Isn’t that adorable?! Even though I did come up with that lovely message, I didn’t actually write it down and drew the little illustration: Snail Mail My Email did it for me. Snail Mail was a month-long worldwide collaborative art project that took place from July 15 – . . . → Read More: Snail Mail My Email – Art Project]]>

Letter we received from Snail Mail My Email

Isn’t that adorable?! Even though I did come up with that lovely message, I didn’t actually write it down and drew the little illustration: Snail Mail My Email did it for me. Snail Mail was a month-long worldwide collaborative art project that took place from July 15 – August 15, 2011. It allowed people to email them a letter, which was then handwritten by volunteers along with customizable options. I of course asked for an illustration of the first thing that came to my minds: our YCD mascots (if I remember rightly I asked for a doodle of a grey cat, a ginger cat and a B&W dog sitting on top of a yellow car).  The letter created was then mailed to the recipient (in our case, us), completely free of charge.

When I first came across the project on Twitter I thought it was pretty cool and worst mentioning on The Blog… but then I thought: “Wait, what if I sent a letter to The Blog readers themselves through the art project to tell them about it?” Much much cooler, and I got to encourage the art project that, by the way, had 234 volunteers send 10,457 handwritten letters to over 50 countries around the world, spanning across all seven continents…  I also got to surprise Marc since I hadn’t told him about the letter (didn’t want him to be disappointed if it hadn’t showed up!). When him and Desmond went to the postbox this morning they were quite surprised to see a nice yellow envelope addressed to Yellow Car Design instead of the usual bills!

The success of the Snail Mail My Email project shows that, contrarily to all beliefs due to the over-usage of e-mails, the old mailing system isn’t dead. People still enjoy finding a “real” letter in their mailbox. I am myself quite a snail mail fanatic who insists on checking the postbox everyday (especially when expecting cheques from our clients ) in the hope of receiving something amazing. It happens once in a while when Marc’s mum sends him his mail from England and decides to include a few Galaxy chocolate bars and a bag or two of Minstrels… That, believe me, makes the little walk to the postbox well worth it! So now, get to your pens and paper and start doing what you haven’t done in a long time: physically write a letter to say “hi” to someone. And if you want to be extra-nice, add a little bar of chocolate in the envelope: you are guaranteed to make that person’s day 100 times better!

Vick @ Yellow Car Design

This “lovely” flyer was in our mailbox today, along with a couple of pamphlets from various pizza places and two bulletins about Toronto’s waterfront real estate market (those didn’t even make it to the apartment – they went straight into the recycling bin). This is a very hideous flyer: the colours are awfully bright . . . → Read More: Ugly, but useful.]]>

Spot Talk

This “lovely” flyer was in our mailbox today, along with a couple of pamphlets from various pizza places and two bulletins about Toronto’s waterfront real estate market (those didn’t even make it to the apartment – they went straight into the recycling bin). This is a very hideous flyer: the colours are awfully bright and what’s with the thick outline around the numbers that make the two “6″ look like they’re on top of the “4″? Anyways, despite the ugly design, we thought that Spot Talk (a cheap long distance company) had a great idea by incorporating a sticker with the number to dial on the card. No more rummaging through our million of notepads to find their number! It is now conveniently located directly on our phone. Yes, we wish that all designs were functional and beautiful. Alas, this is a bit too much to ask from a lot of companies…So let’s appreciate the fact that they are, at least, offering us cheap phone calls!

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Affreux et pratique

Ce “charmant” pamphlet était dans notre boîte aux lettres aujourd’hui, accompagné de quelques circulaires de pizzérias et de deux rapports sur le marché de l’immobilier Torontois (ceux-là sont allés directement dans le bac de recyclage!). Pour en revenir au pamphlet, il est vraiment affreux: les couleurs sont beaucoup trop voyantes, et c’est quoi le rapport de l’épais contour autour des chiffres du numéro? On dirait que les deux “6″ sont par-dessus le “4″… En tout cas, même si le design est médiocre, Spot Talk (qui est une compagnie offrant des appels interurbains à coût modique) a eu la bonne idée d’incorporer un autocollant avec le numéro à composer sur la publicité. Plus besoin de fouiller à travers nos calepins afin de trouver leur foutu numéro! Il est désormais bien collé au dos de notre téléphone. Oui, nous aimerions que tout design soit pratique et joli. Hélas, c’est un peu trop demandé de la part de plusieurs compagnies, alors nous devons nous contenter de leur offre d’appels cheap!