Barbara Tholen’s Graphic Design 2 class got in the holiday spirit this year.

The graphic design class was asked to make designs for holiday cards as a project. Two card designs were chosen to be used by the Lawrence Schools Foundation for its holiday mailer. The selected cards were created by sophomores Jaylynn Hicks and David Obadare.

“[My holiday card has] a bunch of deer and everything on it,” Hicks said. “It’s like snowing, and I think a gradient where the color’s kind of faded from dark blue to light purple. There’s Rudolph in the background, of course.”

Obadare also portrayed a snowy scene.

“It’s three snowmen,” Obadare said. “Two of them are faded and the one in the middle is colored and like brought to life and it has just snowflakes all around it and it says ‘Happy Holidays’ in the very middle of the picture.”

Neither of the winners knew exactly what the designs were for. They both thought it was just another class project. So, neither of them were expecting to have their card designs chosen.

“I was really surprised,” Obadare said. “I was confused at first, but you know, really surprised and happy.”

Hicks said she was thrilled.

“I almost had a major heart attack,” she said. “I was shaking.”

While the process was long, there is no doubt the students had a lot of fun.

“[My favorite part was] just putting one of my ideas onto a paper and making it become real,” Hicks said.

Obadare said he liked having lots of options for completing the project.

“It was very open,” he said. “I could just put what I thought on the screen and people would like it. So, basically, Mrs. Tholen just let my creativity flow and that’s what I liked the most.”

While this is the first time the graphic design class has made cards for LSF, Tholen said she would love to have this project be an annual activity. It’s creative, it’s new and it’s fun — the perfect combination for a school assignment around the holidays.

“I think a lot of them had fun with it. I think there were some great ideas,” Tholen said. “I think it’s a fun, unique little thing for them to do.”