Because it’s only about you

I would like to tell you in more detail why a card at Papiefum is so individual and above all emotional.

A card is more than just a card.

The most important point is first and foremost that cards have a great meaning for me. They symbolise a feeling that is expressed – compactly and yet strongly – with images and texts. You can express it to your counterpart or receive this feeling. But in any case, the content concerns you or your relationship to someone. I would like to address these interpersonal relationships individually with my card design.

A heart and soul project

As I have already told you on my About me page, I had the desire to start my own business with personalised greeting cards. The basic idea stems from the fact that it is very close to my heart to say something to people more than twice a year that motivates them or affirms them in their being, regardless of whether they are celebrating their special day or Christmas is coming up. Unfortunately, it has always been a compromise for me to find an appropriate card for friends and acquaintances. Either the saying was just right, but the motif was not, or the other way round and if something was right, the colour was not. And then there were the occasions that I searched for in vain because they can’t be pigeonholed. I categorise not only by occasion, but also by the person who receives the card on that occasion.

Cards can also be a message without having a specific event.

I designed some cards by myself and gave them away for events that were currently happening with the person. With its very personal address, a card has the positive side effect of being given its own place in your home to remain in your memory – on the fridge, on the mirror, on your photo or pin board, in the bedside cabinet, on the chest of drawers or perhaps even in the notebook that you carry with you every day. You can read them at any place, every day and as often as you like.

That’s why it was always important to me to bring a smile to your lips with my cards. Tears of joy are of course also very welcome. That’s why it doesn’t matter whether they are positive or negative events.

An acquaintance who was in hospital received a card from me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which not only told him of a speedy recovery, but was also meant to motivate him to look forward to the day when he could leave the hospital.

I also got such great advice at a clothes shop that I gave the saleswoman a personal card. Her advice deserved more than a thank you. Usually I would have baked a cake, but decided on the card that smelled like a delicious pastry. A cake is eventually eaten but a card remains a great memory. I still love cake but both gestures work differently in their own way.

A card can convey the attention that a person deserves at that moment. In any situation, on any day, at any time, on any event.
With a personal touch, an insider or a drawn symbol, a simple card quickly becomes more.

Important matters are still communicated on paper.

The smartphone lifestyle has changed a lot in the meantime. Specific communication is moving more into the background. Texts with shortcuts are increasingly used, GIFS are sent, memes are used, digital greetings are sent and relationships are entered into via the internet. Values have shifted: Everything is designed for mass, simplicity and virality. And yet, when it comes to emotional topics, people still choose to communicate via “old-fashioned” paper. Out of decency, out of specialness, out of appreciation and out of sympathy.

Handwritten words reinforce the effect.

I do not absolve myself from the use of digitization, but I would like to open up an opportunity with Papiefum and bring to mind how beautiful personal communication is, how much more emotional it can be and what kind of appreciation it can arouse in you and in your counterpart.

Scents intensify perception.

Through the refinement with scent on paper, I would like to focus the perception, which is absolutely emotional, even more. You not only have the opportunity to be positively inspired by your individual card (visually), or to literally grasp it (haptically), but also to perceive it with your nose (olfactorily). By the time you have perceived the smell of the card, what you have seen will automatically be anchored in your long-term memory.

By appealing to three senses at the same time, it is almost certain that the card will stay in the back of your mind and that you will be able to enjoy it for a long time. (Or the person who receives a Papiefum card from you).

Have a look at what makes the invitation cards for Julia and Stefan’s wedding so individual.