As a global design studio, holiday cards are always a challenge: how to communicate the cultural spirit of our New York and London studios to our community during the holidays, without stepping on the toes of religion or tradition?

Our goal was to steer the Holiday card away from religion or cultural traditions, reflecting instead on the vibrant city cultures of New York and London. In that vein, we did extensive research into our respective cities in order to isolate icons from each.

“Two iconic cities, one inspired culture” was our solution this year, a deviation from the standard Holiday greeting in exchange for a graphic celebration of our bi-city culture at Pearlfisher. To do so, we created a set of 6 cards for our clients and friends, playing with the icons of our studio’s respective cities - New York and London - in order to resonate with our communities on both sides of the pond. What is the Thames River to Londoners is a street cart hotdog to New Yorkers. The Lady Liberty sits within a London Policemen’s helmet. A bowler hat hides in the wheel frame of a New York taxicab.

The cards were a huge success with our clients and now hang in our own galleries, reminding us that Pearlfisher as an agency truly is one inspired culture, residing in two iconic cities; 2 studios, 1 Pearlfisher brand. There was no one perfect Holiday card for both our cities…so we ensured that where traditional Holiday cards fail, design could step in to create something truly worth giving.

With studios in London and New York, Pearlfisher is an independent creative business built on the definitive partnership of Futures, Strategy and Design. We build the most desirable brands, Challengers & Icons: brands that are paving the way now and those that will be loved forever.