AngDesign

Greetings Cards Today

Today greetings cards have changed considerably and are now available for a great deal more occasions than the previous Valentines and Christmas cards. They are now available for Birthdays, Anniversaries, Easter, and many more occasions, others are more open such as Thank You, Congratulations, Good Luck, etc., and the most recent variety for many different companies are the cards which express general attitudes, such as "I Need A Hug".

Greetings cards have also improved with the introduction of colour and stronger colours with a vaster assortment.  The colour that is used in cards today is stronger and more vibrant.  Cards have also improved over the years as they are no longer causing problems to the environment, as many cards are now being produced on paper which has either been recycled, or ensures that when one particular tree has been cut down in order to provide paper, at least one more tree is planted to take it's place, therefore these cards have a piece of writing which is dedicated to making this point.

“This card is printed on the paper made from the pulp of managed Nordic forests. All trees used in the manufacture of this paper are replaced, thus helping to replenish the Earth’s resources”

Carte Blanche Greetings LTD

Today greetings cards undertake a much more detailed approach before they are printed and mass produced.  Carte Blanche greetings cards LTD, go through several different stages before they are finally printed off.

Firstly to produce any good Greetings card the company needs a good idea.  These ideas are usually though up at a design meeting, where a small group of artists, production staff and marketing staff will discuss various ideas and then try to decide on a final one.  Within this meeting various things are considered such as the price of the card and how the final design will work.  This is thought of by many companies as the hardest stage, but without dome, this tile production cannot continue.  Many of the best ides which are thought of very often either turn Out to be too expensive to produce, or impossible to make.

Once one idea has been agreed on and it is decided that it is practical to make, it then needs to be developed, usually by the artist and a member of the production team. Then once the idea has been put into design, the artist will make a hand - made version to ensure that it works correctly, they will therefore know just how strong the card has to be, and how many pieces of card will be needed to produce this specific design etc.  This procedure will then be followed by even more discussion, this time to ensure that with the additional information the card will not cost any more to produce than it can be sold for.

The next stage for producing a card would involve consulting a team of artists and sales marketing staff, who will decide who the card is best aimed at.  These decisions usually depend on what occasion range the company does not already produce at that particular time. I feel that by introducing cards for every occasion the companies are exploiting the public in order to increase their income.  The artist present at this meeting will use the information as a type of brief, and will proceed to produce even more test pieces.

For a typical greetings card company, even more work will need to be done before the production stages.  The same group of people will get together again and decide on any final changes which they feel will need to be made.  When all of this is sorted out the artist will then design the final artwork, which will be given to the printers to be printed.  The finished artwork is scanned by camera and output into separate film positives one is used for each of the different colours, Black, Magenta, Cyan and Yellow.  These film separations are used to produce the plates that are needed for the printing, press.

These printing plates need to be tested and so there are two or three sheets printed off, some of which will be inspected for variations in colour and faults in the artwork etc.  One of these sheets will be given to the artist who will check that he is pleased with the outcome.  In order to make sure that the printing machines still work properly, the artist will cut out the proof and put it into the finished product by hand, to make sure that the printing on both sides line up correctly.

Once the group are happy with any alterations, the printer will then begin to print off the cards.  Whilst this is in process the printer will continue to check the various cards against the original.  A few sheets will be used to produce the dye cutting form, whilst the print is drying properly.  This device is used for cutting out the shapes for the design.

Once all of this is completed, the sheets are given to the assembly workers, who by hand will separate the off cuts from the design pieces.  These will be re checked for any more faults before they are put together as the finished product.  The cards will then, finally be packed with matching envelopes and sealed into a cellophane bag. These cards are sold to retailers, usually in packs of about a dozen.  The individual designs are packed into packs of twelve and then into other boxes for storage.  Once the completed designs are available samples are given to the sales force to show to their customers.  If the designs are liked then orders will be made.

The whole of tile process will then continue again exactly as before, providing that the previous process and design was a success and the cards were all sold. Over the years cards have also altered in size, before and during 1843 cards were only available in two standard sizes, quarto and octavo, where as today greetings cards are available in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.

Collecting Cards

Christmas cards have been collected since the nineteenth century.  These cards were not only collected by the receivers, but also by connoisseurs who would research into the history of the firms which produced them.  One of the biggest Christmas card collectors was Jonathan King, who not only tried to buy different samples of every card which was available at that time, but later on in the nineteenth century, he even bought up many of the manufacturing companies.