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Pecha Kucha: Can Greeting Cards Inform Exhibits?
- 1. Thinking About Greeting Cards....
- 2. And Pushing the Envelope
- 3. What’s inside the envelope
- 4. A little history (very little)
- 11. Topics of Local and Global Interest
- 12. Social & Cultural Concern
- 13. Words of Health
- 14. Special Effects
- 15. Universal Design Raawwr!
- 16. Maker Cards
- 17. A Card for Everyone
- 18. Really, Everyone
- 20. As we push the envelope...
Notas do Editor
- I have always loved greeting cards. I am one of those people that stand at card racks, laughing to myself or accosting a stranger standing next to me to show them the one really great card. I have a collection of cards for all occasions - some I give out, others I can ’ t bear to part with.
- I then I started to think about the theme for NEMA. Pushing the envelope - Greeting cards have envelopes. How are new ideas tied to envelopes? I am more of a lumper than a splitter - so I begin to think that surely there was a connection here.
- So then I start to think - what do I really know about greeting cards - I realized, for example - I didn ’ t know who invented greeting cards - Or when the first greeting cards came about. So I started to look into it - Not surprisingly, greetings cards go back to Ancient Egypt
- The first real evidence of personalized cards as we know them takes us back to the time of the Egyptians. They used papyrus, to write personal messages to others during New Year celebrations. Not so different from today, this time of year marked new life cycles in nature and they exchanged these written messages along with presents to celebrate. This is probably when guilt and re-gifting came along as well.
- And, of course Ancient China The derivation of cards in Chinese culture can be tracked back to an ancient Chinese legend when they were sent in goodwill to ward off a wild beast called "Nian" ("year"), who is thought to have attacked and killed villagers at the end of each year. Cards were distributed at the beginning of each New Year as a way of wishing good luck to the villager's in the year to follow. It is this old folktale, and the mythological monster, that bought about the Chinese New Year’s traditions that are now in place.
- Some local history Esther Howland, a young woman from Massachusetts, was the first regular publisher of valentines in the United States. She sold her first handmade valentine in 1849, eventually establishing a successful publishing firm specializing in the elaborately decorated cards. By the 1850s, the greeting card had been transformed from a relatively expensive, handmade and hand-delivered gift to a popular and affordable means of personal communication, due largely to advances in printing and mechanization, as well as the 1840 introduction of the postage stamp. It is estimated that 1 billion cards are exchanged each year.
- I started to think that greeting cards might just be the original traveling exhibit. You could imagine that greeting cards are like a nugget of an exhibit idea- they have a tiny little space to get some words and design in that will get their message across and grab people. And they certainly travel.
- And really, envelopes are not that different from packing crates. They serve the same purpose. They protect the contents - and have important information for travel - And often end up in the wrong place.
- So with that thought I started to wonder - in thinking about exhibits and pushing the envelope is there something I could learn from greeting cards. Perhaps all that time in the CVS card aisle might not be for naught.
- My first thought is that greeting cards have no barriers - They are accessible - easy to get. They have a broad range of topics - making connections to all kinds of people.
- In thinking about substance- We of course expect cards for birthdays and holidays but then I noticed that greeting cards provide useful points to ponder from the global to the personal - I found, for example, this information about cats new and potentially useful.
- Greeting cards are nimble - they can capture the current topics that people are confronting in their lives - acknowledging the emotional roller coaster of purchasing an iphone or offering a gentle nudge to those less savvy in the use of social media.
- Health is, of course a huge industry - we cannot be reminded in too many ways from too many directions that there is always more to be done - and its worthy to acknowledge those food related events that are death-free.
- On another note, I began to realize that greeting cards also have special effects - the vintage cards below demonstrated what was at the time a new color technology - when you hold the seemingly black and white card up to the light the color appears. Optical illusions, 3-d.
- And while it might seem that greeting cards are a largely visual experience - universal design also appears quite regularly in the greeting card industry - hint - don ’ t open too many sound file cards too quickly in a public setting.
- The maker movement has always been part of the greeting card history. One of the many gifts my mother left me was the cards she made bringing together her passion for botany and nature with her love of photography.
- Greeting cards recognize the diversity of our population. I was not really surprised to find cards for new citizens, gay marriage, even birthday cards for ex-wives. But I started to wonder - is there really a card for all people on all occasions?
- I started to look - how about for a gall bladder operation - yup - What about 2nd cousin birthday? check - For a podiatrist? Check - that all important 1st grade graduation? check Seemingly no one is left out of the greeting cared industry.
- I thought I would throw in a few of the cards I particularly liked as I was going through this activity - As you already can see I tend toward humor. I like an image that says it all - as in the royal highness - or an unexpected juxtaposition of pictures of words - And a good friendship card is always worthy.
- So as we push the envelope, with all the many voices from inside the envelope - I send you my best wishes for an upcoming happy new year, free from mythological monsters, with the hope that none of your airport security interactions result in incarceration and that all your children successfully graduate from first grade.