Greetings Cards

We got the brief before the weekend and after the crits for 'Look Again/Think Again', so it took a natural prominence. It was good to get back to the refreshing brain-farting stage just scribbling out thought stream after though stream. Initially I ignored the part specifying that six cards needed to be made because I know that I flummox myself thinking of six outputs rather than a general idea that can be encompassed over six outputs. Two main ideas began to crystalise after a couple of days of biro scrawling (if I get time I could scan a few concept pages as its always nice to see what trains of thought were made before a few on tracks) which I then took to the first planning session with Neil and Claire.

Idea One - To make a card based on a non-existent audience. I thought it'd be quite fingers-up to answer the brief, yet directly not answer it at the same time, but in retrospective I shouldn't be looking to the brief as an authority but something that I can use to get the most out of what I need for the future i.e. a portfolio of confident work. In brief I was going to make a card set for a 1930's child, which would still be saleable to a modern demographic but to one different of that which it is originally intended for which poses a whole set of questions about consumerism and collectivity (within art?). This would take a subtle form so it isn't garishly loud as soon as you look at the design. I wanted to go for a paper-engineering route, with pop-up, cut out, relief etc as I've a few books on this and have been wanting to try this for a while.

Idea Two - Typographic card. Focusing on print run and technique, I had ideas for actually making a run of about three copies of each card (eighteen in total), then making a few productions of each set. This would also slightly stem off from the question of 'collectivity' as the cards that pose as 'handmade' within Paperchase or similar stores use simple pre-fab visual language i.e. textured paper, rough cut edges, letter press. The actual degree of truth within the pseudo-handmade elements could be a huge mechanised letterpress churning out one-hundred cards per press, but it would still be a 'letterpress' card. It'd thus be nice to be truly genuine about the statements and claims made rather than it be a clever slant or marketing ploy. I researched Adana presses for printing at home and lino-cut work to make a room-station with some powerful output, but Adana presses are too expensive and lino-cut too rough for type. Also, lino-cut work now gets scanned in as an original piece rather than the print it makes which has given it that rebirth and gimmick, yet this would be against the intent of my usage.
I have now focused more so on the typographic elements (with a possible body/copy coming from Q.I. books) so as to actually gets some designs out rather than researching and debating about process etc, then the process being nice and the content being a bit stale. This seems to be something I do quite a lot and a reason I get a lot of dissatisfaction from my work, yet maybe I can prevent this. I have spent a night simply hashing up my inspiration point (vintage music score books) into a message of 'Happy Birthday' and the result is quite rewarding even though it was only an exercise in replicating elements.
Et voila.