Normal e-cards really frustrate me and with Flash tending to be the tool of choice they are often very souless. I was keen to get the 'human' element in the video from offset, so I was looking film something rather than just animate. Ben Terrett has started a hashtag on Twitter this year, #ecardnameandshame for anyone who send him a shit e-card. Here's his favourite:
I found it interesting when working on ideas for BT's e-cards this year, they are all made by large design agencies offering creative concepts for free, yet the most popular by far is one of a puppy playing piano. Ultimately their best Christmas-themed design is the idents by WeAre17, something they actually paid for.
It's always a difficult balance with agency Christmas cards, as you don't want to come across like you're not busy, but at the same time noone wants to look like a Scrooge.
I saw this video by Landor and I really liked the idea of making a video about a creative project rather than just making a thing. It's a good habit to get into generally, as my maths teacher used to say "show your workings". Dentsu London are always brilliant at documenting their work and adding a extra layer of technical difficulty or innovative craft showcases competence and hands-on ability.
Here they put together a video about creating Christmas cards with LEDs and a conductive pen. I particularly like how they took the finished cards out onto the street to film the public's reactions. I intended to film the office reaction for the CDG zoetrope but as always it's difficult to gather everyone.
One of my favourite online Christmas cards I found this year is Snowify by Mullen, using the Google Maps api to create a system that allows you to overlay illustrations on street view, along with interactive snow! I found an interesting blog by Edward Boches that explains how the e-card only came about through collaboration between developers and designers.
"Because this developer sits in the middle of the creative department, the CCO walked by, noticed the snow, and suggested, “that’s cool; we should use it for something.”"
It's a nice back story that tells you about the company, but two final things that make a Christmas project great are a sense of humour and a topical reference (so we know what year it is!). This final example from Armoury has both, with this video inspired by the London riots...
