The Blue Lobster: How One Antenna Changed Everything
- Shannon Cyr
- Jan 15
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 27
A tiny design flaw hidden inside a blue lobster illustration became an important lesson in prototyping, refinement, and why every prototype has a purpose.
Studio Note: This post documents an early exploration from my design process. The artwork shown represents prototypes and works in progress. Some designs eventually became Mainely Cards designs and others remain studio experiments.
Blue Lobster Cards
When I first started making cards, smaller card sizes like A2 or 4×6 intimidated me. I was learning the craft, failing at gluing, and trying to understand how different papers behaved. A smaller canvas felt unforgiving.
A larger canvas felt safer. It gave me room to experiment, make adjustments, and learn without everything feeling cramped or constrained. I stayed with larger 5×7 cards longer than I probably needed to; not because I don’t like smaller cards—I do, very much—but because I was still learning proportion, scale, and how tiny decisions can completely change how a card looks.
During that time, friends started asking if I made thank-you cards. I did—just not in the way they were imagining. I designed a 5×7 Thanks a Latte card and a 5×7 Berry Grateful card. While they liked the cards, it didn't meet their need for traditional Thank You cards. I added "create thank-you cards" to my growing list of future projects.
Nonprofit Needs
Then our charity work made the need for thank-you cards impossible to overlook. During one of our early donations through Wicked Good Cards, Michael and I asked one of our hospital partners what types of cards they needed most. They shared that they send thank-you cards frequently.
That conversation ultimately led to the Thank You collection available today.
Starting with the Blue Lobster
I started with the Blue Lobster for a simple reason: it’s the design people consistently choose when asked to pick a favorite.
In early conversations, informal feedback, and side-by-side comparisons, this card kept rising to the top. Something about it just works.
I think it's because the blue paper is unexpected, and it's delightfully shiny.
The image feels familiar but not typical. It isn’t the traditional red lobster people expect to see, and that surprise gives it a lighter, more playful feel without tipping into novelty.
Blue lobsters are rare, occurring in roughly one out of every two million lobsters. That little bit of natural history adds to the appeal without needing to be explained.
It’s also a design I’ve experimented with for a while. I’ve revisited it more than once, making small adjustments over time as my skills improved.
Because this design had such positive feedback, it felt like it was a good start.
Scaling the Blue Lobster
When I started working on the blue lobster thank-you cards, I assumed the main challenge would be size of the eyes. At a smaller scale, I was concerned they would be too tiny. I worried placement would be frustrating and inconsistent. It wasn't. The eye placement held beautifully, even at this size. Each one landed cleanly and predictably. That part of the design behaved better than I’d hoped.
What didn’t work was the right antenna. It was a detail I’d adjusted before and thought I had resolved. At its original scale, the right antenna was a tad narrow, but still usable, which made it easier to work around. Reducing the design by about 34% demonstrated otherwise. The blue glitter no-shed paper has a thin backing layer, and at a smaller scale, the narrow cut tore that backing right off.
I fought the right antenna on every single card. What I’d been working around at a larger size became far too fragile when scaled down. None of the six cards were good enough to make it into the Mainely Cards shop.
Back to the Drawing Board
The right antenna was simply too narrow to hold up, so I went back to the original artwork and fixed it at the source. I widened the antenna slightly, adjusted the proportions, and rebuilt the design rather than trying to compensate with materials or settings.
Before returning to the smaller cards, I tested the updated illustration at a larger scale.
As shown in the image below, in the earlier cut, the right antenna thins too quickly as it rises. At quick glance, it looks fine. In reality, it never quite works.
In the revised cut, the transition into the head is more generous. Instead of pulling tension into a single fragile point, the line eases into the form, allowing the structure to hold rather than fight itself.
Before returning to the A2 cards, I created a quick A7 prototype using the updated illustration. If the revision worked, it should improve the design at every size, not just the smaller format.
This was a fast build, and it shows. The lobster body isn’t perfectly straight, and the composition is slightly off center. But it does what it needed to do, and the right antenna issue is solved.
Not every prototype has the same destination, but every prototype has a purpose.
This Blue Lobster prototype doesn't meet our quality standards, but it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It revealed a problem, led to a stronger design, and made the next card better.
Mainely Yours,
Shannon
