Steps I took to create my first greetings card range for Thortful.com.
Greetings cards are a new product for me. I have sent a lot of them over the years and I have proudly displayed every card we received on our living room mantle, however designing a greetings card was not something I had done until now and I want to share the steps I took to design, develop, and launch my first ever greetings card range for Thortful.
I created a plan and set my goal
The first thing I look to when planning this range was my deadline which in this case was the last day I was able to submit Christmas themed cards to the Thortful website. Once you set your deadline, all you have to do is list your steps back all the way to concept. This plan will be your blueprint for the project as well as the to do list of actions you will need to take to reach your goal.
At this stage I also predetermined the number of cards I wanted to have on my range which in this case was 5. That does not mean I limited myself to only designing 5 cards but that my goal for this project was to have a 5-card range ready by the deadline.
I set the time
Once I drafted my list of steps, I considered how long will it take me to complete each step as well as looked at my calendar and scheduled the days and times I was going to be able to work on each phase of this process. This is different for everyone because only you will know how much long it takes for you to complete a certain task and how much free time you have on your schedule to focus on your art.
For example, I know it takes me a 1 days to think about the brief, 3 days to gather inspiration and 1 day to build a mood board. So now I know my “Concept phase” takes 5 days to complete.
The list of tasks I drafted for my design and product development process.
I did the work
This one seems pretty obvious, but being that my middle name should be “procrastination” I have to be very focused on this stage of the creative process to avoid feelings of overwhelm and imposter syndrome.
As I had already created a plan of action for this projects, I simply used the steps from planning as a to-do list; 1. draft concept, 2. create mood board, 3. pick colours, 3. sketch, 4. digitalize, 5. finalise artworks, 6. save files, and kept ticking the boxes after each step.
An example of the sketching and digitalising phases of my product development process.
I chose the strongest designs
The moment when you realise you have ticked all the boxes and the work you idealised in your head is right in front of you ready for the world to see is pure joy. In my case I realised I had 8 cards finalised which meant I had to narrow down my selection and choose the stronger designs to upload my final range. Not only I planned for a 5 cards range but also as I was a new creator to Thortful, I only have 5 slots (number of designs) available to use when you start.
There you have it. An inside look on how I planned and designed my first greetings cards range for Thortful.com. By mapping out the entire process I was able to complete this project with easy.
I hope this post has inspired you to have a go at designing your own greetings cards range. I am about to start working on my next Thortful range and this time is all for Valentine’s day. Want to join me through this process?
If you have your own favourite ways to tackle your creative projects leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you!
My Christmas cards range available to by at Thortful.com.
