Welcome to Graphic Design Tips

You´re the Host!

When you design a greeting card, your card is actually becoming a "host" or intermediary from one person to another. Your card sends a message for the purchaser. Some of the reasons to send a card are:

Birthdays
Religious Ocassions
Inspirational Reasons
Friendship (support, wish-you-were-here, pleas to pay attention "please write," and thanks)
Formal Thank-Yous
Romantic Love
Sympathy

What´s In There Now?

If you have a degree in graphic design, that may get you in the door for a job in the field. The most important accreditation you can have is your portfolio. If you want to illustrate medical texts, have a clean and creative portfolio showing your skills with anatomy. If you want that job as project manager, you best have some projects already behind you. Or, at least, have the experience of already working with a team on a project. Applying for project manager requires a portfolio of work as well as a resume of management in the graphic design field.

Missed a Season?

If you´ve missed the market for the spring season in greeting cards, don´t forget that the other hemisphere is ripe for your finished work. When it´s spring up north, it´s fall down south. The perfect place for year-round greetings are in the online greeting card markets.

Developing a Line

Most greeting card publishers like to see a line of similar styles they can publish as a package. Pick a style of rendering, such as realistic, whimsical or humorous, and develop a series of ten to twelve cards that you can try to market to publishers. They can be for various ocassions, but often sympathy cards are sold individually. Think birthday, all-ocassion or thank-yous for your series.

Online Cards

There´s a whole new market of greeting cards that are now available online. Some employ the use of animation or Flash, some are rendered as blank postcards. Take a long look around to see who might be interested in your style, and send them samples as required on their submission forms.

Frame Your Work

There are many styles in the greeting card industry. When you do your research at stores, notice how many cards have their own "frame" or border. Use pattern books from the textile industry to come up with your own creative motifs to frame your artwork in within the card´s format.

Your Market

Unless you want to spend a great deal of time figuring out who your market is, and develop the line of greeting cards yourself, you will be dealing with a greeting card publisher. When you sign on with this publisher, the company itself becomes your market. They will tell you what they need, and the format they want the cards illustrated. This will simplifiy your greeting card market research!

Active Verbs

The goal is to mention accomplishments and results, not just activities. Avoid phrases such as "participated in," "researched," or "was a team member" as they give no clue to your participation in the final result of a given project. Try using active verbs such as "increased," "built," "finalized," and "exceeded" to get your point across.

Who sends cards?

When designing a greeting card, remember your market. Women buy and send approximately 90% of all greeting cards. Is this because cards are often too feminine? If you want to design cards for men to buy and send, have a strong selling point for the company who might buy your cards to develop.

Charming Style

The "charming" greeting card is mostly for the women´s market. Often you will see caricatures of animals rendered realistically in a scene of activity. Motifs include hearts, balloons, flowers and patterns that are found in wallpaper designs in backgrounds and borders. The printing process is often four-color, and the style is more traditional.

Write Your Own

Often, a greeting card publisher will require you to write your own text. Don´t worry - just head to the library and loan some books on quotes and poetry. Don´t plagiarize! Just take ideas and make them your own in your own words.

Animals, animals, animals

Drawing animals in realistic, whimsical, humorous or any other style is popular, no matter what the ocassion might be. Keep seasonal and regional content in mind. Kangaroos are not found anywhere but Australia. Certain birds are not found in some parts of the world. You often won´t find bears in snow. Unless you´re rendering a card that is humorous, keep these tips in mind.

Plan Your Colors

Plan your colors before you begin. If your cards are for a certain season, such as Halloween, your palette is already limited. On other ocassions, such as a birthday, you have unlimited palettes - but - remember that soft pinks will not sell for men, and browns will not be popular with women. Often, a bright and primary color palette will fit both genders in this category of card.

Read Between The Lines

When applying to classified advertising, beware of what the prospect is defining in their terms for employment. When you read a job entry for a desktop publisher, yet you see the skill level to include qualities for a creative director, then you are actually applying for a CD position at a desktop publishing pay scale. Some employers may not realize they are asking too much for too little. Others are trying to get as much as they can for as little as possible. The only way to define this is to apply and try for the interview.

Graphic Style

The graphic card is good for any ocassion. Often you will find no text on the front, and the illustration often bleeds on the format. The style is good for pattern work - you might design a line that is similar to tiles. It´s also good for simple yet dramatic use of color and contrast. This style is good for "blank" cards.

Humorous Cards

Men will often buy cards that are realistic or humorous. This is a very open card market, and people use these cards for almost all categories except for sympathy or religious reasons. The cards can be rendered as realistic, but more often you see whimsical or simple line drawings that put the text into focus.

Country Look

This is a popular style with women. The best way to learn this style is to study the artwork of American Primitive artists like Granda Moses. The style is simplistic, and can be printed either in flat or four-color process. This style is popular with many reasons for sending a card, and the market is still strong for this type of rendering.

Whimsical Style

Whimsical cards often use caricatures to represent the focus. The style is less traditional, and these cards are often printed in flat color rather than four-color process. These cards are good styles for birthdays, wishing well and other light-hearted messages. You won´t find "whimsical" in the sympathy card market.