Birth certificates by IWANT for Icon magazine
East London studio IWANT has overhauled the birth certificate to bring it into the digital age and make it more personal.
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Commissioned by Icon magazine for the Rethink feature of its April edition, designers at IWANT set out to create a birth certificate worth cherishing, which aims to paint a more personal picture of our first moments.
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The designers toyed with the idea of replacing the traditional printed certificate with a digital document, but decided against it, believing a combination of the two would be better.
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"In a digital age it makes sense that such a document would have a digital form. But we felt it would lose the sentimental value of something that could be touched, loved and displayed," they explain. "We agreed on a traditional hard copy, but one that paints a bigger picture of a person and when they were born. This could be accompanied by a dynamic digital file that could expand on this content."
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All the information on the existing birth certificate is kept – mother, father, name, registrar - but more information is added. Physical attributes such as weight, length and head circumference are represented with graphic symbols while prints are taken of tiny hands and feet.
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Other details including astrological, astronomical and etymological facts are also included, plus mapping coordinates for location of birth are added to the digital version.
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The information is displayed in a grid and is printed in black foil blocked onto watermarked heavyweight card, which comes in four colours representing the seasons.
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The certificate is housed in a heavy, glossy, white envelope with the baby's basic information embossed on the front and then secured with a wax seal.
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Rethink is a regular feature of Icon magazine in which designers are invited to reconsider ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Read about the redesign of a shop receipt by BERG here.