There are so many things that email and telephone have changed over the past few years. Irrespective of these things, one remains constant, and that’s the fact that postcards are still a great option to use as a gift, reminder, or souvenir. It’s basically an item that you send to your friends and loved ones just to let them know that you care about them.
Rather than going to different stores to buy a postcard, it’d interest you to note that you can design a postcard yourself. There are different steps to follow to make and publish your postcards. You can also share them with your loved ones, friends, and pen-pals.
With the aid of simple tools, you can easily convert thoughts and images into postcards and unveil them online. Another thing to note is that you don’t need to be a professional designer before you can create memorable and stunning postcards.
To design a postcard, one of the key things that you’ll need is a postcard template, and you’ll learn more in this article.
Also, there are different ways people use a postcard, and part of its use is for advertising purposes. You can use postcards to advertise your services, event, or company. People mostly use this in addition to the messages they send out.
How to Design your Postcard
As mentioned earlier, you don’t need to be a professional to design a postcard. In addition, you also don’t need to start from scratch to design a postcard. There are so many postcard templates that you can find online to use.
There are so many sites on the internet where you can find these templates, and you only need to start checking these sites. Among the common options that you should consider include places like Behance and Canva. However, for a library of different postcard templates, we recommend you check illustAC.
What’s certain is that you’ll find what you are looking for on illustAC. After you locate the postcard template that you are looking for, the only thing will be to download this template and edit it according to your preference.
If you are using illustAC as your source of the template, it’s important to note that you can use the editing platform provided on illustAC to edit the images before you edit them. This will only take you a few clicks to complete.
There are also graphic design programs that you can use to design a postcard. You only need to create a rectangular image. This can be within 12 to 15 cm long and 9 to 10 cm tall. It’d interest you to note that even with MS Office, you can easier design a postcard with these dimensions. Also, you can choose a high-resolution image.
When you design a postcard, one thing you should note is that they also differ with the country. This is another reason why it’s advisable to use postcard templates. There are also programs that make it easier for people to design postcards on opposite sides of the document. Basically, designing a postcard does not require so much stress as there are multiple tools that you can use for this purpose.
Postcard Design Ideas
One of the mistakes that people make is settling for just any type of picture they find when they want to design a postcard. As a designer, you should always aim for the stars, regardless of the artwork that you create.
Also, stay committed to ensuring that when you design a postcard, you keep the target demographic in mind. With shades and colors, you can easily highlight basic components of the postcard and also reinforce the message you want to pass across.
Another tip that will help you design a postcard is the use of whitespace. You need to ensure that you use whitespace properly. This is so that your postcard does not appear overcrowded. It also helps to keep the message clear and not muddled up.
You want your postcards to be seen by everyone, but if the content in them is overcrowded, no one will view it. This is not what you want to achieve, and as such, you should avoid making this error. With whitespaces, you can easily enhance the appearance of other elements on the postcard design.
In addition to these, you’ll also need to keep your postcard design to the point and brief. A single line or two is all you need to get it ready. It’s advisable to use design alongside text to deliver your message clearly, especially on the back of your postcard.
There are different patterns, colors, filters, and fonts for you to experiment with, and also make different modifications to your postcard template. Ultimately, the goal is to make your postcard stand out. If the postcard design is for a business, it’s advisable to add the logo of the business, together with a few written texts for people to read.
10 Handy Tips for Postcard Design
We have covered the key things you should know about how to design a postcard above. However, to get started, you’ll still need handy tips to make things a lot easier for you. The first thing you should note about the postcard is that they all have three things in common. They are memorable, go straight to the point, and a visually appealing.
Also, they make a great way to reach out to a target audience and also get a fast response from them. All these are enough reasons why you should learn how to design a postcard today. The attention they bring makes the whole process worthwhile.
The main factor that will influence your postcard design is the purpose of the postcard. This can be for a product launch, new leads events or for sales purposes. In all, the most important thing is to be able to communicate with your audience in your postcard design.
With that said, here are some handy tips to have in mind when you design a postcard:
1. Review the quality of the postcard
When you design a postcard, you need to be able to answer a few questions, which include whether the postcard is ideal for printing, of high quality, durable, and heavyweight. These are factors that can influence the outcome of the design you get.
You will also need to determine whether the finish of the postcard will be matt or gloss and the consistency of the printing. These are important questions to ask yourself whenever you design a postcard. The aim is to ensure that the postcard maintains a unique appeal when it is viewed.
2. Color creates visual interest
The next thing you’ll need to ensure when you design a postcard is that you use color intelligently and carefully across every part of the postcard design. You need to keep the design in a manner that allows it to represent your brand elements effectively. Some of the key elements to pay attention to include your web design layout, logo, and corporate colors.
Basically, it’s important that you’re able to maintain a constant message across all your marketing materials when you design a postcard.
3. Only Include relevant photos
It’s completely normal to be tempted to use photos when you design a postcard, but you need to ensure that you do this appropriately. With an appropriate message, you can easily include images by displaying your storefront or goods on your postcards.
The reason why it’s important to include photos where relevant is to ensure that it creates a solid relationship between viewers and your products and services. Therefore, you shouldn’t just go about using photos without ensuring that it augments the message you’re trying to deliver.
4. Prominently display your logo
One of the most important elements for your brand identity is your logo. Therefore, you need to ensure that you keep it on display to attract the attention of customers and prospects.
5. Keep it direct and simple
As mentioned earlier, one of the noticeable features of a great postcard is the fact that the design is direct and simple. With that said, you need to minimize the elements you include when you design a postcard. You should only include essential items.
Many designers get caught up and end up cluttering their postcards with so many details, which isn’t appropriate. When you design a postcard, always keep the elements you include minimum so that your viewers can be motivated to contact you.
Another thing that you should consider trying is to include catchy phrases on your postcard. Examples of some of the phrases that you might want to try include Sale, 50% Off, Free, and so on. When you include these phrases, also try to use a font style that makes it readable.
6. A clean composition works best
With a simple message, you can easily communicate with your target audience. This is the main reason why we are emphasizing avoiding clutter. Therefore, you need to be able to ensure that the visual tone you use is an idea for the target audience. To use this tip, one of the things you’ll need to do is to use conservative color, layout, and language.
7. Stand out from the crowd
One of the most important things to ensure when you design a postcard is that you are able to win the attention of your audience. For this, you might want to consider including non-standard elements in your postcard. Examples include rounded corners, die cuts, or other unique finishes.
The interesting thing to note is that these custom printing options are actually affordable, unlike the general opinion. They will also make it a lot easier for your postcard to stand out. Another thing you can do is to keep the back of the postcard visually appealing. Most people only keep attention on the front of their postcard, but you can try a different approach and make the back visually appealing.
8. Design tip for mailing
If the postcard you design is for a mailing purpose, then you will need to leave a clear space for postmarking and mailing. The goal is to be able to maintain a visual impact, which leaves space for basic mail elements.
9. Texture options and postcard card
When you design postcards, it’s always nice to choose heavy stock and high quality. An option to try is to use gloss finishing, especially for postcards with photographic details. On the other hand, matte finishes will be a better option to use for typographic designs. If you’re not sure about this, you might want to consider using postcard stocks to get an idea.
10. Carefully proofread
The last thing you want is to find a grammatical or typographic error after you have already sent the postcard to people. You can avoid this by ensuring that all the details you include in the postcard are accurate.
These details include email, web address, social media profiles, and phone. Take a few moments to review all the information you include on your postcard before you print or send them.
Conclusion
We have covered all the important things you should know about how you can design a postcard using vector images. In addition, we also provided ten handy tips to guide you through the design process and ensure that you get it right.
For all the vector images you’ll need when you design a postcard, we recommend checking illustAC. In addition to the vector images, you can also get different postcard templates and postcard stocks on illustAC, and all of these elements are vital to your design.