API Foils Launches Chistmas Card Design Initiative

API Foils, one of the leading producers of stamping foils and laminates, has formed an alliance with leading Greeting Card manufacturer, Hallmark Cards, and national charity, Wish Upon a Star, and to turn five Manchester schoolchildren into Christmas card designers.

The Salford based manufacturer, API Foils, launched a School Design competition in primary schools in the local area to encourage key stage one and key stage two children to create their own Christmas card designs. The winning designs are to be developed into bespoke Christmas cards and the proceeds of card sales donated to the Wish Upon A Star cause. Furthermore, each of the winning schools will also receive £500 worth of design art materials to enable pupils to develop their skills further.

As well as providing stimulating and interesting lesson content, the project served to introduce school children to new design techniques, encouraging them to work with different materials, including foils supplied by API, and experiment with use of colour, texture and tone. Each school was provided with a range of sample cards to aid the children with their designs by demonstrating how foil can be used in the design of cards. The project also requested that each design utilised a star and communicated a Christmas message.

Once all entries had been collected, they were presented to a panel of judges, consisting of representatives from API Foils, Hallmark and Wish Upon A Star. The team worked closely to select five winning cards that showed the best use of foil in a Christmas themed design. The five winning designs were then put through a series of trials by the design and production team at API Foils and Media Mission, a design and creative agency, who tested each design with a range of foils so that a different foil could be matched with each card, making the designs unique to each individual designer.

Following the completion of the testing procedures, a grade 96 foil was chosen as the best solution, as it was the foil that offered the best finish when applied to the chosen Ensocoat backing board. Due to the number of colours of foil used, each of the cards were required to pass through the foiling department at Hallmark a total of four times, instead of the usual two.

Commenting on the project, David Jarvis, Applications Project Manager for API Foils said: “This initiative has provided schoolchildren with the opportunity to build on their art skills, introducing them to new art techniques and opening their eyes to the many possibilities of design. The schoolchildren of today are the designers of tomorrow and we feel that it is important to help schools to develop early signs of artistic ability.

The project has enabled us to work with local schools, providing the children with an interesting project to work on, and we have been encouraged by the response we had to the competition. We also feel privileged to have been able to work alongside the Wish Upon A Star team raising money for such a worthwhile cause, which will enable even more children to fulfil their dreams”.

To receive more information on API Foils and their product range please contact David Jarvis at API Foils on 0161 789 8131 or emailmarketing@api-foils.co.uk.