Live Brief: Wedding Invitations

Over the summer, I was approached by a client wanting to know if I would be able to produce some invitations for them for a wedding.

To start with, I decided to ask them about what the theme and colour scheme of their wedding was and what they wanted to incorporate within it. They wanted to have a tattoo, skull-themed wedding with the main colour scheme being white and red. They thought about maybe having invitations that were A6 in size but I was worried about whether that would be too small so I suggested having them A5 so that they would be of a decent size and easier to read.

Inspiration- Clients Tattoo Bands

The client liked the idea of having Dead of the Dead sugar skulls incorporated within the design as they had planned to have them on their wedding cake. I noticed that the the clients had matching tattoos on their ring fingers that they had had done which were in place of wedding bands so I suggested using this as the main imagery. Instantly they liked this idea because of the connection and personal touch to the invites. 

The first thing I did in approach to my brief was to establish the illustrations of the sugar skull images. 

Initial Illustration

It was very important to me that I tried to keep my illustrations as accurate and reflective of the tattoos themselves so as to keep the personal connection with the invitations. With that, I produced a simple line drawing of the skulls based on the details of each of the skulls.

Context of the Illustrations

The initial drawings were a good template to work from and, despite how accurate they are, came across as very plain and felt as though they had no context for their reason or purpose. Following from the initial drawings, I decided to add a top hat and veil. I felt that, despite the fact it was cliche, the traditional headwear would help orientate and provide the drawings with a purpose and context for the work. I personally felt that the flower that was originally on the head of the female skull was clumsy and amateurish yet having nothing on the forehead was very empty so I decided to include a heart so that there was a visual symmetry between the skulls.

Embellished Illustrations

Despite the fact that I added the context of the images, I still felt that, for day of the dead skulls, the illustrations were still very plain so, for experimentation, I decided to embellish the skulls with patterns and details. Personally, I felt that this gave the illustrations more definition and individualism so I was much happier with them yet I wasn't sure what the client would think as this would deviate from the wanted imagery. The only trouble I had after this was whether to have the female skull with a tiara or flowers on the top of the veil as I didn't know which one the client had gone for.

I showed the client what I had produced up to this point due to the fact that I wanted to establish which style of skull that they wanted, particularly as I had deviated from what they wanted but they decided that they preferred the detailed ones for the same reasoning as my own. Also, the client prefered the skull with flowers on as they liked the fact that there was a connection between the female ad male skull.  Following on from this, I went onto working with colour.

Original Colouration

Originally, I started out by working with the outlines of the skulls by adding colour which was suitable for the male skull but I soon realised that this would be difficult for the female skull because the veil and the skull head would not have any contrast. From that, I decided to start experimenting with hues and tones of colour which automatically gave some definition to the colour of the skull.

Skull Colour Experimentation

I soon realised by my first colour attempt that I would not be able to just put the outline of the veil in colour as it didn't look realistic or defined so I started working with opacities, making the veil steadily and steadily fainter and off-white the more I experimented. Also I experimented with the colour of the female skull, making the skull more pinker.

From what I had done, I again met up with the client and showed them what I had done in regards to the colouration of the skulls. After showing the client the different skulls, they decided that they wanted the female skull to have a white face instead like the male one and for the female to have more black and less pinky tones.

Changed Skull Illustrations

Following on from the request of the client, I changed the colouration of the skill of the female by changing the overall facial colour to white. To do this, I had to make the outline coloured so as to show the difference between the skull and the background. With this being the main want of the client, I had to change and alter some of the details due to the fact that they were in white and would no longer be visible.

The next thing I had to come up with would be the content of the invitation. I was given some details as to the place of the wedding, the date and the time but the client didn't have any ideas as to what the wording should be and how the invitation should be presented.

Body Copy Content

I took it upon myself to try and work out the body copy for the invitations. With it being between people who have already been married, I knew the wording couldn't be traditional, however, I wanted the content to be sophisticated and classy so it took quite a bit of re-working before I managed to come up with some prose that I felt was right for the occasion.

Having established the imagery for the invitations as well as the content, I went onto looking at typefaces that I felt would be relevant for the invites.

Font Considerations

The first thing I did was look at type which I felt would be suitable for a wedding, all of which would be free for commercial use. I felt that Ribbon and Lavadersia were quite decorative and celebratory which would be relevant to the context, Blanch was quite soft and rounded which would give a humble and honest feel whereas Vevey is quite a regal and sophisticated font which I felt would be good for the body copy.

At this point, I met up again with the client and showed them what I had come up with in regards to the skull changes, the content and the fonts. Whilst they preferred the changes to the skulls and approved the written content, they didn't like the fonts I had picked as they were too traditional.

Client Wanted Font

Going through some fonts with them, they saw the font Tattoo Ink and decided that they wanted that to be the font for their invite. I felt that this would not be a good font to have as it isn't very wedding-like and I felt that this would give the wrong impression, however, despite my reasoning, the client was adamant that this is what they wanted so I wasn't sure how I was going to do this. In the end, I managed to get them to compromise that it could be a header text if I could use another font that would work as a body copy font.

Original Layout

The first thing I needed to do was establish some sort of layout and hierarchy of information with the invitation, especially with it being type-based. I started out with the placement of the skulls as they would take up a bit of room so I experimented with layout. I felt that the skulls were best kept together near the top so that they didn't disturb the content of the invites. From this, I went onto laying out the information. I found the Tattoo Ink typeface cumbersome and very wide and, without being able to use numbers, I had to write out the information details in full so as to make it work. I used Vevey for the smaller bits of information so that it allowed the header font to maximise the impact.

Beginning of  Layout Experimentation

Following the original layout, I started experimenting with having dividers and borders between the information in lines so that the information would be seen as sections and not as overwhelming. I didn't feel that the information sat very well with the skulls at the top of the page as it seemed quite squashed and didn't make full use of the space available so I decided to change the layout so that the skulls were in the corners. Instantly, this helped with the information as it gave the large header font more room and didn't come across as too overwhelming. It also gave the text some more fluidity.

Developed Experimentation

I went onto experimenting with the details of the invitation based on the success of the layout change. I felt that having lines wasn't in keeping with the style of the invite so I decided to try circles as this would link with the details that were already on the sugar skulls themselves. Instantly, this gave the invite more of a quirky experimental look, especially working better when there was no border around the edge as this opened up the invite.

I showed the different variations that I had produced to the client and they instantly took to the last variation that I had produced as they liked the white space around the information. They decided that they wanted an accompanying red envelope that could be crafted and have the invitations sent out to the guests. I suggested that red might not be a good colour to use for envelopes due to the legibility of the adresses on the front as they might be difficult to read on such a vivid background, however, the client didn't want any other colour so I had to see if I could make it work.

Envelope Net

Starting off with a net that would fit the A5 size of the invite, originally, I used the same red that was on the envelope, however, this was blinding and tacky so I felt that it needed to be toned down.   Straight away, I knew that I would have to use white for the information on the envelope as black would be too dark and illegible to use and I placed the skulls in the corners of the envelope reflecting their place on the invite.

Envelope Experimentation

I soon went onto experimenting with the details around the envelopes, finding that it was actually quite difficult to include it without looking tacky or taking up too much room on it yet I soon felt that having it on the outside with room for a stamp was quite simple and understated, which I believe it needed.

Despite having done this work, the client decided that they didn't want an envelope anymore and just wanted the invites. I was a little disappointed by this because I had done the work and felt that the envelope design worked well and reflected the invite well. 

Invites on A3 for Print

From the invites that I had done, the client preferred the last one that I had produced still so I put them onto A3 size so that I could print a large amount in the smallest amount of paper. The client wanted the invites printed on the thickest paper available so I got them printed on 350gsm paper which had a similar thickness to card. Once printed, I cut the invites out myself so that the client would be able to send them out as individual A5 invites. 

Final Outcomes

A5 Invitations printed on 350gsm Matt Paper

Printed Invites

Overall, for me personally, I don't like the design of the invites as I didn't have a lot of time to produce them in as I feel that they are not very classy or wedding-esque, however, the client was happy with the outcome and I have been approached by someone else who has seen the invites for a consultation for some more invites.