Design tips to embrace for Christmas

For Christmas designs, Mincho fonts (rather than Gothic fonts) are often used to convey a sense of luxury and elegance.
Beard Papa's uses a Mincho-style font to give its Christmas cake a sense of special-occasion appeal.

On the other hand, Starbucks adds a handwritten feel by enclosing a Gothic-style font in a frame. Every year at Christmas, Starbucks releases limited products and gives its website a Christmas makeover.
Since Starbucks' advertising often features fonts designed to look handwritten, using a Gothic font here matches their other ads and creates brand consistency.

Beard Papa's Fresh'n Natural Cream Puffs Christmas Cake 2017

Source: http://www.muginoho.com/xmas/

Starbucks Christmas Site 2017

Source: http://www.starbucks.co.jp/cafe/raspberry/index.html?nid=tbn_01_pc

When you think of Christmas, "red and green" come to mind, but the annual Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Christmas Market site avoids red and instead uses the deep blue of the night sky as its main color, with yellow tones evoking stars in the background—creating a sense of elegance. By keeping the palette limited, the design feels calm and composed.

Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Christmas Market

Source: https://www.yokohama-akarenga.jp/christmas2017/

Common Christmas motifs include presents, trees, stockings, Santa Claus, and stars. Combining elements like "night sky, stars, and a town" or "tree, stockings, and presents" makes the Christmas atmosphere even easier to evoke.
You can also incorporate these motifs into party food. For example, arranging pasta to look like a Christmas tree adds a cute touch to your table.

Materials commonly used for Christmas include sparkly items like sequins and glitter, which evoke illuminations and starry skies, as well as cotton, which represents snow.
Christmas cards using such materials are often seen in stores, but you can also bring this textural feel into web design.
A website guiding visitors through the Meguro River illumination scatters star-like points of light across a night-themed background, creating a design that evokes the dreamy quality of an illumination. Animations where the text appears letter by letter also pair well with the sparkling light imagery.
Afternoon Tea Living has published a website where snow gently falls. After a while, an animation of Santa Claus appearing in the sky adds a playful Christmas touch. The use of illustrations gives the design a warm and friendly feel.

Meguro River Illumination Guide

Source: http://jewel-dome.com

Afternoon Tea Living Christmas Site

Source: https://www.afternoon-tea.net/merry-apple-christmas-2017/

Around this time of year, various shops release Christmas-limited packaging and shopping bags. The motifs introduced earlier are often used in packaging as well, with each brand creating designs that suit their identity.
The confectionery shop "AUDREY" takes a different approach from the typical flashy Christmas style, with simple, gray-based packaging.
D-BROS's wrapping stickers feature simple red and black illustrations. Rather than going all-in on a Christmas look, the inclusion of motifs adds a subtle festive touch that brings a little joy.

AUDREY Confectionery Packaging

D-BROS Christmas Wrapping

Source: http://db-shop.jp/magazine/2016/11/4133

How was that?
This Christmas, it might be fun to try making your own gift wrapping or party invitations. Designing an original Christmas card using motifs and materials that evoke Christmas or winter would also be a wonderful gift to give.