About Positive Post

Positive Post was developed by Alanna MacGowan, Marisa Mickelson, Kimberly Shedrick and Benjamin K. Shown for Kristine Matthews's Exhibition Design course at the University of Washington, Seattle.

The challenge was to design an exhibition space to address an issue of our choice. Our answer to this quest was to address our yearning for good old fashioned snail mail. Technology has done wonders for communication but nothing can compare with the experience of sending and receiving a personal message by post. Coupled with a desire to spread some positivity, Positive Post was born.

We proposed this traveling exhibition would consist of a renovated delivery truck that travels across the United States, offering free postcards to participants at stops along the way. The truck would visit farmers markets and other outdoor venues, converting into a mini exhibition and display space.

At each venue, visitors can select a postcard of their choice, and write their card on tables/seats that resemble packing boxes. The box surfaces are plastered with handy addresses, including Ellen Degeneres, President Obama, and Tina Fey.

We provide the stamps and only ask that the participants allow us to temporarily display their cards before sending them on their way. We also invite participants to be filmed reading their cards, and show selected clips on a video screen within the display space (and here on the website).

The main attraction, the postcards, are lovingly silkscreened on reclaimed chipboard in an array of eye-catching colors. Eight different fill-in-the-blank phrases encourage the sender to personalize the card of their choice for their lucky recipient. The back of each card is hand-stamped with a custom rubber stamp.

To test our idea, we executed a mini version of the exhibition using a customized mail cart, over 300 hand-silkscreened postcards, three cameras, two handmade mailbags and a whole lot of optimism. We wheeled our Write On! goods to several locations on the University of Washington campus over two days and visited a local farmers market one brisk Saturday morning.

The response was overwhelming and thrilling. Our hunch that technology can never replace the passion that goes into the written word was proved beyond a doubt. With the help of our enthusiastic participants, we successfully sent over 200 postcards, spreading good cheer to over nine countries.

That's a lot of positivity!

But we don't want to stop there. What started out as a school project has turned into a mission! If you, or someone you know, has the power to help bring this project to life in its entirety, we would love to hear from you!

Write us at: dearfriend[at]positivepost[dot]org