Hallmark didn’t play a hand in creating UF President Kent Fuchs’ holiday card. A UF student did.
For the second year in a row, Fuchs and his wife, Linda, had their official holiday card designed by a UF student. This year, the couple selected 21-year-old Eleni Yannakopoulos’ design “Together,” which features snowflakes made out of UF icons including gators, Century Tower and orange slices.
The cards will be mailed to 400 people, including Board of Trustees members, significant donors and former university presidents, Fuchs said. The President’s Office paid for the printing press plates, paper, envelopes, labels and postage, which cost about $1,800 in total.
“The real cost is the time of all of these people,” he said.
The printed holiday cards will be mailed out by next week, said UF spokesperson Florida Bridgewater-Alford. The electronic version will be released Wednesday.
The 400 cards were printed on the College of the Arts’ Vandercook letterpress, Bridgewater-Alford said. The plates make each card slightly different.
“This process is so unique in that each card is specially made for that person,” Bridgewater-Alford said.
Yannakopoulos, a UF graphic design and advertising junior, said she was in disbelief when she found out her design won after being picked from five semi-finalists. The project was an assignment in her typography class.
Initially, all 23 students in the class submitted a design, said Jarred Elrod, a co-instructor for the course. The five semi-finalists presented their designs in front of Fuchs and his wife.
Fuchs said he chose Yannakopoulos’ design because of its warmth and sense of community. He said he believes that UF is the only university to have its students and faculty design an official holiday card.
“It’s not created by some professional designer who doesn’t have a connection to the university,” Fuchs said.
The School of Art + Art History received a $1,000 donation from Fuchs as thank you, Fuchs said.
Elrod said the project is a great opportunity for typography students to work with a client.
“It’s a great experience to give the students real-world experience, but for the output to be uniquely UF,” Elrod said.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the proper name of the College of the Arts.
President Kent and Linda Fuchs’ 2018 holiday card. The card was designed by Eleni Yannakopoulos, a 21-year-old UF graphic design and advertising junior, who won a design contest.
