Sweary Sentiments

Brief

I wanted to test whether I could take a product from idea to market on a short timeline: brand, design, production, and e-commerce, all handled by one person. The product needed to be giftable, seasonal, and small enough in scope to prove the concept without a large upfront investment.

Sweary christmas card. Blank inside.

Approach

I designed a range of five greeting cards that pair hand-lettered artwork by artist and brush-lettering queen, Barbara Enright, with my own watercolour textures. I art directed the lettering, created the watercolour backgrounds, and edited both together to produce print-ready files. I then built the Sweary Sentiments brand identity, set up and designed the Shopify store, handled product photography, and managed the print run of 100 cards across the five designs. The whole thing went from concept to live store in a few months, in time for the Christmas gifting season.

Outcome

The store launched on time for Christmas and ran as a seasonal pop-up, with sales also from consignment at a local art gallery and from Christmas markets. Sales nearly covered the initial investment, with remaining inventory continuing to sell.

Impact

This project demonstrated the full scope of what I can deliver as a creative partner: art direction, design, production management, and e-commerce execution in a single engagement. It also showed how I work with other artists, in this case directing and editing contributed artwork into a cohesive product range. If you need someone who can take a creative concept from napkin sketch to shopfront, this is what that looks like.