Each year, Single Source Marketing sends out a holiday card to clients, printers, vendors, friends and whoever else you can think of. This seems to be pretty common within the industry.

My thought was that it should be an example of how Single Source approaches a project without client interaction.

Looking at this as a designer, I know that it’s tough to judge a designer by the work that he or she does for a client. Clients have their own guidelines and perspectives that they bring to a project. As they should, they’re the ones who pay the bill. But, when you can work for yourself, and push a design as far as you want, that’s where you get to show your true voice.

With this piece, my first thought was that we should subtly show how deep Single Source goes with preparation and planning for a project. The blue prints show a detailed diagram of how to construct the most basic thing in the world: a snowman.

We wanted to stay within the two main Single Source colors (PMS 299 and PMS 655) and silver, to add a bit of a holiday feel. We used spot gloss on certain areas to give it a little extra. On the inside, I went with mostly white along with silver snowflakes. The big, flourished navy text, along with the white, is to show the other side of Single Source. The outside is technical, dark and metallic to show how we work. The inside is soft to show how we are as people.

My belief is that every piece that comes out of our doors, that isn’t for a specific client, should be a “portfolio piece.” A design that showcases a skill that isn’t normally visible with our client work. It’s not that I work harder on self promotion pieces, but I don’t have the limitations that exist in client work. Plus, you never know when a project like this can spur additional work down the road.