KOKO TOYAMA

When I first set out to design these Christmas cards, I knew I wanted to create something that went beyond a typical Christmas greeting. In a sea of very merry and bright red and green, I wanted the messaging to be an encouragement for however you find yourself during the holidays. Drawing from the passages in Isaiah 9 and Luke 2, I knew that I wanted the lettering to incorporate overlapping flourishes that emerged from the background. I chose to use a mono-line type style combined with flourishes to give a contemporary but timeless feel—fitting for an age-old message still relevant for today. While my original thought was to feature the lettering on its own, the client's concern was that it looked like a nice card but not a Christmas card. I worked in the illustrations at the bottom which gave it a sense place and corresponded nicely to the setting of the passage. Midway through the process I was able to create an option in Spanish. I was pleasantly surprised by how some of the same flourishes seemed to take on a new form when incorporated with the Spanish text.