Christmas Card Design Competition

Tate x not just a shop 2025

For the seventh year, not just a shop is partnering with Tate to provide UAL students with the chance to design a new range of Christmas cards. We would like to invite you to create a design for a Christmas card, to be sold in the Tate's shops (both in the galleries and online) from August 2025, and in not just a shop from October 2025.

What we are looking for

Although the theme is 'Christmas', designs don’t have to directly reference the Christian festival, but they should be recognisably festive. All interpretations of Christmas will be considered - from traditional imagery through to more modern and subversive representations.

Designs should be appealing to the general public and represent the quality, creativity and diversity of UAL. Entries will be judged on their originality, public appeal and their fresh approach to the theme of Christmas and ability to capture the spirit of Christmas.

Whilst the final image must be submitted in a digital format for a printed card, we encourage applications from all disciplines including but not limited to: graphic design, communication design, photography, painting, drawing, illustration, sculpture, animation.

Your card design must be either 150mm x 150mm, or 120mm x170mm, with a 3mm bleed and without key design elements (eg text) within 30mm from the bottom edge, as this will be covered by the packaging. Please also avoid using any seasonal greetings (such as Merry Christmas or Happy Xmas) on the design as it will conflict with Tates' internal card messaging.

The winning designs will be produced by Tate's in-house production department, who will need Illustrator, EPS, or Tiff files. Copyright in the design will remain with the creator, but with Tate having an exclusive license to reproduce it for the current season. This means that the design should not be sold elsewhere through other retailers or your website. We will select up to 4 designs to produce and each designer will receive a cash prize of £250.

Winners will be contacted near the end of May and successful students will communicate directly with Tate production team via email.

What makes a good Christmas card design?

Think about these points as you design:

• The audience, and who will buy and who will receive it. Christmas cards are generally sent to family, friends, and colleagues over the festive period and visually tend to be either decorative, joyous, or humorous. It should have wide public appeal, so consider who the audiences of the Tate might be.
• The message you want to convey. Commercially viable cards successfully communicate the festive season in various ways, obvious or subtle - but are instantly identified as Christmas cards, and usually have an uplifting message.
• Colour palette. Colour can create a certain mood or theme and can highlight aspects of the design.
• Consider how your card might look in a shop display or how it might fit within a range. Your design should be impactful and stand out in a card display whilst complementing Tate’s card range. This could be through the design’s colour or imagery. For example, if choosing to use a lighter colour pallet consider how can you make the design stand out in other ways. 
• Is your image original and a different take on the festive season? If you can, research other Christmas cards to look for recurring themes and ideas and try to find a unique take on them or the spirit of Christmas. Ideally think outside of recurring seasonal motifs or colour schemes. We've provided examples of previously selected Tate cards to give you an idea of what they might be looking for. Please note that cats and Christmas trees are very popular design entries, if you consider submitting a design with these themes be aware that it will be very competitive and Tate will only select one variation of each.
• Does your image fit the file type and dimensions set in the criteria? Please make sure your artwork has a high image quality - at least 300dpi. We would advise doing a final quality check before submitting to ensure the dimensions are correct, you’ve included the bleed marks, and your design is in the best position, e.g. checking your design is clear, readable text size (if included), finished colouring etc.

Who can apply

• Current student studying at one of UAL's 6 colleges on a BA, MA, PHD or FdA level course
• We welcome designs from all disciplines including: Graphic design, communication design, photography, painting, drawing, illustration, sculpture, animation. 
• Design must be recognisably festive.
• Design for the card must be either 150mm x 150mm, or 120mm x170mm, with a 3mm bleed.
• Design submitted cannot be used commercially at time of sale of Christmas cards (for example used on other products or sold in other places).
• Up to 3 different designs can be submitted by 1 applicant, please be selective when submitting your work, and ask friends to help edit if needed. Please do not send multiple colourways of one design, we will only put one forward if you do. 

How entries will be judged

• Designs presented to a high standard. 
• Creativity, uniqueness, and offer fresh approach to the theme of Christmas.
• Commercial viability, for example have wide public appeal.
• Priority will be given to students who have not previously won the competition.

Get support

Download the full brief with previous winning entries and application support.

If you believe there are any barriers to your participation in this opportunity or you have any access requirements (not limited to disability), please get in touch in advance.

Please contact notjustashop@arts.ac.uk to start the discussion and see how you can be supported.

The prize

Up to 4 winning students will each receive:

• A prize of £250
• 6 packs of professionally printed cards.

To enter

Deadline: upload your design by 10am on Monday 28 April 2025.

File type: High resolution JPEG (300 dpi) with a max size of 1MB.

NB: If selected the winning entry will need to supply an Illustrator, EPS or Tiff file.

Dimensions: designs must be 150mm x 150mm or 120mm x170mm with a 3mm bleed. No key design elements (e.g. text) should be within 30mm from the bottom edge as this will be covered by the packaging. Templates are provided on our competition page.

Avoid using any seasonal greetings (such as Merry Christmas or Happy Xmas) on the design as it will conflict with Tates' internal card messaging.

Terms and conditions

• This competition is open to current students from all UAL colleges and courses (including international students).
• Students are welcome to collaborate on the design(s), but to note that the prize money will be divided equally between them should their design be selected.
• You can submit up to 3 design entries but only 1 card per student will be selected.  
• Designs should be commercially viable and may be required to be adapted to increase suitability (in agreement with the entrant).
• Artwork can be produced in any medium, but must be submitted as a high-resolution digital image.
• At final selection stage priority will be given to students who have not previously won the competition.
• Winning applicants will need to supply the final artwork to Tate as an Illustrator, EPS or Tiff file and provide a short designer biography.
• The intellectual property of designs submitted but not selected will remain entirely with the students who created them.
• Designs entered must be your own original artwork, of which you hold and will maintain the copyright to.
• If the applicant is using AI in their designs, it must be used responsibly and it is the applicant’s responsibility to make sure they have the permission to use the final imagery in a commercial context.
• Prize of £250 is equivalent to royalties for production of cards until end of 2025.
• License agreement will be between designer and Tate. Once selected, the winning designers will contacted by Tate production team via email to discuss agreement and production.
• Winning designs will be exclusively licenced to Tate for the purpose of reproduction until the end of the festive season. At this point the license will end and you will be entitled to seek new outlet for the design.
• Selected designs cannot be used commercially elsewhere during the selling period (such as on other products or cards in other retailers).
• Initial prize money will be paid to designer by UAL
• If in the following year (2026) the Tate do wish to reprint the design (and the designer is not on a Student route visa), they will contact the designer and pay a fixed fee equivalent to a royalty payment based on the amount of cards they will reprint (6% of RRP ex VAT).
• The winning designs will also be used across UAL marketing and advertising materials to promote not just a shop and future competitions. You will be credited whenever image is used.
• Production costs of cards will be managed by Tate.
• not just a shop will purchase card packs wholesale from Tate to be sold in High Holborn store and online from October 2025. Proceeds from the sale of the cards in not just a shop, will be reinvested into UAL’s Careers and Employability department, which provides free support for students and alumni.

Privacy Notice 

The information you provide below will be collected by UAL in order to enter you into the design competition and for your work to be considered for production of Christmas cards (GDPR legal basis 6(1)(b) ‘necessary for…entering into a contract’). The personal data and designs of unsuccessful applicants will be deleted within 2 months of the application deadline.

Find your subject rights and UAL's privacy information.

Schedule

• Monday 28 April 2025: Deadline for submissions
• We’ll let you know the outcome of your application by Friday 30 May 2025.

Tier 4 / Student route visa

Your designs

File resolution: High resolution 300 dpi  

File format for submission: JPEG 

File format for selection: Illustrator, EPS or Tiff file. 

If you have any questions about the template or your design, get in touch with us directly at notjustashop@arts.ac.uk.

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3