Happy Friday everyone!  As I’m sure most of you know, Monday marked the Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon.  Designer Stephanie Laursen sent over some fun letterpress cards that she helped to create at Twig + Fig in Berkley, California to commemorate the occasion.  Stephanie created two versions: one on the more traditional side and another with a more modern and stylized design – both paired with classic red envelopes with gilded gold characters.

From Stephanie: We wanted the cards to have a dragon theme (since it’s the year of the dragon).  We also wanted them to fit into coin envelopes, as it’s traditional to give money in small red envelopes.  We decided to pick two different dragons, one in a more traditional Chinese art style, and one that was a bit more graphic and modern.  The typography for each design reflects two aesthetics: the more modern dragon has large bold ’2012′ typography, and the more traditional one is paired with a classic, smaller ’2012′ and the Chinese character for dragon.

We wanted the back of each to say ‘Happy New Year’, but in a more simplified way to give people room to write if they chose, and we decided to make the back the same for each for ease of printing.  I also chose to pair the Chinese characters for ‘Happy New Year’ (“gung hay fat choy”) to tie the Chinese theme into the back of the card.

Of course, the red printing ink and the gilded gold envelopes were the finishing touches to really make it appropriate for the Chinese New Year. (We learned that the envelope to give money in should traditionally have gold characters on it, for luck).

Thanks Stephanie!  For those of you in the Bay area, you can pick up these cards at Twig + Fig in Berkley, California!

Photo Credits: Stephanie Laursen