Rainbow Connection: Top 10 Spring Wedding Colors 2016
According to Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute “Colors this season transport us to a happier, sunnier place where we feel free to express a wittier version of our real selves.”
This spring we’ll see some breathtaking wedding color ideas that translate very well into wedding card designs. Look at some of these trending wedding color palettes we found on Pinterest.
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Dash of Inspiration: Class of 2016
Get a head start on updating and/or creating those Class of 2016 Graduation cards! Shoppers begin to browse early and you don’t want to miss those sales.
Remember that if you have custom front text which speaks to dates and/or the class year, if you take the time to update those yourself with the current year, you are more likely to reap the benefits of sales. Many shoppers don’t realize immediately when browsing designs that the year can be changed, therefore your out-of-date card, even if customizable, may be passed over for one which speaks to the current year.
Here are some free goodies which you may not have:
For the younger graduates: Learning Curve Pro
Adhesive Nr. Seven Dingbat Font has some fun banner ribbons:
Nexa Rust has a ‘sporty college’ feel.
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Don’t forget when creating Graduation cards to consider ALL types of graduates for the sub-categories!
©Doreen Erhardt
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our February Dash of Inspiration Design Challenge!
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Nuts and Bolts: Card Submission Pitfalls – Text
If you find yourself consistently getting cards Declined or Returned for Edits, we have some tips straight from GCU’s hard working Review Team.
1. Haphazardly Placed Text
“Should be natural and add value to the design, not hide undesirables.” This applies to text placement on a card, which is an important part of overall composition. Don’t bother trying to use lines of text to hide problems with a photo or try to force the text to awkwardly mesh with an illustration. This does not work.
What To Do: In the case of a photo, if you can’t fix the problem with the photo itself, choose another photo. Always make sure your composition looks good and is balanced overall.
For more on the topic, examples & some tips:
Typography: Text Placement
2. Illegible Text
“Cover text over a busy area.” Remember your card will be seen by a shopper who has no idea what you had in your head when you created the design. So they need to SEE the text in order to read it. If your background’s so busy the text isn’t immediately legible to a casual glance, you’re doing it wrong. Good enough isn’t good enough. Clarity, clarity, clarity! Please choose a font that’s relevant to the design. A formal script font isn’t suitable for a child’s birthday card.
What to Do: Does your composition support a solid ribbon or banner (or frame) that can be positioned on the background to provide a good place for text? Or do you just need a different font?
For more on the topic, examples & some tips:
Typography: Legibility
Typography: Font Choices
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Wanted New Cards: Port Removed / Mediport Removal
We have a new subcategorie that needs your attention:
At the moment there are 2 cards in this category.
We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs.
Remember, when you’re submitting your new card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers. Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
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Rainbow Connection: Pantone Color of the Year 2016
A softer take on color for 2016: For the first time, the blending of two shades – Rose Quartz and Serenity are chosen as the PANTONE Color of the Year.
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Dash of Inspiration: February 2016 Design Challenge
January is now over, great cards have been entered into the “Back to Nature” Challenge and the judges will begin deliberating over those designs today. In the meantime, it’s time for us to move on to February’s Dash of Inspiration Design Challenge. You ready? Here we go …
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Theme: The Race is On!
Imagination is the key to this challenge. Just think of all the ways you can put a “Race” theme into play for a great selling greeting card. So many directions to go, like these for example …
- Run a race, a contest of speed.
- Competition, especially to achieve superiority, such as; the presidential race.
- Moving forward towards a goal.
- The course of time, moving swiftly against the clock.
- The human race …
Requirements:
- The race theme must be clear in your message and imagery. Other than that, anything goes!
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Entry Deadline: Monday, February 29th, 2016
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How to Enter: Post the PID (card number) and the URL (public storefront link – please WAIT for the card to be available in the public marketplace, please DO NOT post a link to your Manage Cards area) as a post in the challenge blog. We’ll forward your entry to the jury.
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Category: Any Category / Any Occasion where you can make a “Race” theme work.
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Rules:
- Submission must meet GCU’s Submission Guidelines and be Approved through the usual Review Cycle– Fast Track your submission with this in the Notes to Reviewer: February Design Challenge Submission here is the link to the blog post: (include THIS blog post URL)
- Only ONE card per artist per challenge.
- Submissions must be NEW, no existing designs.
- Your entry must meet the Challenge Requirements and Theme or it will not be included in the challenge.
- Stock Card Creations entries will not be accepted.
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BLIND Judging: We hope each of you enters every month. Entries are submitted anonymously for judging by the GCU Challenge Jury which means that before and during the challenge, judges do not have any way of knowing what artist is behind each entry. This eliminates any and all concerns with ‘favoritism’. Results will post on the Community Blog. The jury will judge the entries on the following criteria:
- How well the card meets the Challenge Requirements and Theme.
- How well the card speaks to the Category the artist chooses for the card submission.
- Creativity, Execution and Marketability.
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Winners: 1st Place:
- The winning designer’s card and store will be featured on the GCU Public Blog – the blog which customers view and follow.
- As well as featured on the GCU Public Facebook Page – over 27,000 followers, now THAT’S exposure!
- The winning card will be Design of the Day following the announcement of the winners (within 48-hours).
EXCEPTION: Horizontal (landscape) cards may not be featured as DOD due to GCU Home Page space restrictions. In these cases, GCU will choose a different vertically oriented card from your store to feature as DOD. Thank you for your understanding and apologies for this limitation.
- The winning card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board – currently GCU’s Pinterest Page followers: 1.3K!
- The winning card, should the artist choose, may be referenced in a new series by the winning artist and he/she may Fast Track all cards in the new series (being sure to give the Challenge URL and winning card PID in your Notes to Reviewer for each card in this series).
- Winning card will be included in a marketing email to over 100,000 customers!
- Winning card will be Twitted to GCU’s followers which is over 1,410 and growing.
2nd Place:
- Your submission will be Design of the Day the following week of announcing the Challenge winners (within 7-days).
EXCEPTION: Horizontal (landscape) cards may not be featured as DOD due to GCU Home Page space restrictions. In these cases, GCU will choose a different vertically oriented card from your store to feature as DOD. Thank you for your understanding and apologies for this limitation.
- Your card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board.
- Winning card will be included in a marketing email to over 100,000 customers!
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Tips:
Check out these tips, tricks, freebies, and tutorials from our own GCU Community Blog which might be helpful in this month’s Challenge.
- Writing Verse
- Occasion, Gender, Age Specific Designing
- Send the Right Message
- Sports Themes
- Design Ideas for Him
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Here is my example for this month’s theme:
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Get creative! Be inspired! Have fun!
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Wanted New Cards: Second Semester / Senioritis
We have a brandnew categorie that needs your attention:
We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards Creations function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs.
Remember, when submitting a Stock Card Creations card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers. Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Good luck!
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Font Frenzy: A Sweet Deal from Sweet Type
The Hungry JPEG together with Sweet Type have a limited time fun deal for you.
Sweet Type has 30 of their awesome products at 50% OFF!! High-quality, unique typefaces, like Fashionista, Bittersweet, Abigail and many more can be yours for as little as $6 per font.
The fonts come with a full commercial licence.
The deal ends in 48 hours.
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Dash of Inspiration: Typography Review
Today I put together a quick one-stop place for you to grab our most valuable tips and tricks for typography. Whether you are new to GCU and greeting card design, having cards returned or declined for poor typography, or just want a reference when you need it – these links are invaluable tools to read and re-read.
Typography Golden Rules – Character spacing, line spacing, kerning, etc.
Typography Terms – Understand the terms and language used in typography.
Text Alignment and Balance – All text must have some balance within the design, with other elements and with other lines of text.
Text Placement – When creating a greeting card design, your card front text can not just be an after thought. Where you place your message within your image is very important.
Text Color – What color your text is can make or break a design. Color effects legibility and can make a lovely design look professional or amateurish depending on your choices.
Font Combinations – Using more than one font within a card design offers a great look, but you need to make sure your choices for combining fonts do not clash.
Font Choice – Choosing the right font for your design, the mood, and the recipient is a very important part of good typography skills.
Start the New Year out with a goal to better your typography skills and you will reap the benefits of more card approvals, which will mean improved sales!
©Doreen Erhardt – SalonOfArt.com
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Wanted New Cards: National Compliment Day (January 24)
We have a brandnew categorie that needs your attention:
At the moment there are 0 cards in this category.
We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs.
Remember, when you’re submitting your new card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers. Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
GCU Community 