The accordian-fold reindeer card was created in 1995. Jim Borgman had been designing Merten's cards in years prior, and I really felt the pressure. Knowing I couldn't compete in execution, I went for a funny concept, and pulled it off as best I could. The words "Happy Holidays" were authentically created by carving potatoes and printing them on paper before scanning them. I had fun exploring every possible way of messing up a potato print and drawing the reindeer to correspond to each letterform. Note the nod to David Carson, who's fame was cresting at that time.
Two years later, I designed the elf card below, and wisely decided to go bolder with the color.
The elf was originally named Skippy the elf (after president, Skip Merten) to the apparent delight of the pressmen and production staff.
Skip had me change it to "Pixel" anyway. :-D
These were a lot of fun and I'm posting them as a tribute to Skip, who continually gives and gives and gives to this city and has taught me more about printing than any teacher or mentor ever could.
Cheers!
