Lizy Del BustoCommercial Illustration · Direct Mail · Print Design
Dental Clinic Direct-Mail Campaign
An illustrated envelope that opens like a mouth, created to introduce Patricia Acanda to dental clinics across Madrid.
Project details
Patricia Acanda wanted a high-impact mailing to introduce her consultancy to dental clinics across Madrid. I turned the envelope itself into the idea: a mouth that opens to reveal the message.
I developed the concept, copy, illustration, folding structure and print-ready artwork.
An envelope that opens like a mouth
Dental clinics spend their days looking into open mouths, so the envelope became one. On the outside, the flap is a row of teeth with braces that bites down when the envelope is closed, above the first line: "Prepárate para la inspección de tu clínica dental", get ready for your dental clinic’s inspection.
The illustrated card carries Patricia’s offer in a single phrase: "La inspección no debería darte dolor de muelas", the inspection shouldn’t give you a toothache. One green molar with crossed-out eyes is the tooth having a bad day. The pun connects the physical format, the dental industry and what Patricia actually does, so the message is remembered along with the envelope.
Fully opened
Unfolded, the inside of the envelope is a full illustrated mouth: pink gums and two rows of teeth around a green opening where the message sits. The outside stays plain green with white type, so the surprise only arrives when someone opens it.
That moment of opening is the campaign. It turns a commercial mailing into something people want to show the person at the next desk.
Dieline and measurements
Because the illustration wraps around folds, it had to be drawn to the dieline from the start. I built the artwork on the flat template, with every flap, glue tab and fold measured in centimetres, so the braces land on the edge of the flap and nothing important disappears into a fold.
From that template I prepared the print-ready files for production.
Colour explorations
I tried the mouth in different colourways during development: a realistic red, visible on the dieline, and an inverted version with green gums and a pink opening.
The final combination keeps the gums pink and the opening green, so the inside picks up the colour of the envelope and the message sits on the same green as the outside.
The final design
The produced design pairs soft pink gums and cream teeth with the green of the envelope, and keeps one green molar as the tooth that hurts. Hand-drawn texture on the teeth and gums makes it feel warm and a little funny, which is what makes illustrated direct mail worth opening.
Printed and sent
The campaign was printed and used for Patricia’s outreach to dental clinics in Madrid. Results are still being collected.