A greeting card is an illustrated message that
expresses, either seriously or humorously, affection, good will, gratitude,
sympathy, or other sentiments. Greeting cards are
usually sent by mail (or electronically) in
observance of a special day or event and can be divided into two general
classifications: seasonal and every day.
Modern
greeting cards are usually of stiff paper or cardboard, but some are made of cloth,
leather, celluloid, vellum, metal,
wood, clay, or cork. Size is determined by common usage, the availability of
suitable envelopes, ease of mailing, and the system of grading according to
price and quality. The imprinted messages on cards may vary in length from a
brief word or two to 100 words or more in prose or verse.
The
history of greeting cards dates back to the ancient Chinese who exchanged
messages of goodwill to celebrate a New Year, and to early Egyptians who used
papyrus scrolls to send greetings. Key dates in greeting card history include:
·
1400’s: Europeans begin
selling and exchanging handmade greeting cards including Valentine’s Day cards (1415)
·
1775: Members of the Second Continental
Congress appoint a Postmaster General for the United Colonies, creating the
U.S. Post Office Department (predecessor to the United States Postal Service, USPS)
on July 26. The USPS is the second oldest federal agency in the U.S.
·
1800’s: Valentine’s cards become popular
and affordable; the Penny Post debuts.
·
1840: Postage stamp is introduced.
·
1843: First known Christmas card is
published in London when Sir Henry Cole hires artist John Calcott Horsley to
design a holiday card for his friends.
·
1849: Esther Howland becomes the first
regular publisher of valentines in the U.S. and sells her first handmade
Valentine. Howland establishes a successful publishing firm specializing in
elaborately decorated cards.
·
1856: German immigrant Louis Prang
opens a small lithographic business near Boston, and America’s greeting card
industry begins. The Father of the American Christmas Card is recognized with
its annual LOUIE
Awards, the definitive competition of the greeting card
and social expression industry.
·
1866: By this time, Prang perfected the
color lithographic process, as shown in his reproductions of famous paintings,
surpassing the quality produced by craftsmen in the U.S. and England.
·
1870s (early): Prang publishes
deluxe editions of Christmas cards, sold mainly in England.
·
1875: Prang introduces the first
complete line of Christmas cards in America.
·
1941: A small group of
publishers, under the leadership of George Burkhardt of Burkhardt-Warner,
established the Greeting Card Industry, predecessor of today’s Greeting Card Association.
·
1943: The Greeting Card
Association cooperated with the Post Office, later to become USPS, on the first
“Mail Early” Christmas campaign.
At big and small firms alike, card
designers are tasked with spending their days finding fresh ways to communicate
love, sympathy, or holiday cheer. Here is what it takes to stand out on the
retail card racks.
IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS Thanks
to Pinterest, Etsy, and a host of other creative commerce sites, there’s been a
deluge of greeting card designs. What could be easier than a simple design and
a little sentiment on paper? “It’s an easy point of entry because cards are
cheap to produce. But they’re not often made by trained designers. People have
a funny story that should be on a card. It might be funny, but is it universal?
Maybe anyone can write a card. But can they write them five days a week for a
decade?
RED ENVELOPES ARE CHANCY Greeting
card companies’ worry a lot about colors. Bright, upbeat colors stand out.
Browns, grays, black, and white don’t do as well. That thinking also applies to
envelopes. Although some designers stay away from red because it's best to not
use red since the post office has problems reading black ink on red envelopes.
THE REJECTION RATE IS HIGH Writers and designers at Hallmark are typically brought on
group projects that are sorted according to holidays or themes, with a mandate
to create anywhere from 100 to 150 cards for the occasion. Because standards
are high, the vast majority of their ideas won’t make it into your hands. If
you write humor, a 10 percent acceptance rate is considered high. Most ideas
end up in the trash.
THEIR CARDS ARE SURPRISINGLY PERSONAL In the card business; writers are constantly angling to
capture a “universal specific,” or a common theme that sounds personal despite
having appeal across the board. One of the best ways to arrive at that
sincerity is to imagine you’re writing a card for one specific person in your
life. Starting with a real person and a real relationship gives you lots of
little details to use.
THERE ARE RULES FOR THE TOP THIRD OF THE CARD Most card displays are front-facing, with only the upper
third of the card exposed to shoppers. That means card designers need to try
and capture your scanning eye with something that makes at least a little bit
of sense even when it’s cut off from the rest of the pack.
You need to create a symbol, image, or word that immediately
makes a person want to pick up the card from about a three to six-foot
distance, which is often how far someone is when they scan cards. For example,
if it is a love card, adding a heart to the top third is helpful. It
immediately communicates to the person passing by what the topic of the card
is.
THERE’S A REASON SOME CARDS ARE BLANK While major companies often insist on having words on both
the inside and outside of cards. Customers like cards that are completely blank
on the inside. It's consumer-driven in that it's more flexible for consumers to
write their own personalized message. It's also partially due to the fact that
our cards, and all other boutique cards, are sold packed in individual plastic
sleeves, together with their envelope, in order to protect the product in the
store. Having blank insides eliminates the need for customers to open the
packaging and see what's written on the inside.”
THEY DON’T JUST WORK ON CARDS For a company like Hallmark, whose specialty stores carry a
steady supply of gifts and novelties in addition to greeting cards, staff
writers are expected to have their hand in a little bit of everything like
t-shirts, mugs, posters, and songs. Anything with words is needed.
THEY DON’T LIKE TO USE HUMAN FACES Ever wonder why cards feature an abundance of adorable
animals or decapitated bodies? It’s because photographed human faces may make
cards less appealing. When people buy cards for someone, they have an idea of
the person they are sending it to. Maybe they are older, younger, or a
different ethnicity than the person on the card. The buyer is asking
unconsciously, ‘Does this look like my friend?’ Unless the images are
completely humorous or retro, you rarely see photos of faces on cards.
THEY LIKE TO SPY ON YOU To
develop an ear for relatable dialogue; card writers often comb social media or
eavesdrop on conversations in public settings to get a feel for what strikes a
chord. Sometimes you’re out doing errands and something will stand out.
Inspiration has struck while waiting for his car to get washed. One colleague likes
to loiter in card shops to see which types of cards shoppers pick up.
“I squirrel away sealed greeting cards that people give me so I can
open them later when I'm having a bad day.” (Emily Procter) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“12 Secrets of Greeting Card Designers” BY Jake Rossen
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