Idea 2 - Good Luck Pushing Card

Initially I started to come up with some ideas and images that I already had in mind for the card.

there wasn't a lot out there already, in fact i couldn't find a single good luck pushing card! Just

congratulations after the birth cards.

I have a lot of primary research for this having had a baby already myself!

I started with some ideas involving the dream v reality. Screaming babies etc.

I then went for some more radical ideas, a good luck card, with a pop up feature inside, legs and a

baby head! Bit vulgar, but quite funny to the amusement of some of my friends.

I went down the caesarean idea and started to mind map some ideas for it. It would be easier to

give a card to someone who has a planned C section as you know when they are going into hospital.

I thought of some radical, but rude ideas for this...maybe a bit too much I wasn't sure.

It then occurred to me that the time you send a card before the birth would be for the baby shower.

I searched online and it was hard to find anything. It's an American idea that it slowly becoming

more popular over here, I have one to attend soon and I can't find a card! I started to mindmap

baby showers

It was then that I thought I could perhaps use my doodling for the card. Using a tree perhaps?

Shape of a pram/baby foot?

I decided to go for the baby shower card. Looking at the other ideas, although funny, the first ideas

may not be to everyone's taste although they would have been quite fun to do. Because I am quite

into doodling at the moment, I decided I wanted to show how well I could do it for this card as this

would be quite a challenge for me and very time consuming but I wanted to really push myself.

I decided to use the foot shape as a template to fill my doodle. I wasn't sure how it would turn out

but I was pleased with my initial draft. I drafted a pencil drawing of the foot, moving bits about till I

was happy.

I then scanned it in and used it as a template, and re-created it with the pen tool in illustrator using a

thin pencil stroke. I started to fill in with colours. I decided to use some natural colours, using a

blue and purple that complimented each other. This is where the colour guide in illustrator is a

fantastic tool as it suggests complimentary colours, tints and shades.

Once I had finished I started to think about where I could add writing. Perhaps down the side, in the

toes? I also sketched some ideas for the inside of the card.

I found a font that matched the pencil drawing of the line I used with the pen tool and played

around with footsteps and also added more detail to the inside of the foot as it didn't look quite

complete to me.

I reflected on the design and decided to exclude the footsteps as they didn't add anything. I had also

hand drawn the letters for BABY so I changed this to the same font. It was called felt tip, and I

completed the card on the inside with the image of the baby face duplicated.

I was very pleased with the overall outcome. I spent a lot of time arranging and changing it as I

worked so only small adjustments were needed at the end.

My rationale for this design was to create a card surrounding the subject of pushing during birth.

This rationale changed as I went through the design process when I realised that I didn't think it

would quite work, and that perhaps a baby shower card would be more suitable. My rationale for a

baby shower card would be to create something pretty, unique with a natural look and feel. I think I

have done this well and am pleased with the final design.