When Rachel reached out to me in January to design an invitation for Dan's and her joint 40th & 50th birthdays, she wanted something special that would inspire people to travel to New York from all over the world to celebrate this occasion with them, turning "The Decades Party" they had thrown for their 30th & 40th years earlier into something of a tradition.

They had booked the new rooftop restaurant Nubeluz by José Andrés at The Ritz Carlton NoMad in New York City, and were planning sunset cocktails, stylish passed nibbles, and dancing the night away in some serious platform heels. I immediately envisioned blocks of ritzy and stylized typography reminiscent of the inimitable New York City skyline...and we played around with several versions of the wording that would allow us to highlight the letters LET'S PARTY, sparsely scattered around the page in gold foil.

She didn't want white paper - "I don't want it to look like a wedding invite!" I remember her insisting...so we chose a light warm grey and created a dramatic folded piece that would unfold and introduce both scale and surprise.