahoy_mates_pirate_birthday_party_invitation-161041476764126063 http://www.zazzle.co.uk/pirate_ahoy_mates_birthday_party_invitation_boy-161713660775642421

As you can see from these invitations, they seem to use a somewhat cartoon style font and, surprisingly, there’s an equal amount of sans serif and serifs. With the serif fonts they are usually quite sharp and this reminds me of Pirates of the Carribean.

However I think I will still prefer to go with sans-serif because it’ll fit with my invitation design a lot more as it is cute and friendly.

What I’m going to do is first figure out what I’m going to write, and then search for the typefaces and immediately place them in my design to see if they work well with it.

The Wording

I need to figure out what to write as it is the most important part of the invitation. I researched into some pirate themed part ideas (therefore placing myself in the position of the parent) and came across a list of pirate slang!

• Ahoy, me Hearties! (just like saying - Hello, my friends)
• Thar she blows! (whale sighting)
• Heave Ho (give it some strength and muscle)
• Buccaneer (a Pirate)
• Bucko ("Me bucko" = my friend)
• Swab the deck (to clean the deck)
• Savvy? (did you understand me? and do you agree?)
• Blow me down! (expression of shock, disbelief, strong emotion, surprise)
• Shiver me timbers! (expression of shock, disbelief, strong emotion, surprise)
• Dead men tell no tales (expression indicating to leave no survivors)
• Sea-dog (an experienced sea-man)
• Avast! (Hey!)
• Aye (another way to say - "Yes!")
• Me (my)
• Me Hearties (a typical way for a Pirate to address his crew)
• Lookout (someone posted to keep watch on the horizon for signs of land or other ships)
• Shark bait (foes)
• Grog (generally, any alcoholic drink Pirate's drink)
• Grub (food)
• Cap'n (short for "Captain")
• Sail ho! (I see a ship!)
• Shipshape (well organized, finished, under control...)
• Booty (loot)
• Jolly Roger (a Pirate's flag - one with a white skull and crossbones over black)
• Yo-ho-ho (something Pirate's tend to say, whether it actually means anything or not)
• Booty (treasure)
• Fair winds! (goodbye, good luck!)

From http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/pirate-birthday-party.html#invitations

So I now have a handful of phrases I can use, let’s write out what’s to go on the invitation.

1) Ahoy, me Hearties!

Cap’n Jack is turning four! So set sails for Old Mans Cove, Carribean Island, CI2 5ES on Saturday 18^th August at 2pm.

Report to first mate Jenney at 76 39 26 02.

2) Ahoy, me Hearties!

Cap’n Jack be celebratin’ his 4^th birthday by searchin’ for the lost booty, an' he needs all hands on deck!

The ship set sails on Saturday 18^th August at 2pm at Old Mans Cove, Carribean Island, CI2 5ES. Come dressed in yer pirate best!

Report to first mate Jenney at 76 39 26 02. Savvy?

3) Ahoy, me Hearties!

Cap’n Jack be celebratin’ his 4^th birthday! Join us for grub, grog, and the hunt for the lost booty!

The ship set sails on Saturday 18^th August at 2pm at Old Mans Cove, Carribean Island, CI2 5ES. Come dressed in yer pirate best!

Report to first mate Jenney at 76 39 26 02. Savvy?

4) Ahoy, me Hearties!

Cap’n Jack be celebratin’ his 4^th birthday! Come on ye and join us for the hunt of the lost booty!

The ship set sails on Saturday 18^th August at 2pm at Old Mans Cove, Carribean Island, CI2 5ES. Come dressed in yer pirate best!

Report to first mate Jenney at 76 39 26 02. Savvy?

I have decided to go for version two as it’s straight to the point and displays the perfect amount of pirate slang.

Now I can put together the chosen fonts and wording:

Julie's Font

It's alright as the main heading, but the shading on the letters makes it far too difficult to read the main body of text.

Cartoon Relief

This font is similar to Julie’s Font in the sense that it has shadows, yet I find that it’s easier to read because they are thinner.

I found this font really eye catching but when I looked closer I realised the symbols weren’t registered, and the kerning between the numbers were far too big on the bottom line.

Chubby Cheeks

Chubby Cheeks is - like it's name - extremely cute, and it's rounded corners somehow reminds me of little bubbles when you're underwater.

Brady Bunch Remastered

The sharp edges surprisingly doesn’t make this design unfriendly, and this might be due to the roundness of some of the characters such as “a” and “o”. The sharp corners somehow brings up connotations of children’s pirate swords and – for some reason – the plank and pirate ships in general.

Conclusion:

Out of all of these fonts I think that Brady Bunch is probably the most suitable one, because although it has sharper edges than the other ones it has that perfect mixture of being cartoony and simple. I really do like Julie’s Font and Cartoon Relief because of the “shading” they had but I feel that they are too decorative for an already detailed illustration. Chubby Cheeks is a lot softer than Brady Bunch but it doesn’t really have that pirate feel, although the rounded edges somehow reminds me of the bubbles in water or the sea.

Looking back at all of the typefaces again I think I shall experiment a bit more with Brady Bunch by putting it together with a sans serif font because it’ll be boring to use the same font for the whole design.

Brady Bunch & Old Sans Black

I chose Old Sans Black because it looked really similar to Brady Bunch, and I am pleased to see that they do work well together! However I might try with other thinner typefaces because the thickness of both types might be too overpowering.

Brady Bunch & Myriad Pro

I normally used Minion and Myriad Pro for my designs, so I was interested to see what Myriad Pro looked like with Brady Bunch and… I think it might be too simple for an invitation, let alone a pirate one! There isn’t any “character” to Myriad Pro – which makes it ideal for websites – and hence lacking that childlike appearance.

Brady Bunch & Folks Bold

Old Sans Black has shown me that thick fonts work well with Brady Bunch, so out of curiosity I went for a thicker one called Folks Bold. It’s quite difficult to decide whether I prefer it to Old Sans so I shall place them side by side.

When I have them placed side by side I looked closer and saw that Folks Bold is wider than Old Sans and works slightly better with Brady Bunch. What’s good about Folks is that it comes with thinner and thicker alternatives.

Conclusion:
I therefore chose Folks as the second typeface because of the different variations it has.

The Final Design

I've now finished! I did the text and the box around it in InDesign and shifted it around.

Total duration: 2 days
Tools & Software Used: Pencil sketches, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign

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Friday, 19 July 2013

Personal Project: Birthday Invitation Process

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