This is a very particular project, designing a family card is as personal as it gets. It may be tiny in scale (literally) but it is almost emblematic in its own way so it needs an appropriately careful execution. A personal card as such must reflect the aesthetic and style of the family but it should also be discreet. This is not a brand and it should not be a brand, there is a fine line between designing something that is distinctive or pretentious.

By its nature this was a collaborative process between Eva, Pieros and us, that is the only appropriate approach if the result is to be something other than a very generic card. We started by looking a variety of similar cards that were either completely irrelevant with the respected family or quite pompous.

That was useful because we now knew what to avoid, so we started from scratch, exploring some almost random ideas until through many iterations we arrived at the following design (with a substantial input by Pieros, himself an architect). It is discreet but has a hint of a playful twist.

The design may be quite simple but it heavily relied on the execution, if the paper quality, or the alignment between the embossed and printed characters is not correct, this could have been unpresentable.

Thankfully, we contacted Patronis papers. They were extremely helpful; we were able to choose the paper amongst a vast variety of options and also discuss the printing options for this specific application.

We were incredibly happy with the result, as you can see on the photos the tactual feel of the final object is far better than the digital preview.

The font we used is Palatino Linotype for the internal card with some elements modified and custom monogram with Palatino Linotype elements.