The impressive bunch of women who make up London-based greeting card company, Out of the Box Designs (OOTB) have put their talents and passions to good use by joining the Cofight-19 Campaign #FightTheFear which brings together creative ideas to provide practical support, comfort, inspiration and hope in this global health crisis. As part of this they have created some free to download postcard templates that can be coloured in and sent.
The OOTB team of Jenny Baker, Daisy Mojave Holland, Grace Rae, and Phoebe Reith Ibery, who describe themselves as ‘social entrepreneurs, activists, a talented illustrator, feminists and friends’ became card publishers in October 2018 following a successful Kickstarter campaign.
“We’re living through such strange times at the moment. We’re having to keep our distance from each other, disrupt our routines, and lose what’s familiar. There’s so much anxiety and fear about, it’s almost tangible,” states Jenny Baker. “There’s never been more need for us to stay emotionally close and connected to each other. Thank goodness for wifi, and video calls, and emails, and phones. But let’s not forget the sheer joy and comfort that receiving a card or letter can bring. It’s wonderful to know that someone has thought of you, and put pen to paper to tell you. We have always loved sending cards, and now more than ever we know how much their magic is needed,” she adds.
The free postcard templates that have been created are suitable for children or adults to colour in and send to their friends, neighbours or family. The postcard templates, together with more about the initiative as well as some helpful safety tips are available from a blog post on the publisher’s website download the postcards here.
Out of the Box Designs was founded less than two years ago in October 2018. The initial aim was to raise £7,500 in three weeks to enable the business to be set up, create a website, print an initial stock of cards, create more designs in the coming year and exhibit at a trade fair. They knew they were on to something when, at the end of the first day they were a third of the way there with 37 backers, and hit their target a week later. By the end of the campaign, OOTB had 240 backers pledging over £10,000.
