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Winter postcard set competition: Who is behind the winning designs?
From snowmen and snowy landscapes to Christmas biscuits: around 300 designs were submitted for our winter postcard competition. Three of them in particular impressed the jury. Who is behind the winning designs? And what was the inspiration for them?
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“What does winter mean to you?”: This was the question participants were asked as part of the design competition for the new winter postcard set launched by Swiss Post on 13 September. The specific task involved creating a personal symbol for winter on a postcard and, with a bit of luck, having it immortalized in the new stamp series. The prize was a voucher for the Postshop. Around 300 people submitted their winter designs and our jury selected three of them.
Snowmen family
“I’ll first send postcards to my grandparents and my godfather Andi,” says Alexander Epp. The seven-year-old from Steinhausen in the canton of Zug won over our jury with his family of three snowmen against a colourful background. “The drawing shows my family – my mum Natalia, my dad Jonas and me,” he says. The design came about through trial and error: together with his mother, Alexander tried out various painting utensils before deciding to use cotton buds. After about an hour, the design was ready.
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As for Alexander, creativity is an integral part of his life – he’s fascinated by handicrafts, painting and drawing. “My favourite subject at school is handicrafts,” says the seven-year-old. He got so excited when he heard about the Swiss Post competition. “But I never thought I’d win,” says Alexander. “I’m so happy about it!” Alexander will use part of his prize to stock up on new craft supplies from the Postshop. He’ll give the rest to his parents to help him get a step closer to realizing his big dream of a trip to Legoland Bavaria. “I’d also like to use the money to treat mum and dad to a nice dessert”, he says.
No winter without skiing
“When I came across the competition, I knew straight away that I had to take part in it”, says Anick Prinz. The 28-year-old from Horgen in the canton of Zurich has already designed her own series of postcards as part of her final practical as a colour designer. “Postcards are amazing things”, she says. “There’s nothing nicer than finding a personal greeting in the letter box among the bills and adverts.” Anick only found out about the competition three days before the closing date – quite by chance, while searching for postage rates on the Swiss Post website. Her design – a pair of orange skis against a background of snowflakes – was inspired by her own winter sports equipment: “My skis are also orange, and indispensable for me in winter”, says Anick. “I so much look forward to the skiing season every year.”
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Anick first drew her design by hand, then worked on it in Photoshop. She spent about three hours designing it. “I was really thrilled when I found out I’d won”, she says. “It shows my work is really appreciated.” Creativity plays a big role in Anick’s life: she trained as a dressmaker and textile designer and now decorates her customers’ living spaces with wallpaper designs. With her prize, Anick plans to buy an experience gift box from MyDays. “That’s what I enjoy most.”
Fascinated by birdlife
“Birds have always fascinated me,” says Markus Gerber, the third winner of the postcard competition. The 28-year-old from Bern impressed the jury with his design of a blue tit against the backdrop of a snowy winter landscape. He found inspiration for the design in the Ornithological Institute’s Advent calendar, which he received as a gift from his girlfriend. “I always keep an eye on the calendar in my office”, he says. A doctoral student in molecular biology, he spent about four hours playing around with his design in Adobe Illustrator – starting by designing the landscape, then the bird. His first design incorporated additional details, including a deer. “But I removed those again”, says Markus. “It was important to me to keep the design simple.”
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Creativity is also very important in Markus’s life: he enjoys drawing and is a singer in the death metal band “Thy Gnosis”. The 28-year-old is delighted that his design is being immortalized on the winter postcard series. “Postcards take me back to my school days,” he explains. Back then he always used to send holiday greetings to his class by post. “These days I mainly write postcards to my godson.”
Order the new postcards now free of charge at swisspost.ch/winterpost, send winter greetings to your loved ones and give the gift of joy twice over. For every postcard from the set that is sent by 31 January 2023, Swiss Post will donate CHF 0.50 to the Sternschnuppe Children’s Aid Foundation.
