Greetings Cards

Greetings Cards

The vast majority of cards are sent at Christmas. Why not make an effort for something more personal? It's another outlet to promote or showcase your photography.

Creating personalised greetings cards can be rewarding and fun. You may have some images in mind already, or you may want to go and shoot something specifically which can also be fun and give you a mini project to get stuck into.




The software you use isn't that important. However, some commercial printers require PDFs and CMYK format, so most photo processing and desktop publishing software will be fine. If you're reading this then chances are you have something appropriate, but even Open Office and Microsoft Word will be fine.

The world's your oyster as regards layout options, borderless, orders, frames drop shadows and so on can all be used. I have master templates for A4 and A5 cards which fold to A5 and A6 respectively, together with a few unconventional formats such as panoramic. Personally I use Affinity Photo, even though I could use Affinity Publisher as both read my card templates. Just make sure that whatever software you use that you can create what you want without any fuss. Adding text to the front of the card or messages inside the card ae also considerations.




You may or may not want to put your contact details on a card, and I guess if you're just doing cards for family and friends you may feel it's not necessary. However, adding your website QR code and logo will give a polished and professional appearance. If you're creating cards for a local group or charity such things are important.




Printing your cards is another challenge. For small runs printing yourself is ideal. How 'small' will depend on individual circumstances, and at some point (especially if you're creating them for a local group) looking into commercial printing options needs serious thought. There are numerous providers and it's worthhaving a small batch done first if you want to be sure about quality. If you are producing cards for a cjhaity or group the cost per card will be higher than mass produced cards (but that's he essence of it, they're not for the masses) so they're not exactly a revenue stream. Covering costs plus a little extra is what you should aim for, and should be looked at more in the way of producing marketing or promotional material.




If printing yourself there are a large selection of papers available. Matt and lightly textured surfaces well for many subjects, with heavily textured and canvas types suiting some better than others.

For those who are concerned about the use of paper, a short production run, and sending to a select few people could be the way to go. As you've already created your card electronically, sending it as an email or via social media is also good and of course almost cost free but perhaps not as tangible.

Once you've started creating personalised greetings cards don't limit yourself to just this time of year.


All text and images © Keith Rowley 2021