Hallmark Cards, Inc.

2005 AIGA CORPORATE LEADERSHIP AWARD

Design is essential to the character of Hallmark Cards, Inc. From the company's earliest days, founder J.C. Hall established working relationships with leading designers—such as Charles and Ray Eames, Hermann Zapf, Henry Dreyfuss, Saul Steinberg and Walt Disney—as integral drivers to the development of products and retail environments. Like his grandfather, the company's current CEO, Don Hall, Jr., believes in the power of design to help people communicate, celebrate and connect.

Today, Hallmark Cards maintains a 1,400-person creative staff, whose work extends well beyond greeting cards to include party and gift wrap, gifts, flowers, television, publishing and music. In addition to creating more than 25,000 product designs annually, designers are actively engaged in brand management, marketing communication design, development of retail environments and online brand experiences. The creative community at Hallmark Cards is considered a key corporate asset, valued for their conceptual thinking and understanding of human emotions, which are at the heart of the Hallmark experience, as well as for their technical skills and mastery of craft.

To maintain a high level of quality, Hallmark recruits top design talent from across the country and continues to draw inspiration from the larger design community, providing active development and creative renewal opportunities to further nurture and inspire this critical asset.