Melissa Price

Happy Father's Day

My dad is currently undertaking a french language course & he loves the country France. So this is why I chose to do the text in french 'Happy Father's Day", in an joint & slightly italic font. Joint & italic writing to me resembles a french hand written piece so I thought that this font fitted perfectly with the cards theme. Whilst with the text being black & bold it also contains a masculine edge so therefore making it more appropriate. The center piece is a king of hearts playing card with my dad's head in black & white, juxtaposed replacing the cards original king's face. The use of the king of hearts card is quite cliched but still I think it works well, especially with the green card as the background as it resembles a poker's table.

To a Special Brother

I made this card for my older brother Lee, he's the one reading his comic book in his blue pajamas, & sitting next to him is me. I thought that taking an old photograph would create a more personal image. Plus being young makes it quite funny to think that we were quite cute really... I think this image is particularly cute because it shows a younger sister sitting very proud of her self as she is sitting on the same sofa as her older brother. However not only that, she's being allowed to sit right next to him! So she sits quietly with all her limbs kept close to her, taking up as little room as she can, & sits smiling to herself of her achievement of sitting next to her brother, who she loves very much.... Even though he's probably completely oblivious to her existence at that point, while he's fixated 'reading' his comic book. Love you Lee

Grandma's 80th

The card I made for my grandma’s 80th Birthday.

I love imagery that have any authentic inspired representation, & the water lily is often portrayed in a lot of Chinese & Japanese art & also in woodblock prints which I also am a big fan of. I thought not only for its pretty visual property that the water lily would make an ideal focal subject of the cards design, but also because of it’s meaning in other cultures. It represents life in general, as the flower grows up from the mud into an object of great beauty. People also grow & change into something more beautiful. So the symbol represents the struggle of life at its most basic form. Like the water lily my grandma has matured into something great of her own kind.

The writing is hand drawn in black ink. I wanted it to look feminine, elegant & playful at the same time. The letters are light in form & quite linear, they hold rather curvy & wave like structures to them, which are quite irregular when you compare the individual letters to one another. This makes them have a wild look about them. The floral & leafy serifs also give subtle likenesses to vines glowing into different forms & shapes that are therefore creating letters. I think this type is sweet, pretty & feminine & suits my grandma nicely.