Don't Forget to Write

In an age where everything is digital and your family and friends are a FaceTime away, writing a letter by hand and sending it through the mail is a lost art. There is something very personal about receiving a note that’s both thoughtful and handmade. We wanted to encourage our digital world to slow down and craft a note to their loved ones so we Don’t Forget to Write.
Arts Goggle is an initiative of Near Southside Inc. and is in its 14th year of existence. We have participated for the last 5 years and always enjoyed plugging into the community we spend so much time in. With the size of this year’s festivities and the addition of local businesses, our team aimed at pairing down our involvement without paring down our impact. We have consistently attempted to engage the community through unique encounters with: lemonade, body art and chalk–but this year needed a creative twist. After brainstorming, we resurrected an idea to create a postcard series that both: encouraged the novelty of handwriting while becoming collectible items themselves. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation to recruit Trust Printshop to gauge the feasibility of screen-printing the paper goods. So we designed press sheets that had 5 cards to the page and Trust delivered beautiful duo-tone prints with an unexpected (but welcomed) texture to the ink that really made them feel unique.

After the cooperation of multiple agency hands cutting down and tying our card sets with butcher string, our product was ready for the public. At the event, we set up a tent and displayed posters with our simple pricing: ¢25 to send one postcard and $5 for the set. We spoke with hundreds of people and encouraged people to send cards to people they love. We met with illustrators, nihilists, philanthropists and novelists. Some stayed to just write a card, some shared their cards and others politely declined. But whether they sat at our brown craft covered picnic tables or not, Arts Goggle was inspired to cherish and resurrect the art of rhetoric and postage.

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