{"id":3480,"date":"2018-05-07T13:19:59","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T20:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greetingcarduniverse.com\/blog\/?p=3480"},"modified":"2025-02-03T15:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T22:48:20","slug":"mindy-pierce-design-challenge-winner-march-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greetingcarduniverse.com\/blog\/mindy-pierce-design-challenge-winner-march-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindy Pierce Design Challenge Winner,\u00a0 March 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mindy Pierce — Design Challenge Winner,\u00a0 March 2018<\/a><\/div>\n

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Please list the URLs of your 3 favorite cards in your storefront and why they are your favorites.<\/i><\/div>\n
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This was one of my very first attempts at doing my own hand lettering and writing so you might say it has sentimental value because it was a turning point in how\u00a0I approach card ideas.<\/div>\n
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So many of my cards are crammed full of imagery so\u00a0I am fond of this one because of it\u2019s simplicity. It feels good to get out of your comfort zone\u00a0occasionally.<\/div>\n
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I think that greeting cards help people express themselves and connect with those they care about. I like this one because it becomes a collaboration with the customer. Not only does this card relay a sentiment but it also gives the sender a chance to share personal moments, tell a story with their own images and contribute to the design. If they are willing to take the time to input 6 photographs they really care about the person they are sending to. Every time I sell one of these it sends me to my happy place.<\/div>\n

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What were your inspirations for your winning card? Please walk us through the process of how this card went from idea to greeting card.<\/i><\/div>\n
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So when GCU announced the challenge was\u00a0\u201cbeach\u201d\u00a0I do what\u00a0I\u00a0always do and did a mental estimate of what parts do\u00a0I\u00a0have that I could build on to fit this category. All\u00a0I\u00a0could come up with was a turtle, some water, a few fish and some sea shells. Since\u00a0I\u00a0am currently past the bathing suit phase in my life I really haven\u2019t developed much imagery that relates to beach. So\u00a0I\u00a0decided\u00a0I\u00a0might sit this one out. Then, a couple of weeks later there was something in the news about the water levels rising and Easter Island was sinking. That made me sad which made me think of my kids who told me a couple of years ago that they had been irritated with me way back when they figured out that the Easter Bunny and\u00a0Santa weren\u2019t real. They wondered why did\u00a0I proliferate this myth only to\u00a0disappoint them (hence the\u00a0\u201cjust enjoy the mystery\u201d on the inside of the card). Then\u00a0I\u00a0remembered, “oh crap! it\u2019s almost my daughter’s birthday on April 1st which was also Easter and\u00a0I haven\u2019t even thought about it!\u201d \u00a0At that point I did a reassessment of my visual library and realized\u00a0I had a bunny and some eggs to use when\u00a0I realized that Easter island might have a beach.<\/div>\n
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What sparked your interest in art? Did you start as a young child?<\/i><\/div>\n
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When I was a kid and we went to church there were really only two things that\u00a0I\u00a0did regularly and that was fall asleep or get into trouble. I did fall asleep some but mostly\u00a0I\u00a0got into trouble because\u00a0I\u00a0couldn\u2019t sit still. One Sunday I was close to getting another spanking when my mom found one of those cheap white notepads in her purse, a little more digging for a pencil and wah-lah\u2026.NIRVANA. I\u00a0wish\u00a0I\u00a0could say that it\u00a0solved all of my problems but it did greatly reduce the number of spankings.\u00a0Let\u2019s\u00a0just say I had a lot of incentive to practice my craft.<\/div>\n
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Do you have formal training or are you self-taught?<\/i><\/div>\n
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When it came time to choose a career after high school I had many many hours of practice drawing so I\u00a0decided to\u00a0go to school for graphic design and illustration thinking maybe\u00a0I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be starting from ground zero.<\/div>\n
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Is your work done by hand and then scanned or do you work entirely on the computer?<\/i><\/div>\n
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I usually use both hand done scanned art and computer generated images in combination. I tap all kinds of mediums from watercolor, pastels to oil paints. I paint or draw most of the time in black and white.\u00a0Then\u00a0scan, assemble and colorize in photoshop.<\/div>\n
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What GCU artist(s) do you admire?<\/i><\/div>\n
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It\u2019s\u00a0really hard to mention individuals because\u00a0I\u00a0think there is a wonderful pool of talent at GCU but these two stand out because\u00a0I\u00a0keep running across their art and admiring them repeatedly.<\/div>\n
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When I was looking for cards for my daughter who is away at school without realizing it I kept selecting ones from\u00a0Sue Nollmeyer<\/a>. Then I noticed I had picked 2 of hers for my favorites.\u00a0So\u00a0that tells me she definitely knows and understands how\u00a0I\u00a0would feel most comfortable communicating.<\/div>\n
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Fun fact: I finally settled on the card above for her valentine card. We have a favorite Japanese restaurant that we go to just for their miso soup when she is home on breaks.<\/div>\n
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I also love\u00a0Kathleen Johnson<\/a>. Her cards are well designed, well written and beautifully executed consistently.<\/div>\n

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Looking at your storefront, many of your designs use bright and bold colors.\u00a0 What is your favorite color?<\/i><\/div>\n

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I generally equate color with emotion and since I can be very moody it is very nearly impossible to chose just one. All colors on the color wheel are\u00a0indispensable, but if I\u2019m picking a color to wear it\u2019s usually black, not because it\u2019s my favorite but because it matches everything. Then I can spend less time picking clothes and spend more\u00a0time making\u00a0art.<\/div>\n

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What would we be surprised to learn about you?<\/i><\/div>\n
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I\u00a0love science fiction. It\u2019s my go to for reading escapism and entertainment. If you give me a choice between a love story or an alien I\u2019m going to pick the alien every time.<\/div>\n

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Mindy Pierce — Design Challenge Winner,\u00a0 March 2018   Please list the URLs of your 3 favorite cards in your storefront and why they are your favorites. \u00a0 This was one of my very first attempts at doing my own hand lettering and writing so you might say it has sentimental value because it was … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design-challenge"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t