Greeting Card Printing: A Short A-Z Guide


Greeting card printing is always an exciting project to undertake. You just dive headfirst into it right? Well, the excitement can get to you but it is not always the most effective way to start.

Organizing what you need to do for your greeting card printing involves everything you have done from the very start. For all else, if you don’t have a series of steps to follow, you would be looping back – always checking and wondering whether you had done this bit or not.

If you think you’ve got nowhere to begin this greeting card project, don’t fret. You’ve just stumbled upon one of the most helpful articles there are about greeting card printing.

Greeting card printing, like any printing project, involves design and content. So, to plan things out how you can make a hassle-free greeting card by following this:

1.    Concept
Greeting cards are made to communicate. Focus on what you would like to communicate with you greeting cards. Think of themes. Think of values you wish to impart. Think of the emotions you would like to evoke or stir.

Concepts are what launches you to brainstorm. This is where you collect certain images and review examples as a guide to help you out in you design. You also try to string up the right words that would best describe your greeting card. The text will also complement the whole look and feel of your greeting cards.

2.    More Research
If you want your greeting cards to stand out, compare it with other greeting cards out in the market or online. Notice too the different styles they use and how you can come up with  a different one.

3.    Style
Style effectively communicates who you are. It delivers in giving your greeting card that attitude. Style is similar as to how you dress up. It automatically says volumes about who you are.

Use style to complement your message. Use style too that would encourage associations that would help in pronouncing your greeting card message.

A minimalist style, for one, is clean and simple. An ornate greeting card on one hand, carries a different impression, of something rich, something that can be overwhelming. So, it is up to you to decide just what look you are trying to pull.

4.    Experiment
This is the part wherein you try to put in all together the different images and texts together. Experiment with the lay-out., the font, the swatches of colors and the like. See how you can integrate the best combination for your greeting card.

No, nothing has to be final as of yet. This is where you can try everything you have in mind without being overly conscious.

5.    Print Out
Print out your greeting card design in your own home printer and see how it looks. This gives you an overview on what the greeting card may look like. It allows you too to make more adjustments in the process.

6.    Choosing a printer
At this point, you already know what you want. You know what you want to see in your greeting card and how it will shape out. Sometimes, your greeting card may involve foil stamp or metallic inks, or even die-cutting.

These details for your greeting cards are not rare, however, it is wise to choose a seasoned greeting card printing expert who can deliver these special jobs which you need.

7.    Ask for a hardcopy proof
The pre-press department of the printing company you choose would review your file. They would check if your design is in the best shape to be printed. Once this is done, they will be sending a online PDF proof.

Then again, it is better for you to obtain a hard copy proof. The printer can show you just how the colors would come out for your greeting card. This makes it all the more easy for you to see what the final output is.

Greeting card design and printing is not a technical process. You can bend it whichever way you want to, as some people work doing certain things first and would actually thrive in doing just that.
Nevertheless, this step by step greeting card design and printing would hopefully make it easier and faster for you to create one.