When Allistair Burt, founder and creative maestro behind Hole in my Pocket greeting card company came up with the idea last year for some posters for his retail customers to help them communicate Covid shopping restrictions in a friendly way, he never thought it would lead to him being awarded a trophy for doing so.
However, the Glasgow-based designer’s free and friendly Covid shop signage campaign clinched the Best Supplier Initiative category in the Association of Cultural Enterprises recent awards.
The suite of posters, which spanned from cheerful graphics to those featuring depictions of some famous Scots, including Sean Connery, Billy Connolly and Andy Murray, were used widely by Hole in my Pocket’s customers.
“When I first created the posters, I had no idea they would prove so popular and that so many indie shops and design museums would end up using them,” Allistair told PG Buzz. “I was of course absolutely delighted to win and be asked to take part in the awards ceremony this week and the fab trophy we won is a lovely carved wood block and shall sit proudly on my shelf behind me when on my Zoom meetings from now on!”
Stephen O’Neill, owner of Stephen O’Neill Art in the Southside of Glasgow is among the retailers to have made the most of the quirky posters. As Stephen told PG Buzz last June: “Allistair’s posters are great and keep things a little more light-hearted, which is important as shopping in a small design store is meant to be a pleasant experience.”
Catherine McGoldrick, retail manager of National Museums Northern Ireland, who was one of the judges for the awards summed up the posters as: “A heart-warming entry that shows creativity, empathy, adaptability and connection – which perhaps defines what cultural enterprise should be.”
As well as having been asked to create some more bespoke posters for retailers and organisations, the initiative has been a ‘win win’ on the card front too for Hole in my Pocket.
“The success of those posters and the style I used on them has inspired me to create a large new collection of cute cards,” revealed Allistair.
Top: The Andy Murray Hole in my Pocket’s poster being put to good use.
