How to Get Into Greeting Card Designing

Designing greeting cards can be a fun and creative process with some financial rewards. With some preparation and thought, anyone with an artistic flair can become a greeting card designer. Whether fine arts, photography or poetry is your personal talent, there is a way to use it in the lucrative greeting card business. Here's how to get started.

Things You'll Need

• Digital photos
• Digital images of artwork
• Ideas for sentiments for inside the cards
• Card blanks

Instructions

1. 

   Create a portfolio of artwork. Before you can submit your work or begin putting your cards together you need to have a supply of images that can work for a number of different card types. Think about the categories of cards and begin designing artwork that would relate to those categories.

2. 

   Gather photographs. Take your own color high-resolution photographs and then alter them to make them unique. Using Photoshop or another brand of photography software to play around with your images to make them stand out.

3. 

   Pair artwork or photographs with a category of greeting card to either design yourself or to submit to a card-making company. Be sure to have high resolution images of all your work.

4. 

   Learn how to make flash animation on the computer. E-cards are a growing business, but creators need to know flash animation and programming skills as well as be artistic and creative. Take a community college or online course to get the skills you need to break into this booming market.

5. 

   Apply to Hallmark. Hallmark is the No. 1 greeting card manufacturer featuring many different lines of card for every occasion. Although Hallmark doesn't t take freelance submissions, you can apply to work for Hallmark as a card creator by filling out a lengthy form you get online. You'll need some original ideas, artwork and poetry, as well as some ideas for a new line of cards to impress the staff. Once accepted, working for Hallmark means moving to St. Louis.

6. Check out Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain is an e-card business that does accept freelance submissions of artwork and poetry for its e-card line. Submitting is easy if you know flash animation, and it periodically sends out a call for card ideas. Submit anytime via its website (see Resources).

7. Make cards yourself and sell online. Once you have your photos, artwork and text, create the cards yourself using your own computer or having them printed for you at a print shop. Once you have assembled your cards, take photos of both the fronts and inside sentiments and post on a site such as Etsy.com to sell yourself.

8. Create your cards and sell to local coffee shops, gift stores and bookstores. Smaller independent businesses like this like to collaborate with local artists and will help you get your line started. They may ask for a cut of the profits, so price your cards accordingly.

Tips & Warnings

• Show your cards to friends and family to get further ideas on how to improve them. Pair up with a local independent gift basket company and give a discount on larger orders of cards to use with its baskets. Create a logo with your contact information on the back of each card for future orders.

• Getting started with freelance card designing can be somewhat expensive, so be prepared for slow-moving stock.

Resources

• Hallmark careers
• Etsy.com
• Bluemountain cards