Guest post by my lifelong friend, Erin Eisinger (postscript at the end from me):

Well, here we are—February 2025. I had hoped we’d be shipping the last of our first run of Time Cards, a collaboration between my design shop, Four By North, and Studio Tigress, a purveyor of small-batch home goods in Portland. It’s the story of two Akron natives—me and Sara Kinnamon (now Fritsch)—reconnecting later in life and channeling a shared passion for creativity and intentionality into something we were excited to make together.

But life had other plans. A catastrophic flood in Valencia, Spain (where my lead designer and printer live) and, more recently, devastating wildfires near my home in Pasadena stalled our production. It just doesn’t feel right to heavily promote a product about envisioning a fantastic year when so many around us have, quite literally, lost everything. (WATCH ERIN’S VIDEO discussing this)

Still, my friend Liz Scott (another Akron native and small-biz owner) encouraged me to share the story anyway—just differently than I originally planned.

Time Cards started as a companion to Sara’s beautiful single-page calendars, which let you see your whole year at a glance. When my family filled ours in last year, I realized the process could be more than just useful—it could be so fun. What if planning the year felt like gathering around a game board, sparking meaningful conversations along the way?

So I playtested other prompt games, built paper prototypes, and roped in friends and family. The biggest takeaway? The conversations were the real magic. I rewrote the prompts to invite imagination, along with practicality, because dreaming together matters.

And now, after evacuating from the fires, I’d add even more cards—ones about emergency preparedness, community service, and documenting the little things. Because design is a constant process of learning and evolving, and Time Cards are meant to help us reflect, imagine, and create the moments that comprise, well, life.

Our home is safe, aside from some smoke and ash damage, and our daughter is back in school. We are incredibly fortunate. The only real casualty for us was a product launch that wasn’t. But there’s always time.

Erin Eisinger
Founder, CEO / Four By North

POSTSCRIPT from Liz

Erin and i have known each other since Kindergarten at Fairlawn Elementary, here in Akron, and while I don’t yet know Sara, I am friends with her mom, Susan, through garden club. The Kinnamons lived around the corner from Erin, on Overwood, back in the day. It’s a very small word, indeed.

Erin’s hudband, Mehmet, created the artwork for the cards and each set contains two types of cards:

Save Those Dates are events or dates that are easy to fill out because they’re generally known. Think of 3-day weekends, birthdays, and holidays, etc. 

What Could Be? These cards prompt us to consider new possibilities and how we might incorporate them into our life and onto our calendar.

This is the second year I have purchased a large Studio Tigress calendar. They are stunning, both in their beauty and simplicity. It’s wonderful to see a year at once. While I’ve used it mostly for travel planning, I was jazzed to hear Erin’s idea for the Time Cards, as she was developing them, and now I’m excited to actually use the cards as prompts for Blair and I to plan out happy and necessary events throughout the year.

Akron makes good people, especially women!