#23 The Danish Pioneer’s Countdown to Christmas: The Story Behind the Design of the Museum of Danish America’s Popular 2013 Christmas Card

If you’ve been lucky enough to receive the Museum of Danish America’s 2013 Christmas Card, you will know that the colorful 5 inch x 7 inch card is a beautiful holiday keepsake. The Danish Pioneer Newspaper decided to find out the back story behind the design of 2013 Christmas Card.

Nicky Christensen, Development/Social Media Associate at the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, Iowa, tells The Danish Pioneer Newspaper, “I was approached by the Museum Shop Manager, Joni Soe-Butts, about generating some ideas for this year’s card. In the past various Danish-American artists have donated their time and skills to designing the annual card. This year, she had fallen in love with the 2012 White House Christmas card and wanted the museum’s card to reflect a similar atmosphere. Although the final product does not expressly resemble the Obama’s card, it shares a ‘painterly’ quality and falling snow. Because the Copenhagen gas lamps are a unique feature of the museum grounds, we wanted to make sure to include them. A nighttime scene lets the lamp be the primary source of light. Joni and I worked through several versions (later adding the flags and some evergreen trees for seasonal flair) until we got to a scene that we really liked.”

Nicky, who is the great-granddaughter of Danish immigrants, adds, “As the card was created in the middle of the summer, I was not able to take a new snowy photo to work off. I found an older photo of the museum and began to tweak it in Adobe Photoshop to convey a nighttime snowfall. I do not have any professional training in design, just a handful of photography and Photoshop tricks that I have picked up throughout the years. While several hours went into its creation, the card gave me a chance to escape into a winter world during the heat and humidity of an Iowa summer. I imagined the museum standing strong in the midst of a December storm with the Copenhagen lamp a beacon to the cozy refuge.”

The Christmas Card Progression (Click on the picture to see the series of 5 images. Photo courtesy of Nicky Christensen/Museum of Danish America)

The 2013 Museum of Danish America Christmas Card was so popular that it is now SOLD OUT, and the Museum ended up being able to reprint them twice! This is the first year the Museum has done a “timeless card” with no specific date printed on it, and a new design for 2014 hasn’t been decided yet.

To learn more about the Museum of Danish America and to visit its Gift Shop for many Danish products and merchandise, please visit www.danishmuseum.org.