I needed to design a postcard that I could use for my promotional mailings. My goal is to generate more children’s illustration work, so I designed the postcard with this in mind, using images I felt best reflected my work in this area.
Instead of the standard 4×6″ postcard, I decided to make it 5×7″, so it would hopefully stand out more and show off the artwork a bit better.
For the front of the postcard I decided to use a recent splash panel from Snowflakes, as I felt it was nice and dynamic, showing lots of action and characters. For consistency, I kept the logo treatment similar to that of my business cards.
On the back I echoed my logo from the front and dropped in my contact information. I then squeezed in three more illustrations that I felt showed a nice range of subject matter, while still leaving room for the address label and the stamp.
In order to make sure I left the right amount of space in the proper areas, I referred to some postcard template guidelines on the Canada Post website. This complicated things a bit – way too many different templates, confusing instructions, and too much guesswork. Plus, I wasn’t sure how current their guidelines were, and I didn’t want to sacrifice any room on the card unless I absolutely had to. So, I printed out a mock up and took it down to the local post office to get some assistance straight from the source. I’m so glad I did this, because I would have made some design concessions that weren’t really necessary, and I wouldn’t have been as happy with the end result.
And, the ladies at the post office made me promise to bring them a copy of the postcard once it’s printed. Who am I to argue!
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