Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back x Moonpig Card Mosaic

Here in the Moonpig office, we’re fanatical about the one and only galaxy that is far, far away. To celebrate the joy the franchise has given us over the last 40 years we built a shrine to Star Wars in our new office. From Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to Chewbacca and R2-D2, how could we possibly show how much we adore Star Wars? With a Moonpig card mosaic, of course! From a distance, the artwork looks just like an image from one of the most iconic scenes across the entire Star Wars saga, but take a closer peek and you’ll see a 4.7 metre-high mosaic made completely from Star Wars Moonpig cards.

Thanks to dozens of Moonpig employees and countless hours planning and building we created a Star Wars mosaic unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. The mosaic features 676 individual greetings cards, and it’s safe to say even Darth Vader would be impressed by our creativity.

How We Did It

Step 1: Picked A Design

Star Wars evokes nostalgia in everyone it encounters and to hit all the sentimental notes, we made the design process an important part of the project. It’s tough to encapsulate everything Star Wars stands for in one single image, but we knew we had to choose an iconic moment. What better way to make the hairs on everyone’s neck stand up than with Luke Skywalker’s first showdown with villain and (spoiler alert) father Darth Vader? This scene happens in Episode V: Empire Strikes Back and this epic battle at the Cloud City was chosen as the base image of our mosaic.

Step 2: Printed The Cards

For the next stage, we brought together some brilliant minds to map out how to turn nearly 700 Moonpig cards into one seriously oversized image. Thanks to the incredible imaginations of our design and print teams, and Photoshop, we turned the artwork from 676 cards into one mosaic. The final size was 486 centimetres tall x 348 wide, and that's one large rectangle. We weren’t in the clear just yet, we still had to create a system that would allow us to build the artwork easily on the day. Thankfully, we found a solution: each card was given a letter (the row) and a number (the column), which then corresponded to a grid we printed and placed on the floor of our Moonpig HQ.

Step 3: Brought The Art To Life

With our plan set, building the image was the final step of this epic project. Four trusty volunteers arrived extra early that morning and were met with 169 greeting cards each and a gigantic map to stick them onto. Fuelled by the encouragement of seeing their masterpiece slowly take shape, the hardy Star Wars fans stuck at their task for more than six hours (with the odd tea break included, of course). Along the way, they were supported by a duo of Stormtroopers, who took some time away from crushing the rebellion to demand our team stick faster. Thankfully, we were a little better at keeping to our schedule than the Empire with their Death Star – and the mosaic was completed on time.

How The Office Reacted

The day before the build, Moonpig employees were encouraged to come dressed as their favourite Star Wars characters – and we were amazed by everyone's fancy dress. Throughout the day, we were joined by everyone’s favourite Wookie Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and even Jar Jar Binks. Whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not (we challenge you to not be one after the new film), projects like this really bring out creativity and imagination. Is your boyfriend the biggest fan or how about nan (we know how much she adores Yoda), either way we have hundreds of Star Wars cards and gifts perfect for all the fans in your life.