Cards & Invitations

Client:Spirit of Springfield
Creative Firm: Health New England/HNE - MA, USA
Creative Team: Leslie Bercume - Manager of Marketing & Advertising

Each year, the town of Springfield, Massachusetts puts on the biggest holiday light display in the western part of the state, Bright Nights at Forest Park, and local organization Spirit of Springfield helps keep the lights on by hosting a formal gala. Springfield agency Health New England took a Zen approach to designing the invitations for 2008's Asian-inspired theme, "Teahouse of the Autumn Moon."

"Because it is black tie and connected to a whimsical attraction I always try to take my design way beyond traditional," the designer says, "and I spent a lot of time listening to Asian music and researching Japanese culture before I ever sat down to begin the design process." To evoke that Far Eastern sense of mystery, the cards became an exercise in unfolding the event information: Inside each of 550 hand-folded origami envelopes was a "tea bag" with details of the gala. "Precise measuring had to be well thought out for each element of the piece. I had to hand cut several prototypes before I was able to arrive at the right design/dimensions for the invitation carrier." While Spirit of Springfield brought a bit of the Orient to the Bay State, for now that's the closest many attendees-including the designer-could get. "I have never had the pleasure yet to have traveled there in person-yet!"