Do you want to know a secret? All designers are copy cats. Yes, I said it. As are all musicians, painters, and really any kind of creative professional. Hear me out: We humans have been around a long time, and during that time, we’ve produced a bajillion creative projects, and defined a bajillion trends and styles. Our job as designers is to to re-use, re-mix, and re-invent these trends. We can call upon styles and ideas from centuries past, and aim to interpret them in a fresh and interesting way. It’s not always easy, but sometimes, it works.
The invitation I’m showing you below are a remix of an idea that isn’t my own. This idea came from the brilliant mind of graphic designer Matt Dorfman. A few years ago, Matt designed an invitation for his own wedding. He created this beautiful, witty, typographic story of the journey he and his wife had taken so far. One might call the “How I Met Your Mother” approach. Since then, that invitation has been pinned on Pinterest thousands of times, prompting couples all around the world to try to fit their own story onto one tiny card.
When Jen and Trav commissioned me for their wedding invitations, they cited Matt’s original invite as their primary inspiration. I was thrilled to try my hand at this approach, but I didn’t want to simply recreate the original. While my take certainly relies on the original, I wanted to bring in my own perspective. I selected different typefaces, I added new shapes and flourished, I used more curves and worked with more texture, and I created something original for an original couple.
While I played copy cat at the start the project, I ended up with something fresh that was exactly what Jen and Trav wanted. Jen and Trav, I wish you a life full of many more stories!
*Cue Bob Saget Voiceover
