Postcrossing Blog

Today we’re really excited to tell you about Typographic Postcards, a fantastic Kickstarter project by Frankfurt-based typographer Harald Geisler!

Inspired by the design of his now famous wall calendar (which he has been producing since 2009), Harold decided to apply the same concept to postcards. On his website, he explains:

The first THANK YOU Card I printed in 2012. I wanted a simple card to give to friends. (…) The card was received well so I designed a HAPPY NEW YEAR’s card. As a friend of mine went to hospital I felt the need for an original GET WELL card. With the next birthday coming up, I thought how great it would be to have a typographic birthday card, which eventually became this simple CAKE on pink background card.

He did more and more of them as the need arose, until he ended up with a set of 15 postcards:

The themes are an interesting mix of all-purpose words and expressions, some straightforward and other more intriguing. He bundled them all together on a Kickstarter project, in order to gather funding for printing the set.

Being IT geeks ourselves, the minimalist vintage-yet-techie feel of these postcards appealed to us immediately! But Harold decided to sweeten up the deal even further, by adding one new postcard to the set every time the total of pledges crosses a multiple of €300. Yup, you read that right! :)

It goes like this: if the project reaches just €300, everyone gets fifteen postcards plus one extra. If it reaches €600, pledgers get an extra two cards (total 17), three extra postcards when it reaches €900, and so on. Right now, the total amount is just over €1000, so all backers are already counting on 15+3 postcards… and the more people join, the more postcards everyone receives. Win-win!

So if you decide to back Typographic Postcards, do spread the word! We’re hoping many people will choose to join us, so that everyone can receive as many of postcards as possible! :)

We know many Postcrossers take their yearly break in the upcoming weeks to relax and visit new places.

So here’s your yearly reminder: if you know you’ll be away from your home or school address for a while, we recommend that you switch your account to the inactive status – you can do that easily just by editing your Postcrossing account. This will tell Postcrossing not to give your address to any other members while you are away. You can still send some postcards if you’d like, but you won’t be sent any until you’re ready to receive them.

When you’re back, all you need to do is to switch your account back to active and you’ll be in business again! Rest assured, all your due postcards will then be sent your way.

Oh, and don’t forget to re-stock with postcards from the places where you’ll be spending your days away!

Bon voyage! :)

Summer is coming*, and it is the time for festivals, music and celebrating… so today we bring you an invitation to participate on an important festival — either in person, or through postcards!

A while ago, we were contacted by George (aka Nazareanu) from Romania, who is involved in the organization of the Armenian Street Festival. The Festival takes place every year in Bucharest (Romania) and aims to promote and celebrate the Armenian heritage and also to create a deeper bond between ethnic communities and nations all over the globe.

Every year, thousands of people come to the Armenian Street Festival to enjoy the bazaar, concerts, theater performances, calligraphy workshops, Armenian food and crafts, photography exhibitions… even the little ones have their own program! :)

This year, there will be a new addition to the festival: a Postcrossing exhibition! The idea is simple: to allow postcrossers to take part in the Armenian Street Festival, through postcards. Submissions will be shown in the Armenian Cultural Center during the festival and throughout the month of August.

Sounds like fun? Then grab a nice postcard that represents your country and send it to:

In order to make it interesting for visitors of the exhibition, we encourage you to write about Armenia on your postcards. For instance: something you know about Armenia or its people, something about the Armenian Heritage in your country/city, or perhaps an inspirational message for Armenians and/or Romanians. These might seem like difficult topics, but do give it a go — you might end up learning something new!

To make the deal sweeter, all participants who include their email address on the postcard will be entered on a lottery to receive one of 100 special postcards, written and signed by exhibitors and entertainers from the Festival, and also by celebrities and distinguished people from the Armenian community in Romania (actors, writers, inventors, historians, musicians, etc.). The email addresses will be covered for the duration of the exhibition.

For those in Romania, or anyone wishing to attend the Festival in person, it takes place in August 7–9th, and a Postcrossing meetup will be held on that weekend. For more information, visit their webpage, www.stradaarmeneasca.ro.

* Well, in the Northern hemisphere! :)

Woohoo!! We’ve just reached the amazing milestone of 30 million registered postcards, and couldn’t be prouder of every single one of you! Isn’t 30 million a lovely round number? :)

And now ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: postcard number 30,000,000 (DE-4221494) was sent by Postkartensammler in Germany on May 14th and registered today at 00:27 (UTC) by blooaum in Portugal. Hurray!

All spots on our guessing game were taken quite some time in advance, and the big winner was Licena, who picked the exact minute that postcard was registered. Congratulations, your new set of Urban Sketching postcards and the code for your shiny MOO postcards are on their way!

The other four lucky postcrossers who came the closest to the right time were olgaga98, Lara_and_Xavier, ThomW and vsemsnyatsasny – well done! You’ll all receive a pack of 20 postcards from MOO!

Both the sender and the receiver will also receive a surprise pack of Everything is Connected, Keri Smith’s wonderful book of adventure postcards.

And last but not least, our big heartfelt thank you to our team of volunteers, to MOO for generously sponsoring this giveaway, and most of all to you – all of you who send postcards and take this project further with your enthusiasm!

Onwards to the next million — one postcard, and one smile at a time! :)

Hurray! The new Slovenian Postcrossing stamp is out and about, making its way across the world to many mailboxes!

The stamp was presented to the public on Thursday in Trbovlje, during the bi-yearly stamp exhibition FIMERA/FIRAMLA, where Iztok gave the attendants a short presentation about Postcrossing.

The stamp was officially launched on Friday, at a meetup that took place at the main post office in Maribor. Quite a few postcrossers came from all around the country to attend the meeting, and send postcards with the shiny new stamp and first day cancellation mark.

We were able to join the event via Skype and say hi to everyone!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Anita (aka anity) bought some sheets of them in her post office near Kranj, where she made everyone wait until the clerk at the counter found them… She says it was worth it though, because they’re gorgeous! :)

Brilliant! Stay tuned for more exciting stamp news later this year…