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Twelve Days of Christmas

This is Tayburn’s 2009 Christmas ‘card’, a concertina-folded interpretation on the traditional ‘12 days of Christmas’ song.

Have you ever noticed that a number 7 set in a chunky slab serif typeface like Egyptian Bold leaves an interesting bird-like form in its negative space…? (This is the sort of thing we ponder in quiet moments – and avoid mentioning on first dates/in social settings.)

Well, we have, and that’s how this piece began. The observation was worked up to create an appealing ‘7 swans’ graphic and we asked ourselves whether the other 11 days of Christmas could be represented in an engaging and thoughtful way. Time and thought was devoted to each of the twelve days, playing with ideas and searching for relevant forms within the negative space of numbers and letterforms.

Five months later, the piece was complete, just in time to be produced on heavyweight grey stock in litho black, silk-screened white and gold foil, and sent out to 750 of our clients and friends. Much of the appeal of the piece is in ‘figuring out’ what is being communicated – “ah…the jumping aristocrat’s body is in the shape of an ‘X’, the roman numeral for ten…Ten Lords-a-Leaping!” etc. We have found that those who interpret the visual symbols in the shortest amount of time and with the least effort, tend to be those who have spent many happy moments curled up on the sofa, watching the popular television game show ‘Catch-Phrase’. The debt of gratitude we owe to both Roy Walker and Mr Chips, for sharpening the visual interpretation and lateral thinking skills of our nation is huge.

We hope you like it. Happy Christmas.