Design

Winner of the FedEx Office Christmas Card Design Contest, 2019

When I designed this, I was originally going to make a card saying "Peace Be Unto You" in all the languages in the world radiating outward. This was after a long year of political unrest, the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, wildfires in my hometown, and so many other difficulties. My mother convinced me otherwise, and suggested that "Joy" would be a better message, especially with the linguistic outreach to underrepresented minorities that I wanted to employ.

I intentionally emphasized Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, and Hebrew so that the broadest possible audience could recognize those languages, but with Greek and Hebrew being the original languages of the Biblical message, I emphasized them moreso. But being the human and cultural geographer that I am, I felt I had to go farther afield. I added Nahuatl (Papaquiliztli), or the descendent of Aztec; Maori (Ke Kontan), Arabic, Telugu, Tamil, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (Radost), Latin (Gaudium), Samoan ('Oli'Oli), and so many other languages that typically are forgotten by large corporations, non-profits, and society in general. I want the world to know of my love for it.

I designed the card so that when one opened it (it was meant to be folded in two), the joy in one spot would open up to "Wishing you the JOY of the season." in the same spot on the inside of the card.