Kate Harper's Blog: 10/2/11

Another new Greeting Card Towel

On Fridays, I like to display samples of my products. Here is a sample "card towel (towel that you can send as a greeting card) by Fiddler's Elbow.

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Rest in Peace

Thank You.
For giving us a way to make great designs.

Apple’s new Cards app sends greeting card company stocks tumbling

Update on Apple's Announcement 12:00 PST:

NEW YORK — A brief mention of a new app that lets people design and send greeting through the mail with an iPhone is sending the stocks of greeting card companies tumbling.

Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president for iOS mobile software introduced the $2.99 app at an event at the company’s Cupertino, California headquarters Tuesday.

Word that there’s now an easy way to send greeting cards with an app sent shares of Shutterfly Inc. down nearly 11 percent. Shutterfly lets people share digital photos and print them out.

American Greetings Corp., based in Cleveland, is down nearly 8 percent. International Greetings PLC is down 8 percent on the London Stock Exchange where it’s traded.

Excerpt by Bloomberg News/Washington Post, By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, October 4, 12:10 PM

Hot News: Apple is Getting into the Printed Greeting Card Business

(Regarding press article below) My prediction/comment on this: This could be a very good thing for the entire industry, even though it could have a negative impact on large greeting card publishers.

Apple may actually bring the printed card industry to life since it will surely attract younger buyers and allow for convenience. This could create more people having more experiences of receiving paper greeting cards in the mail and enjoying it, therefore causing them to send more.

The significance of this event is not that this is just an app, but that Apple is doing this, and possibly they are doing it outside of the greeting card industry community.

-Kate

Cards: Apple’s One-Stop-Shop for iPhone Greeting Cards

Apple is entering the greeting card business with the announcement of Cards, a do-it-yourself application for creating, printing and sending greeting cards.

Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS Software at Apple, previewed the application at Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event Tuesday. Forstall touted it as a one-stop-shop for creating cards on your iPhone.

“It’s a new app that let’s you create cards on your phone … and we’ll do the rest,” Forstall said.

Cards users can select from 21 different designs. Once the card creation is completed, Apple will print out the cards, emboss them, add a mailing address and send them anywhere in the U.S. for $2.99 per card, or anywhere in the world for $4.99. Cards users can also send electronic versions via email free of charge.

Cards is a free download that appears to compete with Postcard On the Run and Postagram, which are also photo-centric greeting card applications for iPhone.

Read complete article...

Vintage Postcards

Here's a great example of some vintage postcards on topdesignmag blog. See More...

BOOKS FOR THE CARD DESIGN

These are books I own and recommend. Some may be out of print, but used copies may be available. Check link.

Start & Run a Greeting Cards Business Book covers starting a card business in the UK. Good basic info, but financial/measurement info is in different monetary units.

Greeting Card Design Book that shows examples of professional card design.

Publishing Your Art as Cards How to make and sell your own cards for an extra income.

Pushing the Envelope How to work with greeting card sales reps.

Complete Guide to Greeting Card Design and Illustration Great Book on understanding the greeting card profession and how to develop a style.

1000 Handmade Greetings: creative cards and clever correspondence This is not a simple craft book for hobbyists,instead it is a picture book of professionally handmade cards by leading companies and designers.

By the Batch: Creative Cards, Postcards, Envelopes & More Book that addresses how to "manufacture" handmade greeting cards.

How to Write and Sell Greeting Cards, Bumper Stickers, Tshirts and Other Fun Stuff

Sell the Fun Stuff: Writers' and Artists' Market Guidelines for Greeting Cards, Posters, Rubber Stamps, T-Shirts, Aprons, Bumper Stickers, and More!

Writing Card Sentiments

Freelance Writing for Greeting Cards Another good book on how to write for cards professionally.

You Can Write Your Own Greeting Cards Clear guidelines on how to write card sentiments professionally.

Finding the Right Words One of many basic books of this series that tells you how to add words products, cards, etc.

Licensing Your Art to Companies

Licensing Art and Design

Licensing Art 101 Good beginners guide on the art licensing business.

2011 Artist's and Graphic Designer's Market List of greeting card companies, art licensees and agents.Detailed information on submission guidelines.

Gift and Product Design

Start with a Scan One of a kind book that tells you how to transform your art into a scan and what to do with it from there.

Design Your Own Repeat Patterns Simple book on learning repeats.

Twentieth-Century Pattern Design Great book for inspiration and creative approaches to designing patterns.

How to Break into Product Design Overview of product design in all industries.

Designing a Digital Portfolio Shows you how to put a digital portfolio together for the modern era.

Mary Engelbreit: The Art And The Artist Amazing story of how Mary ended up doing licensing.

Principles of Pattern Design Good info on pattern design

Imagery on Fabric Basic info on putting images onto fabric.

Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing Yearly updated guidelines for pricing for people in art careers.

5,000 Years of Textiles Far East, Americas, Africa, Scandinavia, and Egyptian. Good for studying fabric design.

Abstract Design and How to Create It Over 380 illustrations, diagrams, designs, border patterns and textile patterns.

Creative Illustration Workshop Exercises for integrating illustration with other mixed-media techniques, and scan and layer your illustrations using a computer.

Print Workshop Hand-Printing Techniques for low budgets. Interesting ways to put imagery on products. Perhaps a good technique for putting our designs on model items to show what they would look like on real products.

Digital Alchemy Printmaking techniques for fine art and how to transfer images to a variety of surfaces. It includes decals and skins.

Critical Mass Cutting-edge developments in international printmaking. Since printmaking is fundamental in most surface design concepts, this book's goal is a modern approach on a traditional printmaking.

Tradeshows and Booth Design