Danielle sees her designs on Paperchase shelves after winning national competition

A Graphic Design and Illustration student has seen her prizewinning cards for sale in one of the UK’s leading stationery stores.

Danielle Wetton, now in her third year, caught the eye of judges with her Selfie greetings card series #SaySelfie, which cleverly plays on our desire to share images with friends.



Card recipients can detach the design on the front of the card – which includes crowns, sunglasses and beards – take a selfie wearing it and send to the person who sent them the card. They are also invited to share the selfie to an Instagram site using the hashtag #SaySelfie.

The brief was set to all universities which run Graphic Design courses to find the talent of the future. Paper Rose, a company which is known for its high-quality range of cards, asked students to design a new greetings cards series on one of three themes – innovation, illustration and technology - as part of its competition called On The Cards.

Danielle was chosen as the winner of the technology category, with judges praising her originality and ability to find an interactive element to the process of sending cards.

She said: “People love taking selfies, and I wanted to bring something of that which you could send the person who gave you the card.

“It was all about trying to push the boundaries of greetings cards. I worked on it for about two months but I didn’t think too much about it after I entered the competition – and then I heard I’d won.”

She began to work with Paper Rose and paper supplier G F Smith to get the designs ready and they hit the shelves earlier this month.

She said: “My friend walked into Paperchase and saw them and texted me – it was really cool, I went in myself to see them. It felt a bit surreal because I’d been working on them so long and here they were done and on the shelves.”

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As part of the prize Danielle and the other winners were also invited to exhibit the cards at the Design Centre in Islington.

“I have had a great insight into the industry and to have had this experience of working with a company on a design and seeing that process through while in my second year has been incredible.”

As well as gaining experience of the design process through the contest, Danielle is also working as a junior designer for Designeering, a company based at Leicester’s LCB Depot.

Dan Morley, Programme Leader for Graphic Design, said they were all delighted for Danielle. He said: “For a second year to find their work in print, on the shelves of such a big store is great and well deserved. She is one to watch, a very good student.”