Senior Gerald Llorence has opened up his post office box to letters from anyone in the world as part of his senior graphic design project. All graphic design majors complete an open-ended, self-directed project to complete their curriculum.

“Letters have always been something I’m interested in,” Llorence said. “I’ve been sending letters back and forth to a friend from high school. It’s interesting to me because of how the postal service is going bankrupt, so letters have become an antiquated form of communication.”

According to the United States Postal Service’s website, “in an increasingly digital world, the Postal Service remains part of the bedrock infrastructure of the American economy.”

However, the website’s statistics prove Llorence’s point that written mail is a declining medium. In 2008, the total volume of mail delivered was 202 billion pounds. But by 2011, the total mail volume was down to 168 billion pounds, including mail and packages.

Mason Brennan, a senior graphic design major who helped publicize Llorence’s project, found that getting people to send letters was more difficult than expected.

“The project highlights the fact that people don’t send as many letters as they used to,” Brennan said. “We originally were trying to find out why letters weren’t being sent, but found that this project just reinforces the fact that they aren’t.”

Llorence’s motivation for doing this project reflects his personal experiences with letter writing. 

“I tend to ramble a lot when I talk. One of the things I’ve noticed about writing letters is that people tend to ramble when they write them. There’s less self-editing. People tend to correct themselves more when writing e-mails,” Llorence said.

Janet Kazmirski, the post office supervisor at St. Edward’s, has seen many international students send postcards to relatives.

“I’d say the word is more personal. It shows that somebody took more time, because they had to go buy a card, and get a stamp. It takes more time and effort,” Kazmirski said.

Llorence aims to collect communications that best portray their authors as human beings.

“I’ve been trying to collect [the letters] into some sort of book. I’m planning on photographing the letters and then installing them into the space,” Llorence said.

Llorence has obtained letters from people ranging from personal friends to residents of other countries. A student from University of Texas at Austin who Llorence did not personally know sent him a list of ten good things that happened to her that day. He has also received letters from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

“I’ve put the word out there in a lot of different ways,” Llorence said. “I’m on a website called PenPal, and I also have advertised the project through a blog. I’ve put postcards in random places in Austin … I’d say [letter reception] is varying. It’s a lot of work for someone to write a full letter.”

Llorence may occasionally provide small prompts, such as asking potential sender what they think of the medium of written mail, or a simple request to tell him a story. However, his project encourages open content above all else. 

Senior graphic design projects will be on display in the art gallery on Feb. 15.