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17 October 2024

Movement & metaphors: How we illustrated Postcard

PC Illu Atricle 01

Transforming Singapore-based Oasis Beauty Kitchen into global sustainable self-care brand Postcard was about creating an experience that transports you to a world of indulgence and discovery – all through the simple concept of a postcard.

Illustrations, created in-house are fundamental to that immersive idea, adding playfully evocative flourishes to every detail of the brand. Senior Designer Craig Lindsay explains how we got there, and why it’s a lesson in not chasing perfection…


Our take on a postcard

The creative route we agreed with the client stemmed from our research into what a postcard is and what it means, and from there we began this more immersive take on the idea of a postcard.

Postcards transport you somewhere, but then also act as a lasting reminder. We looked into travel posters and illustrations, but also stamps. Stamps are these very crafted, self-contained designs; they’re often seasonal, or limited edition. This all started to take us down a more vintage and ornate feeling of nostalgia – it was just a melting pot of ideas at this stage.

An inspired style

As a brand, they’d already used some super-simple illustrations on a couple of product packs, and there was something really pure about the illustration style we wanted to maintain - the concept of them being sketches, as though they had been created by Hildra [Postcard’s Co-founder] herself as she sat in these destinations and put them in a notebook.

But we also needed to turn this into a more defined house style that would span the wide product range. That way, whatever element of the brand you looked at, wherever you found it, it would have that feeling of a postcard.

The simple, hand-drawn illustrations also needed to be interesting and intriguing, so we made them more metaphorical, adding a bit of creativity and a playful connection to the names.

Ryley Devine, Designer

Adding wonder

These were never going to be standardised illustrations – front of mind was keeping that feeling of wonder that we had from the initial concept work.

As we started to create our first few illustrations, what really helped was the development of the copy (by Senior Copywriter Lizzie de Jong). Now we had these rich, vivid stories about the destinations inspired by each product. It helped us really get a sense of the mood and define the images and the colours.

Bringing them to life

There was quite a lot of experimentation of our own with how simple to make them – how many colours to use, how neat they should be… but the looser style of illustration allowed us to incorporate a feeling of movement in there. Some of them even feel like they’re dancing, almost.

Ryley would work on the majority of the initial sketches, then we’d look at how we could build into them, using layering and colours to bring movement into them. Movement in the water, light, shadow… it was about adding to these areas to create movement and depth without filling in too much.

Artistic interpretations

Having the copy to guide us was a really nice way to work in that sense, as it helped us go down much more artistic interpretations of what the illustrations could be. Without that, we could have come out with some much more literal ideas for each product.

Instead, what we have really taps into that dreamy combination of wonder and nostalgia that you get from a postcard, across the whole product range and every brand touchpoint.

“As graphic designers, we’re used to our work being really precise, so it was a lot of fun to try something with a little more freedom.

Ryley Devine, Designer

Simplifying for the future

We really had to fight our natural urges to perfect everything, and in fact, we had to go through a process of simplifying. The roots of the brand are in this handmade nature, and now they’re moving towards a more crafted future. So it was a fine line to maintain between their history and their ambition.

But it was a nice challenge to be pulled back from that usual process of refining every element of the brand. In the end, the illustrations look like Hildra [Postcard’s co-founder] could have done them with a pen and a notebook in a coffee shop. Just like a postcard.

Find out more about how we brought Postcard to life in our case study.