Sometimes It’s Not About the Words

Okay, this will be a shock, since I’m all about words and their value and importance.

But, sometimes? Images matter more.

At my day job, my boss said she wanted something different for the company Holiday cards this year, and mentioned a flyer-style card she got last year that had pictures of employees, and how much she loved the idea of a personal touch.

So, I brought in my camera and booted up my Adobe InDesign, and this is what I came up with.

First, I dragged all my coworkers outside into 25-degree weather (thank heaven it was sunny–you can imagine how popular I was that day), to take a picture around the sign. This became the front of the card.

Then, I wandered around the office with my camera, snapping pictures of the various departments. I collected signatures from everyone and scanned them onto the computer. I picked a festive background and…

As you open the card, you see the holiday message and logo, and signatures from all of us, but when you open it further, you see all the candid photos. (Yes, I thought about mixing them all together but it looked too messy.)

Very few words. But still, pretty effective.

As powerful as Words are, there are times when Design is even more important.

Not to mention more fun.

Because, did I have fun putting this together? Oh my, yes. I love doing this kind of thing. I even propped up my camera and took my own picture with my infrared remote–because I solemnly promised my camera-shy co-workers that, since I was taking their pictures, that I would be on the card, too!

Because, that’s the other lesson–being creative is FUN.

What do you think? How’d I do?

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