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Welcome to the Month of Letters 2024 Logo Design Challenge!

Month of Letters, started in 2010, is a challenge that involves connecting with others via mail. We are in need of a new logo for the 2024 LetterMo challenge and for the new LetterMo website. The LetterMo Board of Directors is excited to invite you to participate in this exciting opportunity. Your task is to design a captivating and meaningful logo that represents the essence of the Month of Letters challenge.

Important Dates:

  • Submission Window: October 4 – 25, 2023
  • Design Review: October 16 – 31, 2023
  • Challenge Designers Notified: November 1, 2023
  • Selected Design Recognized: December 14, 2023

Design Guidelines:

  • Brand: The logo should incorporate the Month of Letters name and year, 2024 (LetterMo 2024).
  • Simplicity: The logo should be clean and easily recognizable, even in smaller sizes.
  • Theme: Consider incorporating elements related to letter writing, such as envelopes, quills, or handwritten script, into your design.
  • Color Palette: Creativity is encouraged; consider using colors that evoke warmth, nostalgia, and a sense of connection. The logo should work in both color and black-and-white formats.
  • Legibility: All types should be large enough to be legible in smaller formats, such as on the LetterMo website or as a social media account icon. Fonts should be accessible, ADA compliant typefaces (Example: Times New Roman, Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, and Calibri).
  • Versatility: The logo should also be adaptable, scalable, and reproducible for use on various platforms, including digital and print media.

Submission Guidelines:

  • One submission per participant.
  • Challenge participants may submit hand-drawn or digital artwork, and all submissions must be human-generated content only; AI-generated designs are not permitted.
  • All submitted work must be the original work of the entrant and must not include, be based on, or derive from any pre-existing or third-party designs, trademarks, or copyrighted images.
  • While the design may include elements of graphic design (such as Canva clipart), the overall design should be your own creation.
  • Submissions must be 1,024 px by 1,024 px.
  • Hand-drawn artwork must be submitted as the highest quality possible scanned JPEG image, with a minimum resolution of 72 dpi. File sizes should not exceed 10 MB.
  • Digital graphics must be submitted as a vector file (AI or SVG) for maximum scalability and versatility.
  • Each submission must be accompanied by a description of 1,000 characters or less explaining what the imagery represents or references and why it represents Month of Letters. The description should also explain any graphic elements used if the submission is digital art.

How to Enter:

Prize:

The winning designer will receive credit for their design. The LetterMo Board will dedicate a blog interview to you, where you are invited to post your small business and social media links and highlight your art.

Selection:

Jury selection is made by the current LetterMo Board. Notifications will be made via email by November 1, 2023; the entrant must acknowledge receipt of the selection email by November 4, 11:59/23:59 EST. The winning logo will become the official logo of the Month of Letters website and will be featured prominently on our website, social media, and promotional materials.

Judging Criteria:

  • Creativity and originality
  • Relevance to the theme and organization
  • Aesthetic appeal
  • Versatility and adaptability
  • Originality and compliance with guidelines

Disclaimers:

  • Participants grant the LetterMo Board a worldwide license to use this art for the purposes of the Month of Letters challenge, also known as LetterMo or @monthofletters.
  • By entering, participants agree to be bound by the challenge rules. Violating any rule or not following instructions may eliminate participants’ eligibility. The LetterMo Board has the right to disqualify any entrant at any time at its sole discretion.
  • The LetterMo Board reserves the right to withdraw selection if the winning participant does not acknowledge receipt of the November 1, 2023 selection email by November 4, 11:59/23:59 EST.
  • The LetterMo Board reserves the right to cancel or modify the challenge at any time, including after the submission window has closed.
  • The LetterMo Board is not liable for the purpose of selection notification in the event the entrant has provided incorrect, outdated, or otherwise invalid contact information.
  • The Challenge opens on October 4, 2023 12:01/00:01 EST and closes on October 25, 2023, 11:59/23:59 EST. Late submissions will not be considered.
  • No more than one submission per person is allowed.

We can’t wait to see your creative submissions! If you have any questions or need clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact us at LetterMo.Contact@gmail.com

Good luck, and may your designs capture the magic of the written word!

Labors of Love

Dear Lettermoians,

As we return from a long Labor Day weekend in the United States, we start to see signs of seasonal shift:

  • The third quarter edition of the United Stamps Postal Service postage catalog, Philetelic, has arrived in mailboxes.
  • Some of us are preparing our postcards for World Postcard Day (October 1).
  • Others are purchasing, pilfering, or pulling out stationery items for “-ber” monthly themes, such as school days, fall leaves, pumpkins galore, and approaching holidays.

The LetterMo Board continues to work on upcoming changes. Most recently, we virtually convened twice during the month of August to touch base on the new website’s layout and LetterMo 2024 rollout.

Last Call: Save Your Stuff

Please make sure to back up any LetterMo pen pal contact info by September 10.

Original August 2023 socials post recap: As LetterMo shifts to a new website, some information may be lost. Save any participant profile information from the LetterMo website you may wish to keep. It is recommended that all active members login to write down, print, or save electronically any directory information you may want to preserve, such as addresses, interests, or usernames.

We are looking forward to unveiling more details in the upcoming weeks, including a call for volunteers and a new LetterMo logo design contest. As always, we sincerely welcome your questions and comments at lettermo.contact@gmail.com.

Happy posting!

Work in Progress

Welcome to April, everyone.

We just wanted to let everyone know that we are beginning the process of transitioning this site to our new leadership structure.

Due to this, the page will not be reliably available in the upcoming months, as we deal with the Domain name and hosting, security, etc. We will also likely be turning off features on the site during this time.

Our Facebook group remains active, or if you need to contact the volunteer leadership team, you may reach us at LetterMo.contact@gmail.com

LetterMo 2023 Wrap-up

Welcome to March, LetterMo-ians. We have crossed the date line into March. We hope you’ve had a rewarding experience writing and receiving post for the past month. If you are so inclined, we encourage you to March on, and keep in contact with you pen pals, new and old.

This website becomes a bit of a ghost town from mid-March until January. The LetterMo.com website will be active and available to you during that stretch, however your industrious team of volunteer admins will be making improvements, and updates. This may cause minor disruptions to access to the site, but be confident we are working on it.

LetterMo.com Website Survey

In order to provide the best experience we can, we are asking 2023 LetterMo participants to give us feedback by way of a survey. Your answers will help volunteer admins know where to focus our energy.

https://tinyurl.com/LetterMo23Survey

The form has 13 questions in 5 sections, and should take about 10 minutes to complete.

GoFundMe

Thank you to those of you who contributed to the GoFundMe campaign we ran to raise the funds to keep LetterMo.com up and running for 2024.

I’m excited to say we reached our goal of $1,000, and a little beyond.

If you found LetterMo worthwhile, and still want to contribute, any additional funds we raise will be directed to the creator of LetterMo. She has generously been funding the website hosting and domain name despite turning over the care of the site to volunteer admins.

You can still donate here: https://tinyurl.com/LetterMo-2023-GoFundMe

Keep LetterMo.com Up and Running – Update

We wanted to take a moment to thank our wonderful volunteers and donors. With one week remaining in the month, we have nearly reached our GoFundMe goal of $1,000.

Thank you for those who have already donated to Keep LetterMo.com Up and Running for 2024, your contribution is greatly appreciated.

The $1,000 goal post will let us keep the site going for 2024. If we are able to exceed this goal, we will be able to reimburse the founder of the site for part of the 2023 expenses, which was paid from their personal funds.

We are also excited to welcome more members to the Volunteer Admin team for 2024. Welcome!

If you’d like to get involved, see the “How do I help?” below. There is a link to the original post, which contains more detailed information, at the bottom of this post.

So, how do I help?

https://lettermo.com/2023/02/a-message-from-your-admins-re-the-future-of-lettermo-com/

You’re Invited – Virtual Social and Write-In

Make your writing public!

LetterMo is hosting a virtual letter writing social. We have a Zoom room dedicated to the Social and Write-in, and the Volunteer Admin Team will be hosting in the room twice on the weekend of Saturday Feb 25 – Sunday Feb 26 (depending on your timezone).

If the larger online meet-up doesn’t work for you, we encourage LetterMoians to coordinate with letter writers local to them, invite friends and family to join in a real location, coordinate an online hangout with your favorite pen-pal, or simply take your letter writing to a public place.

Full invitation with passcode to enter the Zoom room can be found at these Members Only sites:

Continue reading You’re Invited – Virtual Social and Write-In

A Message from Your Admins re: the future of LetterMo.com

Open envelope with a letter inside

We like getting letters. We like sending letters. And we really like the community here on LetterMo.com

And, we bet that if you found yourself here, you like doing those things, too.

But here’s the thing, maintaining the LetterMo.com website is not without cost. Both in time and actual, fiscal cost.

And so we, the current Admins of LetterMo, are considering what the future of this fine project looks like, and what kind of help we need to get there.

TL;DR: In order to keep the LetterMo.com site alive, we need support in both time and money. If we don’t get the support, LetterMo may continue, but in a different, yet to be determined, format.

(jump to So, How do I Help?)

Continue reading A Message from Your Admins re: the future of LetterMo.com

Contribute to a Collaborative Blog Post

Want to contribute, but don’t want to commit to an entire blog post? This year we will be doing Collaborative Blog Posts (why yes, that’s a thing I just came up with).

I’ve come up with some prompts around LetterMo. The idea is that participants can pick one or more prompt, and answer it. We’ll take everyone’s contributions and compile them into a blog post.

Have a different idea, or more to say? Check out the Blog Post Idea form.

Prompts

PromptSubmit By 12pm GMT:
What tip or trick to you have for those new to writing letters?Jan. 31
Tell us about your first pen pal.Feb. 3
Cursive, print, or typed? Why?Feb. 5
Tell us about the pen pal who is farthest away from you, geographically.Feb. 8
Where is your favorite place to write letters? To read them?Feb. 11
Tell us about a letter you received / sent that has special meaning to you.Feb. 13
How do you personalize your letters?Feb. 16
Describe your ideal pen pal.Feb. 18
Why do you write letters or postcards?Feb. 21
What is the most interesting thing you’ve received/ sent via the mail?Feb. 23
What stories have you seen / read / heard that include letter-writing as an essential part of the plot or style?Feb. 25

You can submit your contributions via the Collaborative Blog Post Form



LetterMo 2023 Orientation

Welcome, or welcome back, to LetterMo 2023. There is a lot going on here on the Month of Letters site, as well as the related Facebook groups, I thought I’d create a handy Orientation. This is an overview of how you can engage with this site, with links to more information on any given topic.

Top Bar Menu

While some of the features on the LetterMo.com site are open to the public, many of the more interactive features require you to be logged in. These included the forums, participants and downloadable resources. If you are not logged as a participant, selecting these links will direct you back to the main site.

Forums: There are several discussion boards with various threads. This is where you can engage with fellow participants, through introductions and other topics. The best place to start? https://lettermo.com/forums/topic/lettermo-2023-start-here/

About the Challenge: A bit about the history of LetterMo, and it’s goals.

FAQ: Answers to 25 common questions about LetterMo.

Blog / Journal: Blogs, Articles and Journal Entries by Lettermo Contributors (If you’d like to contribute, check out this post.)

Participants: This page has a few options. One shows you all current members of the LetterMo.com site. One shows you all the folks you’ve created friendships with. The last allows you to search for members, by name, user name, country, or keywords in participants’ bios.

Resources: A few resources, including list of national post services, and mail missions – organizations where you can send letters for specific groups, like deployed military.

Profile: Available once you’ve logged in. The URL will be https://lettermo.com/members/YourUserName/profile/ You can access it from the top menu bar, or in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Screen capture of profile menu - Activity | Profile | Notifications | Friends | Forums | Settings
Screen capture of the Profile Menu options.
  • Activity – Post an update, view your activity from the site, mentions, favorites, and friends’ activities. https://lettermo.com/members/YourUserName/
  • Profile – View or edit your profile, change your profile picture or update your status. https://lettermo.com/members/YourUserName/profile/
  • Letters –
  • Notifications – Where you can find friend requests, and other information from the LetterMo.com site. https://lettermo.com/members/YourUserName/notifications/
  • Friends -A list of your friends, and folks requesting to be your friend. https://lettermo.com/members/YourUserName/friends/
  • Forums – A summary of your activity on the forums, including topics you started, replies you’ve made, and subscriptions https://lettermo.com/members/YourUserName/forums
  • Settings – Update your password, what emails you’d like to recieve, and profile visibility. https://lettermo.com/members/YourUserName/settings/

Contact: Where you can find Month of Letters on the internet, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Lego man with map and compass

Hopefully this helps you find your way around the LetterMo website, and as always, if you still have questions, just ask.

Welcome to A Month Of Letters 2021

Hello Letter Moians!

It’s finally February 1 and Day 1 of A Month of Letters Challenge. We would not be here without the hard work of the dedicated volunteer Admin team so a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to them!

You can still sign up to participate but please be aware there are real live humans who review and approve each registration to keep spam bots out of the site.

We are aware there is an email glitch and some people are getting notifications while some are not.

  • If you have registered up and haven’t received approval within 36 hours, try to log in with the information you registered with. 
    • If you still have problems or need to reset your password, contact via contact form or DM on Facebook. Again, there are real humans trying to help so please be kind and patient.

If you have not yet done so, please log in and head to members only forums and the Introduction thread and say hello! It is also a good time to check your profile settings – new members should be accepting penpal requests and please indicate when you write: in February only (but mindful of the LetterMo pledge, see below) or year round.

A quick reminder of LetterMo etiquette and pledge:

  • Those who request a friend should write first
  • Reply to every letter you receive even if it takes you past February and beyond.

If you want to share your happy mail, please apply to join our private Facebook Group A Month of Letters Challenge 2021 (you will need your username to apply; real humans check this) and post your outgoing/incoming mail in the Daily Mail Call or if you are on social media, tag #LetterMo2021 on Twitter @LetterMonth or Instagram @MonthOfLetters. Please cover up addresses of sender/recipient to respect everyone’s privacy.

Happy Letter Writing and Have Fun!

Stay safe and kind out there!

LetterMo Postmaster

Here’s some fun from LetterMo member Christy!

🎶 Letters will go out, tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
there’ll be mail.
Just writing a friend, tomorrow,

with your own words, or words that you’ve borrowed, or share a tale.
When I’m stuck with a day, that’s gray and lonely
I just pick up a pen, write a friend and say:
Oh
The post’ll arrive, tomorrow
So just write back, day after tomorrow, to convey
You like mail
You make friends
You share things
and then send – your reply’s only a day away!