2.4 | CHRISTMAS CARD Card Design
The concept of greeting cards are said to have started with the ancient Egyptians who exchanged wishes in the form of personal notes on simple slips of papyrus. Similar traditions are believed to have been prevalent in Greece and China around the same time. All these were the precursors of the handmade paper greeting cards, which had become a more or less popular means of expressing good wishes by the early 13th century. The use of greeting cards really caught on in Europe when the postage stamp was introduced in 1840. It immediately turned the greeting card into a popular mode of sending personal messages and set off its commercial production on a mass scale. Greeting cards began to be created for a number of occassions like New Year's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas. |
OVERVIEW
You will create two separate cards (approx. 103 mm x 130 mm) using a full 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of card stock. The elements or content of your card will be your original work (no clipart). Review samples included on this page for inspiration. When you create the elements for your card you must use Illustrator or Photoshop to design your work, then use Indesign to setup your cards and the messages to include. Illustrator is better to use than Photoshop since Illustrator is a vector based program. When the cards are printed and cut you will have two 4 in. x 5 in. cards to keep.
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DESIGNING CONTENT YOUR CARDsYou will first use 1 sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper to do a mock up of your design that you will submit with your final completed work; so don't loose your pre-design mock up. I have these papers at the front on my desk for you to use. If you don't want to loose your pre-design, store it in the file folder on my black desk at the front of the classroom. Don't forget to put your name on it.
In your pre-design mock up you will layout how your cards will look. Add a message to the front and to the Insides of your card. If you're not sure what message you will put now in the design stage, just leave room and put placeholder text so you can preview how things will look. Remember these are your messages, so you decide what message you want to add and make them as personal as you want. If you are good at drawing or sketching, use paper to sketch out ideas and designs for what you might use in your final work. Submit any sketches you create with your pre-design mock up. You can also search for drawings or sketches with a Google Image search, however do not use clipart. If you choose to do this, also submit the original artwork image and include in your final submission. Any references you downloaded should also be included. If you need help creating content for your cards, you can use one of the tutorials below, or if you prefer to do your own creation, you don't need to use the tutorials. The Illustrator in 5 minutes video will also help if you found it difficult to follow the in class tutorial I did or if you need a review of the workings of Illustrator. I advise that you create individual files for each element you wish to add to your card. Elements might include, backgrounds, decorations, characters, etc. Remember we are not designing the card in Illustrator, we are only using Illustrator to create the content. We will use Indesign to layout your elements for your card. If you are unsure of how to do something please ask, and if I'm not sure I will definitely find the answer for you. Illustrator is a huge program capable of doing many things. I don't pretend to know it inside out and often it's students in my class that help me learn new ways to do things. So, have fun with using it and discover new things that you can do with it. |
If you sketch well you can take a picture of your sketch, upload it to the computer and bring your sketch into illustrator to trace. Here is a tutorial on how to do this:
design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-a-vintage-style-christmas-card-in-adobe-illustrator--vector-20272 |
Tutorials
Below are the tutorials I mentioned earlier. They might help you get things started for your first element. If you find another tutorial to follow you are welcome to discover them. Changes or modifications to the tutorials are encouraged considering they must fit within the size we can print to. See the template below for details of specific sizes.
If you missed some of the walk through I did with the class. This video will help you understand some of the other basics of using Illustrator.
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Layout of your cards
One you have created all the content content for your card you are now ready to layout your work in Indesign. If you have not created content to place into your card you will need to go back to the previous step to complete first.
Since we are creating two different cards the items used in each will be different and unique for the individual or people you are creating the cards for. Each card will require:
The Indesign File template with the proper card size (108mm x 143mm) is to the right. Use this to place your design content. There is no need to make any changes to the template. It is exactly setup correctly to print on both sides of the paper in the proper spots for the best printing to make your cards work correctly. |
You will have your choice of laying things out for a vertical or horizontal cards or a combination of both. Make sure you have everything correctly setup according to your pre-design plan. You will only receive one print, so it's important that you double check everything will be in their proper place for printing.
REQUIREMENTS
SUBMIT YOUR WORKWhen you have completed you Christmas Card you will package your file, similar to the magazine cover.
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Indesign Card Template
To download the above file, hold option key down on your keyboard, then click on the Download File link.
Inside Design Samples
Back of Card Designs Samples
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RUBRIC
Final Printed Exemplars
4x5 Envelope template
Use the template below to create your envelope. If you would like to personalize your envelope you can, however the printing will only be in greyscale printed on regular paper. Export your final design as PDF High Quality Print and submit to the classes dropbox on the server so I can print it out for you.
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