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Happy Earth Day! From Russell Shaw and A Year’s Worth of Greetings
Happy Earth Day! From Russell Shaw and A Year’s Worth of Greetings.
The first Earth Day was celebrated 49 years ago. Today the globally coordinated event is celebrated in over 190 countries. It’s also the holiday that Russell Shaw chose when we asked him to be one of the 12 designers who helped create A Year’s Worth of Greetings.
Inspired by old woodblock prints and tapestries Shaw merged ornate details with patterns and clean geometric lines, resulting in a beautifully blended natural and man-made world.
“I thought that there could be something really cool about treating these familiar natural shapes – waves, mountains, trees, etc. – with a modular pattern and clean-lined style, and then highlighting it all with these intensely detailed and ornate borders and patterns around the edges and the sun,” said Shaw.
He used gloss white and metallic green foils to make his design shimmer and pop off the lush color of ROYAL SUNDANCE® Emerald Green, and he opted for the Linen finish to give the design extra dimension. “I knew that if the design’s imagery was updated with the ornate outlines it could add a nice little twist on those classic forms, and then it becomes especially dynamic as a graphic contrasting with textured fibers,” he said.
"I’ve also recently been really inspired by John Muir’s writings, so I thought that his quote would pair well with the art and inspire people to get outside and explore."
The second card Shaw designed celebrates…nothing. “This is actually something that my wife and I talk about all the time — the idea that sometimes you need to pop open a bottle of champagne on a random weekday for no real reason at all, or take a quick trip somewhere new for no particular occasion, or go eat a nice meal just because” he said.
The illustration shows a skywriting plane scrawling “Celebrate Nothing” across the sky, something that is normally reserved for over-the-top gestures. In this case, Shaw says, it’s just a silly and small reminder to be present.
“Since A Year’s Worth of Greetings is about celebrating certain days, I thought a card for no special day in particular, but instead to celebrate any old day for what it is would be a nice addition,” Shaw said.
The cheerful, sky-blue color of Pantone 291 paired with the brightness and softness of ENVIRONMENT® Ultra Bright White, Smooth help deliver this card’s light-hearted message.
Russell Shaw is an art director, designer, and illustrator. He is a New York Times best-selling book illustrator and designer, and his work has received PRINT Magazine's “Best In Class” designation for hand-lettering, as well as PRINT's Regional Design Awards, HOW Design's Marketing and Promotion Awards, and recognition in AIGA, The Dieline, the Social Good Design Awards, and more.
His clients include New York Magazine, Porsche, Tesla, Kid President, AMC’s Breaking Bad, HarperCollins, Design Army, The Village Voice, Neenah Paper, and more. A former instructor of Visual Design, Russell still speaks and gives workshops on crafting brand identities. In 2014, he illustrated a children’s book about adoption called, “Brilliant!" In 2015, he competed in AIGA’s Command X at the national conference. Today, he enjoys working with discerning brands and organizations from across a wide range of industries on all types of projects that add some delight to their user’s and customer’s lives.
He resides in foggy San Francisco with his wife and their California pup, Fitz.