Design cards for birthday. Making a postcard for a birthday. How to order birthday or anniversary cards

On the Yudu website, you can choose performers for: creating printing products for an anniversary, designing a birthday card, and creating other greeting products. Yuda has a wide list of performers from various professional fields who professionally design birthday cards. You can create an order for a postcard design yourself or choose the necessary master. Professionals in the field of printing, polygraphy, design and production of printed products are at your service.

How to order birthday or anniversary cards

A convenient platform for selecting the necessary specialist has been created for site visitors. In order to select and order the services of the necessary specialist, you are advised to decide on a number of parameters that will help you quickly select the right freelancer:

The level of preparation of the designer. This is an important parameter that shows the professional skills of the performer; you can determine them by viewing the resume of the master. It is by him that one can judge what the master can create and what not. Typically, qualified performers try to demonstrate their portfolio, after analyzing which one can draw a general conclusion about the skills of a specialist. However, it is increasingly happening that younger and somewhat inexperienced specialists are much more productive in fulfilling an order.
Design and production of postcards. The production of modern printing products requires knowledge of a huge number of programs. A high-quality design of a birthday or anniversary card will require maximum concentration from the master and the use of many of his skills
Creation and development of design. As a rule, not only the designer is involved in the development of the design of greeting products, but also other specialists who determine the required quality of printing and other subtleties of postcard production.
The choice between freelancing or a professional team. You can create a postcard by the efforts of one master or with the help of a whole team, the quality indicators are the same here. However, freelancing artists usually take on low-cost projects.

The cost of services of performers on the Yudu platform

Yudu's policy is that the site does not interfere with questions about the prices for the services of performers. Yudu is a platform where the performer and the customer meet. However, it is fair to say that the prices of performers on the site do not differ much from the market ones. Even an average inexpensive birthday or anniversary card project that was commissioned from a team of professionals will cost sky-high prices, which is not the case with a quality birthday card commissioned from a Yudu freelancer.

Agency services have always been offered at an inflated rate, as organizational costs do not allow the development of a product accessible to all. Making a postcard is a process that is not difficult for a professional agency, but designers will always try to offset the costs of non-permanent orders.

Let's start with the fact that the international market for postcards is very large! So you have a wide field for activity! For example, only in England last year the postcard market was estimated at 1.38 billion pounds. It's not very sour! There are over 800 postcard publishers in England alone. Postcards are sold in every sixth store. Any store! The average Englishman receives 31 postcards a year. Those. people buy and give postcards in some wild quantities. And it's great! This means that if you have the talent and desire to do this, then you can make good money. About HOW exactly you can earn money, I will tell in the next article, this one is dedicated to design! I’ll note right away that your geographical location does NOT affect your ability to work in the international market.

1 - On average, 80% of cards are bought by women, of which 70% will be given to women. Keep that in mind!

2 – lightning impact– your design should instantly show the buyer what he is buying. On average, you have 3 seconds to make an impression and show what exactly your postcard is for, what its theme, mood, message…. Therefore, the design should be SIMPLE! UNDERSTANDABLE!

3 – trend– the design of postcards, like the design of everything else, follows its fashion, its trends. So you must be on topic. You should know what is being bought today, what is in demand. To do this, just look online what major publishers and distributors like Hallmark, M&S, Clinton, or go through the same Pinterest and see what people collect, what anyone is interested in and likes. Basically, surf the internet. Write down the main characteristics of the trends that you yourself can track and think about how you fit into them or not.

4 – Subject. Postcards are thematic and general (without a theme - just flowers, photography, art, etc.) Themes for postcards are divided into 2 groups - those that can be sold all year round - such as happy birthday, congratulations, sorry, I love you and etc., and seasonal - Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Easter, March 8th. The former are in high demand because they are not limited by the time of sale. The second sells well in season.

Here are the main common topics(of course, a variety of verbal variations are possible, I just indicate the general direction) -
- with a newborn (it's a boy / girl)
- Congratulations (eat)
- I miss you
– I'm sorry
- I love you
– Christening
- Get well
- Housewarming
- Good luck
- Thank you
- Happy wedding/anniversary
– With passing exams, driving licenses, and other victories

AND seasonal themes(for holidays) -

– Christmas/New Year
- Easter
– March 8 / Mother's Day
– February 23 / Father's Day
– Valentine's Day
– Victory/Remembrance Day
– Halloween

It's just a list to work with. It is not necessary to draw something on every topic, but it will be easier to navigate what, why and when you can draw. I’ll add right away that in the postcard industry, designs are bought a year in advance!

5 – Character design- It is important! Try to avoid characters that are too specific. Let's say if you draw a red-haired girl, you immediately limit your market, because people most often identify themselves, or the person they give the card to, with the character that is drawn on it. So your market will narrow down to those buyers who are either themselves redheaded girls, or who are going to give a postcard to a redheaded girl. Things are much easier with birds, animals, flowers and all sorts of inanimate objects (such as teapots, watches, umbrellas and shoes) and simply coolly designed text or ornaments. It suits everyone!

And even if you decide to draw characters, try to make them as universal and neutral as possible so that anyone can associate themselves with the picture.

6 – faces- same stuff. If you do draw people, try not to draw exposed faces so that as many buyers as possible can connect with the character. Draw people sideways or back, or cover your face with an umbrella, a hat, a flower, leaving only a hint.

7 – Don't try to copy others. Play to your strengths. If you are bad at drawing cute animals or hate flowers with butterflies, but you are great at ornaments or text design, do what you know how and love. Typography is very popular these days. So if you don’t know how to draw at all, but are a cool graphic designer, there will definitely be a place for you in the postcard market.

8 – Series- create postcards in series - 5 - 6 - with the same style / design. For example, a good combination is 2 happy birthday cards for her, 2 for him, and one for some kind of event. Or 5 postcards on general topics. This way you are much more likely to be noticed by publishers or distributors. When pitching your idea for a series of postcards, develop a professional mood board and briefly but clearly explain your idea in a cover letter. I hope there is no need to say that a letter to any international office should be written in English, preferably without errors. Do not send 25 Japegs to the Publisher. Nobody will open them. People don't have time for this. Gather all the postcards into a smart presentation and send one file in JPG or PDF format (and a reduced size, because everything that takes a long time to load also immediately goes to the firebox) + a short description of your idea in an email. The visual part might look something like this (this is my presentation for M&S) -

9 – Color combinations- again, follow fashion and trends and use the color wheel so as not to make stupid mistakes. The internet is full of resources with all sorts of inspiration when it comes to color. I most often use Kuler And Design Seeds .

Now technical specifications:

10 - Most running dimensions- it is square - 16 x 16 cm and rectangular - 10 x 15 cm and 13 x 18 cm, plus 0.5 cm on each side for bleed. Your drawing should be five mm larger than necessary so that when it is cut off there are no white margins around the edges.

11 – Text Position- It is desirable that the text is in the upper third of the card, because most often greeting cards are placed on displays in a herringbone pattern and the entire card is not visible, only its upper part is visible. The upper part should be clear to whom and for what it is intended.

12 - If you draw digitally, create your postcards in CMYK with at least 300dpi. Save the picture on layers with text, be sure to save it on a separate layer. Combine layers into groups so that the publisher does not get confused where you have what. If you draw with traditional materials, then keep in mind that the original should be at least one and a half times larger than the given size of the postcard, then the quality will be better when scanning. It is also desirable to scan at 300 dpi and then refine (clean up) the drawing in Photoshop. If you have a cool scanner, then you can scan with a resolution of 600 dpi. In this case, you can draw one by one.

In general, the art of creating postcards is a whole thing, and here I just ran over the tops and touched on the basics. If you have something to add - write in the comments! If you are a professional in this matter, then you can write a whole article, and I will be happy to post it on our blog. Of course with reference to you! Knowledge needs to be shared

And I will definitely tell you how and where you can sell your postcards.

Today we will discuss such an interesting topic as the design of postcards, recall a little history, and touch on the technical and creative nuances of creating this printed product.

There are thousands of holidays in our country and the world. This is not to mention individual dates - birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and christenings of children. Therefore, we are talking not only about the classic postcard sent by mail, with or without an envelope, but also about souvenir products of various sizes and shapes.

The first postcards were issued by the Austrians at the end of the 19th century. They had their own standard with a size of 12.3 x 8.8 cm. A stamp was glued in the right corner, but the idea of applying images appeared much later.

By the way, after that the size of the postcard according to the standard changed twice. First, a postal congress was held in Bern, at which the standard 9 x 14 cm was adopted. It was in 1874. Then, already in the 20s of the next century, a modern version appeared - 10.5 x 14.8 cm. Postcards 21.0 x 10.5 cm, products for a euro envelope, and various non-format samples are also produced. The "photo formats" 10 x 15 and 13 x 18 cm, as well as square samples of 16 x 16 cm, are successful.

Great Britain is considered the most "postcard" country. There, the creation of postcards is something on a par with the ravens of the Tower, tea and oatmeal - important and traditional, so much so that four years ago more than 800 publishers were officially registered in the country, and every sixth store in the country sold the products themselves. That is, regardless of what this institution traded. Though food, even underwear.

The largest and most famous manufacturer of these products is the Hallmark company, which has existed for more than a century. Since 1910, this brand has been setting the fashion, creating beautiful and creative postcards for holidays, important dates, for collectors.

Types of postcards

Now postcards for congratulations without text are very popular. Usually all the information on them is purely visual. That is, from the picture you can immediately understand what the donor means.

Such a creative birthday card will please more than the worn-out “health, happiness” and numerous variations about money and women / men. In general, the most terrible enemy is the banality and stupidity of the image. Unfortunately, there is so much such designer garbage released that there is simply nowhere to put it.

Postcards for working moments

Separately, such a phenomenon as corporate postcards ordered by representatives of firms and organizations of all types is considered. Give them to employees, partners, customers.

Such branded postcards with the company logo are indirect advertising. After all, most people love attention. Even if it is minimal, in the form of a small colored cardboard.

There are corporate universal postcards that can be used in any whole. That is, they do not indicate what exactly you are congratulated on, and usually there is no reference to gender. So you can congratulate all the staff, for example, on the anniversary of the enterprise.

Of course, such products can be designed in any way, depending on who and for what they will be sent.

How to create a postcard yourself?

Many people are interested in how to beautifully design a postcard with their own hands, using the materials at hand? As children, we did not have such a question. You just had to take a sheet of paper or cardboard, draw what you wanted on it, beautifully sign the postcard and hand it to the person. It could be one of the parents or, for example, a girl / boy who liked.

Now you can easily download everything from the Internet, print the text on a postcard using a regular printer. Only it's not all that. Such crafts cannot be compared with a real "factory" postcard. There is no “soul” in the printout, and there is not always time and skills to make crafts.

There is a third option - to take on the role of a designer. First you need to create a layout of a postcard (congratulatory or corporate) from which the printout will be made.

For this task, you will need some kind of graphics editor. It can be Photoshop (raster graphics) or Illustrator (vector). We create a new document with the size of our future postcard, plus 5 mm on each side for cropping.

Alternatively, use an image from the Internet as a background. It is advisable to take from free stocks. Of course, it is unlikely that anyone will check what you give a friend for his birthday, but we recommend the most legitimate option anyway.

The most difficult thing is to design a folding postcard. That is, you need a cover for a postcard and interior design. Look for examples online. There are many options on how to implement the idea. Die cutting ideas are often used. That is, the outer side is cut out in a certain way, and part of the pattern inside is visible through it. When opened, the recipient sees something different from what he imagined.

As soon as we figured out the pictures, we move on to the text. You can sign it yourself - with a pen, marker, felt-tip pens or find a freehand font on the Internet. There is another option - cutting out letters from magazines. The advice is the same - avoid platitudes. It is better to "steal" a good text idea online than to write "health, happiness, success in your personal life."

Design Order

There is a simpler solution to the issue - to entrust the development and design of postcards to professionals. That is, go to the studio or find a postcard designer. There are such on freelance, various handmade sites. So it remains only to explain what you want to get in the end.

Firstly, in this case you will receive not just a picture downloaded from the Internet, but something fundamentally new, unique and stylish, which you will not find on the network.

You will say that you can order something non-standard from scrapbooking girls. But let's be honest - most of them work in one technique, and do not invent anything at all. In fact, they simply copy and remake ideas taken from Western colleagues and from each other. A radical look at handmade? Perhaps, but honestly. This is not an anti-advertising of the masters. This is an advertisement for those who do not copy. In creativity, you can be inspired by other people's ideas, but not turn into a copier with a scanner.

In this regard, the artist-designer is much more effective. After all, he develops concepts from scratch, implements them in the form of layouts, which can then be transferred to paper.

Design paper for postcards is selected, the type of which will be.

If these are piece products, you can take options and more expensive. There is an inexpensive coated paperboard that can be printed on both sides. Another option is photo paper. It has one side glossy and the other matte. Great option for printing signed openings. On glossy pen slips, but the print looks great, and, accordingly, vice versa.

There are more specialized types of materials, as well as options for applying an image to them. Embossing is possible, incl. gold and silver foil, as in the manufacture of expensive business cards.

The best way to convey to someone the seriousness of your plans is the high-quality design of any cards, for example, a wedding invitation, some kind of opening or presentation. When developing an upcoming event, special attention should be paid to the design of invitations. It is the design of the invitation that will affect the first impression of the upcoming event and determine its significance in the eyes of the invitees. Invitations should not be standard or abstract, and their design should fit into the format of the upcoming holiday and its scale.