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Example of Thank You Cards
The physician appreciation series
The physician appreciation series
Project Goal: The goal of this project was to create a pair of high-end, sincere "Thank You" cards for two pivotal figures in my medical journey: My Dentist and my Neurologist. The rare disease I was diagnosed with is known as a great mimic, it looks like a lot of different diagnosis. Which makes finding it difficult if you don't know what to look for, and I found out rather quickly that Eagle Syndrome was a disease that most physicians have either never heard of or have only seen in a medical text book. To make matters more difficult, 4% of the population has elongated Styloids. (A tiny bone that sits at the base of your skull) However, they have no symptoms. Eagle Syndrome only effects 4% of those with Elongated Styloids or Calcification of the Stylohyoid Ligament. (The connective tissue that attaches your skull to your jaw) Which makes the prevalence for a true Eagle Syndrome case abysmal. Roughly .16% of the population. So when it is found it can be written off as incidental. In my case I had been presenting with symptoms for 8 years. In 2023, I did a CAT Scan of the Neck, in which the elongation and calcification was there, however it was written off as incidental and was never reported to me. I ended up suffering for 3 extra years until my dentist found it on a panoramic x-ray.
The Challenge: I wanted to sincerely thank the people who had been in the trenches with me, however, when looking for thank you cards the issue I ran into was that these cards lacked sincerity. In my head, physicians are highly trained professionals. Ultimately, the cards were entirely to whimsical. It didn't match my doctors personalities or provide the quality I was looking for. The cards didn't match the gravity of the diagnosis.
Visual Examples: Looking at the examples (see left) the most immediate thing that stuck out to me was the complete erasure of the specialist's intellect. It is apparent that these cards were designed without research. The soul of the profession is diluted and hidden behind bad puns. This makes it feel more like a participation trophy that fails to honor the intellectual victory.
Ultimately, as a designer, it would be embarrassing to honor the people who saved me with a pun.
The Designs
The Dentist's Card
The Strategy: For my dentist who finally broke the eight-year cycle, I chose a bold, "Heroic-Editorial" Style. This is a professional who is still young in his practice, having been active for 4 years. This also puts us in a similar age bracket. As such, I felt being to formal would backfire. So I opted instead to honor him in a way that reflected a young professional who's just starting out. To do so, I chose to move away from the "smiling tooth" imagery that plagues dental gratitude and instead focus on the Physician behind the Dentist.
Design Choices:
Iconography: I portrayed the doctor with a sense of calm authority, utilizing a pop-art aesthetic that feels modern and high-end.
Color & Texture: I used a disciplined palette of blues and tans with a halftone dot pattern to evoke a sense of prestigious, traditional print media.
The Message: The interior quote specifically addresses the complexity of my disease. It honors his ability to be a "Great Physician," someone who looked at a panoramic x-ray and saw a life-altering diagnosis where others saw nothing.
Although, I'd be remiss to tell you that when I presented this card to him, he proudly exclaimed, "but it only took me two seconds!"
The Neurologist's Card
The Strategy: For my neurologist who has seen me through the last 7 years of my illness and managed me through a number of uncertainties, I chose a design that focused on structural sincerity. While my dentist may have caught the disease, my neurologist's role was more of a marathon partner. I wanted a card that felt like an intellectual peer-to-peer acknowledgment. On top of that, the design I chose for my dentist would not work for my Neurologist. He's far more established with over 20 years of practice, as well as being someone who's made it his personal mission to make sure the field of Neurology continues to grow in St. Louis rather than shrink. The card needed to match the passion he has for his patients, and the intellect he carries himself with. This is a man who deals in the thanklessness of chronic conditions that oftentimes have no cure, only management.
Design Choices:
Iconography: I replaced the typical "smiling neuron" with a minimalist, geometric neural network. This represents the brain as an intricate system, acknowledging his role as someone who is a collector of complex data.
The Message: I selected a quote by Dr. Eric Avery that equates the work of a physician with that of an artist. This served as a deliberate bridge between my identity as a designer and his identity as a life-affirming specialist.
Visual Flow: The pattern from the cover bleeds into the interior layout, symbolizing the continuity of care and the interconnectedness of our medical partnership. Ultimately, I also decided not to put any typography on the front, instead electing for a more fine art feel that screams sophistication.
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