Research brief: Scandinavian lifestyle books

Lagom:

meaning : 'not too little, not too much, just right' 'just the right amount' 

the term represents the Swedish cultural and social ideals of equality and fairness. 

Lagom is classed as the 'new' hygge, with it becoming a more popular concept in 2017

Lagom is about your approach to life

companies have adapted this term, with American cosmetics company Peach & Lily having a 'Lagom' collection, promising healthy skin. Ikea has it's own project, live Lagom, which teaches people how to make sustainable living 'easier, more affordable and attractive'. 

Lagom is important to the Scandinavian living, with there being balance and moderation with everything they do, from working hours to portion sizes of dinner. Their food is based on simple ingredients prepared beautifully and its the same with scandi design that is functional, stylish, simple and sustainable.

One of the Swedish traditions, in which incorporates Lagom, is Fika. Fika means having a break to drink coffee and have a snack, catching up with friends and family. In Sweden it is the norm to pop out for Fika at any time of the day, as Swedes have the mantra of not working for longer than you should.

The philosophy of Lagom is the balance of work and play, offering an alternative to the idea of seeking the next best thing, with it encouraging balance across our lives.

The concept has become more integrated in popular culture, with books titled 'Lagom' being sold in the popular store 'Urban Outfitters' as well as other lifestyle books, in which may be becoming a trend with people wanting to create a better lifestyle in a more stressful world. 

living Lagom: work to life balance

doing a job till it is ready, yet do it to standard

the average swede works 1,644 hours per year compared to 1,776, yet ranks 6th in the global competitiveness index

in traditional working environments, employees enjoy a 15 minute fika every morning and afternoon, in addition to their lunch break

parents get generous parental leave, with both sexes getting time off, and the right to working shorter days for the first eight years of a Childs life

Sweden introduced a 6 hour working day, with the recognition of the importance of time for hobbies and downtime, resulting in more happier and effective employees

Review goodread: This book talks about the Swedish concept of lagom, or just enough, seeking balance, etc. It has a few pages of text on various aspects of lagom with photos and graphics, covering food, home, community, work, clothing, and discussion of sustainability. It was interesting to learn more about Swedish culture.

Hygge: 

Danish way of enjoying life's simple pleasures: friends, family, good feelings, feeling cozy.

translated in English to cosiness 

its been said that 'hygge could be families and friends getting together for a meal, with the lighting dimmed, or it could be time spent on your own reading a good book' 

the idea is to relax and feel as at-home as possible, forgetting lifes worries

Hygge is about being kind to yourself, indulging, having a nice time, not punishing or denying yourself anything.

The biggest season of hygge is Christmas, with Danish winters being long and dark, the Danes have candles, blankets, oversized scarves to combat this. With candles, woollens, slippers, pastries, rugs, lattes and a warm fireplace.

In 2016 hygge was one of the finalist words to be added to the Oxford dictionary

in 2016 the concept of Scandinavian coziness has captured a national audience, with 6 books about hygge published in the US.

A British journalist who wrote 'the year of living danishly' defines hygge as 'taking pleasure in the presence of gentle, soothing things' like a freshly brewed cup of coffee and socks. 

a way of creating a sanctuary in the middle of very real life

Danes are good at focusing on what brings them a better quality of life  

more of a feeling, requires a appreciation and recognition to enjoy the present

English words that can describe hygge is; cosiness, charm, happiness, contentless, security, familiarity, comfort, reassurance.
Jonas Aurell from Scandikitchen said 'since hygge took off, we've been selling a third more cakes and buns'

Review on goodreads: This book made me so incredibly happy while reading it. The phenomenon and idea of hygge is something that appeals to my very soul, and it is something that I want to try and implement far more in my life than I already am. As my main resolution for this year is to stay happy, it seems inevitable that I would work towards the hygge lifestyle. 

Lykke:
it is the danish word for happiness
Denmark is the happiest country in the world based on averages
Denmark has free health care for all, no university tuition fees, 
stated in the book that happiness is based upon : togetherness, money, health, freedom, trust and kindness
tip- buy experiences not things
health- reverse relationship between happiness and health, our happiness has an impact on our health.
63% of danes commute on a bike, with more bikes than cars in Copenhagen
the work life balance - value the time spent with family and friends, leaving work at around 4 or 5 with no excuse, with Denmark being ranked at no 2 on the OECD better ice index
52 weeks of paid leave- can be divided by partner
high level of trust in their society- which the happiness report states that a successful society is one where people have a high level of trust
indulging now and then, stay active and keep your rest and family time sacred

Review on Goodreads: I really enjoy Wiking's writing. He uses an interesting mix of facts, case studies, real stories from his life and statistics. The book is also filled with photographs and graphs which break things up and add to how cheerful and cosy it is. I'm always surprised by how easy these books are to read, despite the amount of information we get.
What I love the most about these books is that they make me think about my life. They make you take a step back and realise that there are little changes you can make to be happier. His books always leave me feeling motivated and inspired, and I love that. As everything is based on facts and statistics you learn more about the world, especially through the treasure hunt in this book.

Final Branding - logo & imagery

From deciding to rebrand myself in order to create a better reflection of myself and my brand, I have experimented and developed the notion of the 'smiley face'. The final logo represents my design mantra of creating positive design, my love for playful work and using characters in my work. The typeface used is 'KnickKnack regular' and combines the face iconography with the letterforms, to combine the title of the I with the imagery. The logo uses the colour 'Illusion' (E6A1B4) which is a darker pink that is used on any branding collateral, especially to be used on the background of a light pink. To accompany the logo is the supporting imagery of three round faces, which further elevates the identity of myself and my aims of my design; to put a smile on peoples faces. The imagery uses the secondary colour palette, using different hues of pink. The body text throughout the branding is the rounded sans serif 'Sofia pro soft' which harmonises against the logo, creating the cohesive ideation of the smiley face throughout.  

Self promo - websites

websites 

should have a website live when make final ppp submission in May

feedback - draft version submitted march 17th - can't give feedback if not

bechance doesn't count

must have elements;
consistent application of branding
curated selection of your work
an engaging bio
include contact details and relevant socials
inbound and outbound links must function
mailto link
give your projects context with some smart copy

either build or continue to refine a custom/template site

Squarespace
Persona.co
Cargo Collective
Adobe Portfolio
Ready Mag
Format
Fabrik

many have free trials - make sure live during assessment

inspiration: siteinspire.com, awwwards.com, goodweb.design, readymag.com/explore
pro sites: caller koster, fanqiao wang, jules morin, zack Wellen, mariano pascual. Roberta donativo
student sites: syddharth, Laurie, lorna Milligan, ami vadi, ellie main

image quality - sharp - not too big, same colour background, image consistency (switched colour on home page)

From this session it is clear that I need to work on my already exiting website that I have made with Adobe Portfolio thus far, making sure that the preset isn't a stereotypical overused one and to make sure the images are consistent. The biggest takeaway which I have learnt is to have clever copy which should be the same style on each project as I am aware that each project reads different at the minute.

Oliver Bonas brief: Meet with Ellen

Today me and Emily met up with Ellen to discuss the brief even further from our initial conversation to collaborate together on the competition brief. We met up to discuss in person and to also see some of the types pf patterns that Ellen creates, so we could see how we can excel a concept and her patterns together. We came up with a timeline together, with discussing how we would be starting the project mid march. We stated how we would be  keeping in contact in each stage and meeting together after the research stage so we could express our vision that Ellen can help with creating pattern to work to go alongside with this. 

Visiting toasties - my menu in context

                                                       

Toasties commissioned me to work on the design of their new menu, which was being launched a week after the design deadline. To see my final design in the shop, I visited on the weekend and tried out the breakfast. It was exciting to see my designs all around the shop in A3, being an integral part to the shop and business. Seeing my work in context displays how my illustrative style can be incorporated into real life and work effectively. As part of the commission I made A4 black and white versions so they could be mass printed, however they weren't in store yet so I'll be coming back to see wether Toasties thought that the colour version in A3 worked well enough by itself.

Placement day 4&5

Day 4 

With already creating the background yesterday, today the aim is to incorporate the printable to create 4 finished outcomes. With watercolours and a water brush pen, I coloured in the printable in my chosen colours and then cut out the images. With creating the projects it allowed me to fully experience the use of the design, which made me realise why certain specifications were so important. With arranging the chosen elements, I also added dots, wash tape and words, with help from the team who directed me. For the creation of the tag I even had to get messy, with colouring the ribbon to suit our needs! With each element I focused on a different element to my printable pages and used flowers, borders and leafs to create the 4 outcomes. 

                                                                            Day 5

With finishing the 4 outcomes with the help from being taught new processes from the team, today is the aim to take photos of all of the outcomes. Craft Stamper have a mini studio set up with the use of studio lighting, two cameras and many backdrops and many props. I watched the style of shots that Craft Stamper takes and with help from the team I styled and shot the pictures of all the elements. I used the prop of plants against the contrast of a brick background to elevate the bright colours within the project. With the help of art direction from the team they were really pleased with the outcome and I would receive the photos when put through the edit! To finish off the brief the last job was to create a copy of the instructions so if anyone wanted to create a similar project they could with the step by steps and the printable that they receive. 

Overall the placement was really helpful in gaining new skills and allowed me to get on site feedback and help, which allowed me to see the whole process from design to final outcome.

Placement day 2&3

Day 2

Today is important with needing to have the majority of the printable page completed so we can start to create the magazine outcomes tomorrow with the finished printables. From the initial ideas we clarified that I should consider type in the printable elements and to also have leaf elements as a separation from the flowers in order to give more flexibility to the readership. From this feedback, i developed some of the floral sketches so I could experiment with the element of type, with using the floral borders. I used an array of typefaces and different borders, however I wasn't too keen on the use of type for this printable collection. With direction from the team, they agreed and actually preferred the illustrations as the key focal point and we decided to focus on imagery this issue. I also developed the use of leaves, with taking certain elements that they liked from the borders to make their own element. 

 From the decision to focus solely on imagery I developed some of the chosen flowers that the team chose, and digitally worked on them. With feedback stating that flowerhead would work best, I edited original sketches to include just the flower head. Also, I developed the border imagery with creating a border from the chosen stamp design. With the now use of leafs as well as floral imagery, I created a pattern with being inspired by other craft magazines printable pages. I showed the team my idea, due to originally them only requesting 2 pages and they really loved the idea of having a pattern and even suggested that we have a colour one too so crafters can have the option to use the background straight away or colour their own.

Day 3

Today the first job to do is to finalise the printable, with taking upon the feedback yesterday to have a colour pattern, duplicate different sized imagery and experimenting with placement. I designed a page of floral, scandi inspired illustrations then had feedback stating that they all worked really well, however having elements such as the border but thinner that could be used for a flower stem would be good. Also, to have the main stamp and the digi stamp included with different sizes. I duplicated some elements such as the leaf to be adaptable for different uses within the mixed media stage. With the green light of the team and editor being happy with the 4 pages, I added the logo and the accreditation to myself. 

With finishing the final printable stage my mid day we then started on the process of creating the outcomes that would be displayed in the magazine to showcase how these elements can be used. The team described to me that we would be making a Atc card, tag and two different sized cards. The first step we did was to create a background for all of these elements. Within mixed media it is important to use textures and different materials to create a unique outcome, and I was taught how to use gelly printing gin order to create interesting outcomes. This method of printing is all about transferring the acrylic with a gel board, which with the use of stencils can create good outcomes. We experimented with different colours and stencils, with making quite a few to end with some that I was happy with, with being allowed full creative direction.

Placement day 1

For my work placement I am working with Craft Stamper on their recent commission which they have given me. The commission was to create a stamp design to be created and sold as part of the magazine and also x2 A4 pages of printables. For the placement I am able to work alongside the main team for the magazine, enabling to be given advice, feedback and to also learn more of the process, not just the designing.

Today the task was to design the sheets of printable pages, with given feedback throughout. The theme of the printable pages is scandi flowers. The printable pages have to be of use to mixed media artists, with being able to use them for different projects. The use has to be considered, so as a result elements such as borders and different sized designs are considered. The start of the project was a continuation of the stamp designs (designed in January) with both the stamp and the printable needing to be cohesive. As well as creating more sketches for different floral elements that can be included, different border styles were presented with the contextual research proving that Craft Stamper and other craft magazines use the element of a border regularly.

From the border ideas the client gave devel-opment suggestions with preferring more simplistic designs and perhaps having more thinner variations to suit any smaller owers the stamper will want to make. The main suggestions was for the printable page to add elements from the borders such as the leafs and stems and create them into separate elements as this would be of us to mixed media artists. Also, the client gave suggestions to perhaps see what the printable would look like with text elements also, wether it would make a cohesive outcome.

Why my briefs have changed

With the self promotion ppp session, it really made me re think what briefs I wanted to continue with and perhaps change this year in order to create a portfolio which suits myself to the best of my ability. From the session the main takeaway is that we shouldn't be doing briefs for the sake of it or if we don't like the idea anymore. To which, made me introduce a new self initiated brief of my cassette, with being highly interested in music and being able to choose a genre that I'm also interested in.

Within my original briefs I have changed my:
self initiated packaging for children's food due to resembling my cop outcome too much to - Cassette
Research brief on a well being box to - Scandinavian lifestyle
I also chose to not do the D&AD airport campaign as the outcome is purely digital and this year I want to create more physical outcome for my portfolio
I also chose not to pursue the pastels branding due to already creating a food menu, so there is variation In my portfolio


A brief which I would like to add if I have time, is to create a publication of little streets in Europe, with my love of travelling and appreciating the local culture and hidden sights. This brief I have in mind if I can fit it into my timetable without compromising other project outcomes.

UK Greetings: Logo development

With having the final concept and designs for Paw-Tea and each of the applications, in the crit for the final outcome there was feedback that perhaps what would finish off the brief and tie the concept together is the use of a logo. I really like this idea and agreed that with having a logo it would make the pun more understandable and it would sell the idea more effectively. The ideas have been stemmed from iconography to do with afternoon tea and parties to best represent the collection. The logo that I decided to go with was the tea pot due to representing tea and parties well with the steam made out of streamers.

Crit feedback - greeting card final

general 

- start the research now - slow down - shouldn't know the final outcome 

- Don't do mockups - try and avoid - make and photograph

- concept leads to design decision (do something interested in)

- use fedegorni paper more as a collar - so using their colour then design on top 

candle - pattern would look good with my portfolio as already showing elements of pattern in the card competition

make a logo - branding It - will make the concept more clear

really cute and clever - the animals are cute and reflect the audience

the colours - from afternoon tea 

photoshoot - to show in context and be really good for your portfolio - staging an afternoon tea with the cards but perhaps actually make the cakes and with the cakes have the adding props to make the animals - get a good photographer 

baking - sticking google eyes on etc - using felt or something sturdy with a cocktail stick in the cake

overall, the feedback was helpful to having the staging idea for the project, which will enhance my portfolio and also touch on the ppp session of creating a strategy which will help me to promote my work and reach the brand to which I would like to work for. 

Follow up on the promotion session

From the session around self promotion it has made me re think some of my briefs a bit and think about the bigger picture to where I want to see my design work and who I'm targeting as a designer.

My goal at the current moment in design is to work as a designer for Flying Tiger, due to it being my favourite store to which playful illustrative designs can be found on their products. I am also very fascinated with Scandinavian culture, to which can be seen in some of my previous work, to which flying tiger is based.

As well as Flying tiger, as far as I can remember I have loved 'cute' playful designs, such as those of David & Goliath and Paperchase ranges, therefore having the chance to work for or seeing my work as apart of these brands would be something I'd love.

To have my work seen and targeted to get me to my design ambitions I need to be having briefs to which suit these brands. I am currently designing for the Uk greetings competition to which fits my ambition in wanting my designs to be In Paperchase and the Something More collaborative brief which ended up in a card game suits Flying tiger as a product. However, I would like my other briefs to be considered to strategise and help me with reaching my design goals, as right now the self initiated briefs I believe aren't reaching my full potential.

Self promotion Session

How to use a university project to launch your career

max 2-3 competition briefs on portfolio 

how to use a university project to launch your career 

An unpaid internship in London costs £1019 a month

high outlay - high risk 

what you get from an internship - experience, contacts and mentorship - make your own experience 

if you're not getting something valuable out of it - leave 

promoting yourself as in your work is 1000% worth it 

turn heroes into collaborators - helps with a clear proposal

cool bus

a mobile graphic design studio 

day 1 - taken good pictures telling their story 

saving from summer jobs to set you up 

consider alternatives to unpaid internships e.g. travelling

personal interests into professional ambition - the more interesting you seem the more potential you have for higher jobs 

make enemies gain fans - book 

when you make something no one hates no one loves it 

go viral 

To stand out can you engage with employees through another format - video

platforms such as linkedIn and social media to enhance connections 

Hyper Island (Stockholm agency - if from Sweden then free internship)

The pop up agency 

15 briefs, 15 cities 

a project can be the basis of a sustainable business  

take 40 grand for a job 

would you rather get a £50 or £900 phone - comparison

if you're going to take risks make sure its worth It 

International design conference 

fail quickly fail often 

dream big - experiment - push limits



don't do a brief for the sake of it - do it to get yourself out there and the vision etc
ambitious for a job something - make it work


brief concept - to launch our career - how to promote ourselves - job after uni

like the Spotify woman - listing songs on Spotify and got job




good idea well communicated - simple but engaging
Michael William's - character building
blog everything - if you've tried and didn't work or if did
something to put in real world - the application of it
the archive of strategy
try things and blog - like sent emails - got bad response or changed something etc
interest could be travelling 

Fry guys brief - making of the cards/pamphlet & laser cut

With the finished design, we both decided that we would like to incorporate different elements of production into the final card game. So, when the card game of snap was decided, we made the decision to include the characteristics in a family oriented way, becoming a pamphlet that is included with the card game. Due to wanting the pamphlet to include the rules and all the fry characters, we made a concertina, which folds into the size of the cards. When printed we had a cutting and folding session where we carefully made the pamphlets and cut out the cards by hand due to it getting the best finish by this method. 

Laser cutting

To make our final outcome refined we lasered cut the card game box net to keep the outcome professional and well executed. Laser cutting the box meant that we could execute our vision to the highest standard, with hand cutting a circular shape not being an easy task. To laser cut the specific shape that we laser printed we had to get another piece of paper and cut out the shape, and then align our piece of paper, to hope for a perfect cut. 

   

Buying my logo typeface

With the development of the logo, I decided that I would like to have type featured in the logo. With my designs being playful I wanted a typeface to reflect this, yet be a universal typeface that can be seen throughout my collateral. To reference my design mantra, with the iconography of a smile and a smiley face, I chose a sans serif typeface which is wide, and tested this typeface with my chosen colour palette and brand name. I love the this typeface so much that I decided to purchase it so I can use it for my logo. 

Menu release day

Today is the release day of Toasties new menu and my designs! The business has tagged me and promoted myself which I'm happy about! The menu was well received from their followers on Facebook and the general public. 

Logo Development

From the previous logo ideas, I chose to develop the logo type that used the 'I' title within the face. 

I decided to keep with the colour 'Illusion' with peers and myself agreeing that the colour represents me well, with on that same day wearing a whole outfit and matching scrunch out of this colour! With the colour chosen and the initial logo, the logo was developed. I changed the typeface, with deciding that I wanted a rounder sans serif due to this betting representing my softer and more approachable style of illustration. With looking for a rounder sans serif, I found that typeface 'KnickKnack' with upon trying this typeface with the smile element, I really like the contrast of these elements. I then decided to buy the typeface so I could use it within the logo. From there, I experimented with the layout of the type, the sizes and the different style of faces. I experimented with having the face as a separate element or by following the placement of the i's title. I preferred following the eyes title, so from there I experimented with size and the placement of the type.  

Logo initial Ideas - re branding myself

With choosing to rebrand Ikldesign, I wanted to update the brand to suit my design ambitions and style now. The main reasoning to re brand myself is to eliminate the restrictions that the logo and character combination currently give me. Within my design practice I love to be illustrative and do like to design characters, however I am moving towards just being illustrative instead so I don't want to use my past characters from my projects as the imagery now, so the branding can be cohesive on all projects and avenues I want to explore as a creative. My past branding focuses and a light blue hue with representing me in a 'cute' way for the logo. With starting to re brand I would like to completely change everything, yet still remain the same playful identity, in a more professional sense. 

(colour palette combinations)

The first part of the re brand was to find a colour palette that reflects me and also is a cohesive mix. Due all my projects using colour, in particular lighter hues, I wanted a bright colour palette that can represent myself and my love for colour. From testing the colour palettes with initial logo combinations, I decided that the different hues of pink suited my best, with peers stating that Pink is my colour. With the three different pinks, it adds depth but also creates a cohesive palette.

(Logo Initial Ideas)

From the colour palette chosen, I mostly used pink, yet still used possible colour combinations to create the logo initial ideas. With wanting to be more subtle with the use of a character, I thought that perhaps making the illustration style more simple and the shapes more simple would modernise and update my brand, whilst also not restricting myself in all senses. I played with type more, with being a smaller brand I wanted my primary logo to include the name and then in the future I may be able to have a secondary logo of just the imagery. I experimented with having a filled shape, line and the combination of the type and imagery. I then moved from having a filled imagery to just taking elements, like the smile to be used alongside the type. From all ideas myself and peers preferred the type with the smile, which incorporates the title from the 'I'. This idea communicates my love for playful design whilst also enhancing my design mantra of creating design for the purple of spreading positivity. I chose this logo to then further develop, with wanting to test a different more approachable typeface for the brand.

Portfolio silent crit

my questions were;

1. Should I group work/show more separately?
2. Does the branding communicate me/my work? - was thinking to rebrand 
3. Is it obvious as to who I am as a designer?

1. 

• Have a home page with a selection of maybe 4/5 of your favourite projects and then in a separate area have all of the projects alphabetically or grouped by discipline 

• Show work separately as it is too overwhelming making it hard to give work justice

• Maybe you need to select some of your best projects to put in, as for now it might have a little too much and don't know what to look at

• Categorise the illustration based work, branding etc 

• I'd keep work seperately or have a page that is a bit less busy before going onto the home page 

2.

• The branding probably is mostly appropriate due to it being illustrative - like most of your work but isn't very impactful and perhaps pigeon holes you into a very specific type of illustration - younger audience?

• Definitely communicates your work + style, but I think another icon could work better instead of the character to make it more passionate - play more with the ikl banner - could defo picture it as stickers though!

• Your logo is cute and personal - could it be the only thing on the home page - then people click it to direct to projects 

• Could you play around with some kind of background colour on the portfolio - such as grey as the work is quite colourful - something to make it stand out more 

• Yes it does, but the style needs more variation. Try thicker pens and water colour - this would work well with your style 

3.

• It's a consistent body of work with in colours used and line qualities - perhaps the website type could be more considered 

• The website shows you more of an illustrator than a designer - maybe apply more of your illustration on different products and show first page of the projects

• Very skinny dip - you should try and get your work in store!! - illustrator 

• Yes, very bright, illustrative and positive in your design that can work across a wide variety of platforms from print, web and packaging - very versatile. Its very complimentary of each other but doesn't look so samey, very fresh

1. what went well?

• Website layout is functional. Consider drop down side bar 
• Clearly you have a style that works and is consistent 
• Fan of the branding mascots :)
• Amsterdam postcards, Colgate project and fruit bags work well 

2. what could work better?

• More of the cute personality seen in your work could be implemented into your website
• Add text to each brief, explaining style, concept and any ideas to the brief 

3. what would you like to see more of?

• Maybe more physical products? Illustrations are nice but would be good to see them brought to life in more physical products 
• See more work in context - postcard photographed well
• I want to see more application on to the real world - like the pyjama set - really cute 

Overall, the session was really useful in getting to see everyones work for one, due to not having many opportunities to do so. Also, to see how others set out their portfolios. The critique give was really helpful in a none intimidating session, which has allowed me to have a growth mindset in approaching the comments and my portfolio, with aim to achieve an outcome that I am happy with.

Brief 3 - something more live brief continuation (Internal collab)

After deciding with my peer Emily that we would like to continue with the live brief that was set by Something more due, we met up to discuss how we could expand on the outcome of the brief.

We both discussed ideas on how we can incorporate our previous fry guy characters into a refined printed, physical concept. The fry guy characters which we designed was based upon the word given 'potato' to which we created personalities of different types of fries. Our initial thoughts were;

collectable cards
-magnets
-sticker album
-M&S collectable
-freezer packaging
-card game - such as top trumps, snap, guess who

As a collaborative decision, we decided to go down the card game, specifically Snap, due to our briefs target audience being families and Snap is an easy, interactive, fun game suitable for all of the family. Snap would allow the characters to be used in an supporting engaging way, being an effective method to have the audience remember all the type of fries, including the most extravagant types.

Silent crit feedback

For the silent crit I decided to show the YCN greeting card project which I was working on, due to being at later stages of development that could benefit with people's opinions. 

The main points to takeaway and develop were;

• To experiment with the typography - more personalised 
• The concept works well and the illustrations are solid
• The space above the 1st card - looks lost - perhaps have the type there instead 
• preferred the pattern - might work as the notebook cover 
• Good colour palette
• The intended audience needs to be more clear - stated it works well for a younger age group but trying to avoid that...
• perhaps custom envelopes??