Create a Collection of Six Greeting Cards

Intro to the Card Business

Introduce Yourself
Go to the DISCUSSIONS tab of this class and introduce yourself .

Tell me:
- How did you get interested in the card business?
- What is the one burning question you hope to have answered in this class?
- What part of the world do you live in? East/West/rural/urban?
- What if any experience do you have in Art, design, writing or DIY projects?
Thanks!

-Kate
Look at Card Businesses
A) Look at Small Handmade and Alternative Card Businesses:

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/handmade-greeting-card-businesses.html

B. Look at a mid-sized company:

http://www.leanintree.com/

C.Look at a large corporation that publishes cards:

http://www.americangreetings.com/
Look at Publishers Who License
View Companies For Licensing:

If you are interested in licensing your designs (versus manufacturing and selling cards) look at the following webpage of over 50 companies who license card designs from artists for royalties. All terms and submission requirements differ.

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/10-card-publishers-artist-and-writer.html

*Note that some website landing pages can change. You might have to search on the site to find the location of the submission guidelines.
Look at Greeting Card Jobs
Look at examples of jobs in the greeting card industry.

• Note: Since job listing pages change frequently, read instructions for locating jobs on each site.

American Greetings
http://corporate.americangreetings.com/careers/whoweare.html
or go to homepage http://corporate.americangreetings.com/ and select "careers."

Hallmark
http://www.hallmark.com/careers/
or go to homepage http://www.hallmark.com/ and select "careers" under "opportunities."

Papyrus
http://www.papyrusonline.com/about-papyrus/employment
or go to homepage http://www.papyrusonline.com/ and select "about us" and "employment."

DaySpring

http://about.dayspring.com/corporate/employment/
or go to homepage http://www.dayspring.com/ and select "about DaySpring" and "employment."

Leanin' Tree
http://www.leanintree.com/jobs.html
or go to homepage http://www.leanintree.com/ and select "employment."
Look at Apps, Crowdsourcing and Online Companies
Go to this link to see a list of ways venues for selling cards online:

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/venues-for-selling-greeting-cards-online.html
Rank Your Interest
Look at the diagram below about the different ways you can enter the greeting card business.

1. Rank the order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in terms of priority, of which ways you would like to try.

Note:

• The green boxes indicate easy entry into the business, but this does not mean you cannot try the other ways. For example, if you have experience in computer graphics, working for a company might also be an easy entry for you.

Select a Card Size

Review Different Card Sizes
Look at the variety of card sizes used in the industry.
Evaluate Your Card Size
CARD SIZES FOR RACKS

If you plan on selling your cards in retail stores with racks, ask yourself if you have selected a card size that might face the following obstacles:

1. It is horizontally designed?

2. Is it square?

3. Is it too small?

Online and Direct Selling

If you are sure you will not sell cards for store racks, then you can expand your design orientation to include horizontal.
Review the Most Common Sizes
If possible, try to use the most popular card sizes of 5x7 and 4.5x6, especially if you plan to sell in retail stores.
Buy Supplies (optional)
Handmade Cards

If you plan to make your cards by hand, you will need a small quantity of the following items for your project:
- Card Stock
- Envelopes
- Cellophane Bags
Designing a Card on the Computer

If you plan to design cards digitally, then you should some type of graphic design software. You can start with a vertical card layout of 5x7 (or 4.5 x 6)

ENVELOPES TIPS

• The envelope size for a 5x7 card is an A-7.

• The envelope size for a 4.5x6 card is an A-6

PAPER TIPS

• Try to get thick paper, minimum weight 60 pound card stock.

• You can buy large sheets of card stock from a printer and have it cut it down to the size you want.

CELLOPHANE BAGS

• Purchase the bag size to fit your cards. Avoid bags that have to be sealed or ones that have a fold-over flap since it involved more labor

• If you do handmade cards, you will probably want to purchase cello bags for each card, to protect it from handling, especially if they are going to be displayed on a shelf.

WHERE TO PURCHASE SUPPLIES

You can often find card stock and envelopes at your local office supply stores, art supply stores, stationery stores or photocopy stores. If you locate any, try the following companies or search for "blank greeting cards" on Google.

Strathmore http://www.strathmoreartist.com/index.html

Jo-Ann http://www.joann.com/

Amazon http://www.amazon.com

Etsy http://www.etsy.com/

NOTE ON PRICES

When you first start out, supplies will seem expensive, but as you increase your sales, you can buy larger quantities and the price goes down significantly. Printers will also precut and fold cards for you.

Design a Symbol and Background

Play the Symbols Game
Look at the following symbols.

• Select which symbols might best represent a message for a greeting card occasion? Try to evaluate what greeting categories you think the symbol might work well with. Some might have multiple categories.

• Do this step before looking at the answers on the next step.
Get the Symbols Answers
Here are the answers to the prior step.

• The red symbols can be easily associated with an occasion or holiday, when compared to the black symbols.

• The black symbols would need to take an extra step to communicate a message, perhaps by tying in text to bridge the occasion.

For example a guitar is not a clear visual symbol for a card occasion by itself, but perhaps by adding text "your friendship makes me sing" would tie the image with the guitar. This would become a friendship card.

Selected and labelled Image Choices.
Play the Text-Space Game
Look at the following designs and decide how to create space for text. Answers to follow.
Get the Text-Space Answers
Here are some possible ways to create room for text on the prior examples.

• Notice how the design was shifted to allow for text.
Create You Own Symbols
• Create several symbols for Birthday, Thank You, Friendship and Love.

• If you are a photographer, it's possible the photo is already a symbol or message. For example, a photo of a birthday cake would clearly symbolize the occasion.

• Tip: Flowers are an all-around acceptable symbol for a lot of cards.
Create a Background
1. Create background art that is decorative and lightly colored, but does not interfere with text or symbols.

2. Combine symbols with background. Leave open space for text.

Notes:If you are using photography, you may not need a symbol if the photo represents a symbol.

3. Create six cards with the following occasions:
- 3 Birthday cards
- 1 Thank you card
- 1 Friendship card
- 1 Love card
4. Make all the cards the same style and colors, as if they belong in a collection.
Post Your Beginning Sketches in the Gallery
It's helpful to see the process each student goes through before they put their cards together. Post your preliminary designs in the gallery. Then you might also get some feedback at this early stage of creating your line.

If you have any problems uploading your images, read the side bar Q&A entry on uploading photos.

Write Six Sentiments

Expand Your Audience #1: Text Challenge
How could you take this text and expand it to a wider audience of buyers?
Expand Your Audience #1: Answer
Here are some possibilities for changing the text:
Expand Your Audience #2: Text Challenge
How could you take this text and expand it to a wider audience of buyers?
Expand Your Audience #2: Answer
Here are some possibilities for changing the text:
Expand Your Audience #3: Text Challenge
How could you take this text and expand it to a wider audience of buyers?
Expand Your Audience #3: Answer
Here are some possibilities for changing the text:
Write Six Verses.
Create 6 Greeting Card Sentiments for the following occasions:

• 3 Birthday sentiments

• 1 Thank You sentiment

• 1 Friendship sentiment

• 1 Love sentiment

Tips for Writing Sentiments:

• Try to keep it short and to the point.

• Write as if you were talking to someone while having coffee.

• Think of a real person you know when you write the sentiment.

• Avoid writing for imaginary people.

• Try to be upbeat or humorous.

Turning a Sentiment into an Occasion:

If you write a sentiment you like, but don't know how to make it into an occasion, try to find a bridge between the two, for example here is a statement that was turned into a thank you card.

OUTSIDE: It's not easy being a superhero.

INSIDE: But YOU sure make it look like it is. Thanks.

Need Ideas? Here's a list of exercises:

• What have you said lately that made someone laugh?

• What do you secretly wish you could say to your child, spouse, friend, parent?

• What would your pet say?

• What is obvious to you about the world, but nobody seems to notice?
Tally Senders and Recipients.
For each of your six verses, determine how wide your market is for your sentiment. Refer to the "Market Checksheet" for each sentiment and tally the number of senders and recipients.

Make a Card out of Anything

Make a Card Out of Anything
If you aren't sure how to make a card out of your design style, examine several pieces of your art and see if you can make a "card out of anything" as demonstrated in the video.
- Make space for text.
- Make space for symbol if image does not include symbol.
- Try to avoid dark colors when possible.
- Experiment with lettering on color blocks.
Solve Background Problems
If you have an art style with a lot of patterns in the background, try to remove some of the pattern and make space for an image and words.
Solve Dark Problems
If you have a dark and busy background, try to make the color more uniform, and then add light text on top.
Put Text on Challenging Images
If you aren't sure what kind of card your image could be used for, experiment with all kinds of text to make "the leap" to a common occasion.
Use Color Blocks on Odd Sizes
If you have an unusal sized image and you can't figure out how where to add text, try using blocks of color with text on top.

Add the Text and Font

Put Text on Your Card
Put your sentiment onto your card in the open spaces you have allowed for. To allow the text to fit in the space:
- Adjust font size.
- Adjust line height.
- Use the space bar.
Create Your Own Font
To make your cards look different than other cards, experiment with creating your own font with a font generator. There are many font-generator options. The following examples are ones I made from YourFonts

Font Form Examples

Here's an example of how you submit a handwritten form before your font is created.

You can also create fonts made of of images.

Sell Cards

Create a Crossover Card
After designing your love card, make it into a Valentine's card either by changing the words or colors.
Learn How Sales Reps Work
Visit this webpage "Sales Reps 101" to learn how to work with sales reps:

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/greeting-card-sales-reps-101.html
Find Sales Reps
Go to the webpage

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-find-greeting-card-sales-rep-tip.html

Review the extensive resourses and links on how you can find a greeting card sales rep.
Look at Publisher Guidelines
1. Look at publisher submission guidelines:

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/10-card-publishers-artist-and-writer.html

Review the companies and their submission guidelines for submitting your designs to publishers.

2. View sample guidelines of one company:

Here is a sample of a typical submission guidelines:
Describe Cards in a Sentence
Try to describe your card style in one sentence, as if the person cannot see them. How would you describe them verbally to make them sound interesting and different?

Here are some examples:
Get Feedback
Talk to stores, consultants and customers before printing a lot of cards, or before asking a sales rep to carry your line. If you want a list of consultants who work in the greeting card, licensing and gift industry, visit this webpage.

Final Project: Create a Card Line

Create a Card Line
• Design 6 cards.

• If you can't think of 6 different designs, take one image and create several versions of it. In the example below, I demonstrated how an artist could take one image and make a line out of it.

• Try to make your overall style look like it belongs to the same "family" of cards.

• Think about how your line might look on a catalog sheet all together.

• Try to use the same colors on every card.

• Limit your color palette to 3 or 4 colors.
Select a Name for Your Line
Try to create a name that sounds unusual or interesting, so that someone might say "what's that about? Show it to me."
Look at Sample Lines
Do a search on Google for "Greeting Card Lines" and "Greeting Card Collections." Look at examples of card lines.

Ask yourself:
- Is there a theme?
- Are the colors unified?
- How many are there in the line?
Also look on Etsy.com

• Remember to use your own ideas, and don't try to imitate another artist or copy art.
Post Your Line in the Gallery
Put your line in the gallery for feedback. Do this by:

1. Click on the PROJECTS tab:

2. Upload your cover image and all additional images.

Upload a PROJECT COVER PHOTO that goes on the front of your gallery.

You also need to upload additional images to go inside your project.

3. Answer these questions:

Click the "Start Your Project" link below to open up your personal Project Workspace and answer the following questions:

-What is the name of your card line?

-How did you them (by hand, digital, combo, etc)?

-What is your greeting card philosophy? In other words, what is the overall message you want to communicate through your cards? (Inspire and motivate, make people laugh, offer support, etc)

-What is your next step in your greeting card life (get professional feedback, expand this line, create a new line, etc)?

-What kind of feedback would be helpful from your classmates?
Put Your Cards Out into the World
Besides posting your cardline on Skillshares website, do one of the following things:

Option 1:

Interview a local store manager. Ask them
- Do you think these would sell?
- Which card is the best?
- Which one should I drop?
- What is a good retail price for the cards?
Option 2:

Hire a professional consultant and get feedback on your line. A list of consultants that work in the gift industry can be found on this webpage:

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/p/artist-video-meetings.html

Option 3:

Submit your 6 designs to one of the following card publishers:

http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/10-card-publishers-artist-and-writer.html

~

Also consider submit your line to Greeting Card Designer Blog. If it meets industry standards and project guidelines, I may feature it on my blog. Many readers are publishers, reps and retail stores. Submission guidelines are here at the bottom of the post.
Stay Connected!
Join this private facebook page for greeting card designers:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/greetingcarddesigner/

This is a great place to show your artwork, get feedback and ask questions.

Thanks! -Kate

Jenny Williams

Writer, Editor, Artist

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