No matter what the occasion, be it birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, Christmas, New Year or any other auspicious occasion, it is always celebrated with beautiful greeting cards. Greetings cards are also used for bereavement, conveying thanks or any other feelings. The greeting card business is big and there is ever increasing demand for nicely designed cards. So, the greeting card illustrator can go a long way in earning good revenue. Illustrating and designing a greeting card is exciting and each card expresses a certain theme. Below are mentioned some tips on how to add aesthetic value to your greeting cards easily.
Step #1: Generate a card that meet the requirements of the industry
Before creating a greeting card, the first thing that the illustrator should keep in mind is to comprehend the requirements of the greeting card industry. The cards should be easily recognizable; most of the cards are centred on a theme, like birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas or any other auspicious events. There is always a great demand for this type of card. The cards should be brightly coloured in order to attract attention, the upper third of the cards should especially stand out as they are placed upright on the stands.
Step #2: Go on and make cards that you think are apparently in the majority
Just because there are thousands of cards based on the same theme, do not be afraid to illustrate the obvious theme. There may be thousands of Christmas cards or Easter cards stacked up on the racks, but it does not mean that you cannot include them anymore. Novelty and style go hand in hand in making a card look attractive. Study the market and design your card accordingly, with today’s cutting-edge technology and greeting card illustration tools you could make magnificent cards in no time.
Step #3: Study the market and keep your target group in mind
Study the market and know your customers, know what kind of cards sell. While manufacturing your card, always keep your target group in mind. The target group is the people who will buy your card. It could be a youngster, an adult or a friend or anybody else, trying to get into their shoes and imagine their feelings towards others whom they want to send their card to. It is interesting to note that most of the card buyers are women. If you design your greeting cards keeping all this in mind and making them look more appealing, surely you will achieve great success in marketing your brand of cards.
Step #4: Do not overlap your illustration onto the text.
Make colourful and bold illustrations, but always do leave enough space for the text. Publishers always prefer cards that have good captions on the front. This is a very important point to be noted during the production of the greeting card, strong texture should be left out in certain places so that the typeface can be easily seen. By using these strategies, the end product will really be a wonderful masterpiece.
Step #5: Ask for feedback and accept criticism
If you want to remain a mediocre greeting card illustrator, you can sit back and be happy with what you are doing. But if you want to go out there and break the bank then you should be competitive. Always take criticism in your stride and take the statement ‘the customer is always right’ seriously. You can always study the market and take the opinions of your customers, publishers and those who patronise your greeting cards. This will give you a great opportunity to improve and help you get an edge over your competitors in the market. This will also help you to learn new styles and improve on your existing ones and make innovative changes to your production strategy.
Step #6: Make a portfolio
Greeting card Illustrators must concentrate on creating a portfolio of their artwork which contains a mixture of quick sketches and completed artwork in various mediums as possible. Furthermore, illustration depicting characters in various situations and moods is very beneficial to help in creating illustrations. There is a great demand for creating new and colourful greeting card illustrations with explicit themes and textual descriptions. Portfolios are a vehicle for the greeting card illustrator to showcase his own personal style and get into the limelight with his artistic genius.
Step #7: Organizing your work as a greeting card illustrator
In order to get good results for your greeting cards, you need to be organized. The duties of a greeting card illustrator may look simply, but it involves precision. The task of an illustrator may differ according to the requirements of the employer. Cards are designed by the illustrators not only taking sentimentality into consideration but also keeping the dimension and final outlook in mind.
Step #8: Keep the designs and illustrations precise and simple
Greeting card illustrators should try to work towards keeping their designs simple in order to facilitate the designers to work easily with them. This will lead to more production in a much shorter time interval. In order to keep up with the market demands, not only good and innovative designs but faster production is expected. Drawing simple and easy designs will lead to more efficiency and less waste of time.
Step #9: Categorize your greeting cards
In order to make good cards and design them efficiently you should categorize your cards. Cards fall under different categories, according to the group of people who buy them; general cards and cards bought by men and women. Designing a card for women are easy with flowery images and fuzzy colours. But designing cards for men is a difficult task and need specific consideration. General cards are bought by anyone be it male or female or children.
Step #10: Provide the option of providing customized greeting cards to your clientele
To increase your clientele and boost your brand image you can give your customers the opportunity to customize their cards according to their tastes. Personalized greeting cards have a special touch. Greeting cards could contain business logos, custom messages and also include photographs. You can select vertical and horizontal laid out cards for even more convenience.
