- Process/finishes
- Current cards
- And products
By looking at process/finishes I will be able to see which are most effective and which will be most effective specifically for our cards. I will look into - screen print, letter press, emboss and foiling.
By looking into current cards I will gain a better understanding of the current market for 'romantic' cards, this will highlight if there is a gap in the marker for our style of card and also show us what works and what doesn't work with loving cards.
We don't want to just create a set of cards we want to create a range of relevant products, i will be looking into products that are available / that would be relevant for our brand.
Current cards :
Above is a selection of current cards on the market that are for romantic reasons. There is a broad range of cards on the market and for many different occasions such as , weddings, anniversaries, valentines. Some are specific to that occasion and others could spread over a whole array of occasions. There is also a variety of tones, some are serious, some slushy and other humorous. The cards that I think work best are the the ones that are humorous and quirky, they are most memorable.
From showing the selection of cards that are on the market that I've been looking at to the rest of the group we confirmed that we definitely want to go along the humorous quirky style of card rather than slushy and serious. We also agreed that there is allot of imagery used in the romantic cards, and a lot of the time it is generic and cliche, so we have decided to avoid using imagery and focus on a typographic style card.
Process:
Screen print -
Screen printing is a process that is effective for creating something that is worth keeping. It is a way of mass producing something but with added value of quality. Below are some examples of screen prints.
Below is a hotdog book that I own. It has been made with the process of screen printing. The print gives a really nice flat colour and even but effective texture. This process would be effective for printing cards, it would also be achievable.
Letter Press -
Letterpress is a very luxurious process these days. It is used for formal things such as wedding invitations and business cards.
Above is an example of the process letter press that I sourced. It gives off a luxiourous feel and would work well on a card. The effect of the emboss that happens from letter press adds texture to the print which gives off an expensive feel.
Letterpress would work really well for greeting cards, it would make a high end looking, luxiourous card that people would want to keep. The only issue is that production of letter press is very expensive and also limited to the fonts they have available so this will be something to bear in mind.
Emboss / deboss -
Stamp -
As a cheeper alternative to letter press I have looked into the effect of stamps. Stamps leave a similar imprint as letter press but not ass deep. Stamps leave a lovely texture and I think would work well on the cards. We would have more freedom on what fonts we use if we created the stamps, which we could easily do by using the laser cutter.
Foiling :
Foiling can be achieved two ways, either through screen printing glue or using laser print ink, both techniques require a heat press. The effect of foiling is luxurious and expensive and would work well on cards. Foiling can sometimes look tacky, but if it is applied successfully to the design it can add something special, and sometimes the more subtle the foiling the more effective it is.
Other Products -
As part of our range I have looked into possible items that could be added to it.
Tape / wrapping paper :
Tape and wrapping paper are possibilities for the range, but I think only one would be necessary as both together could be too much and make the look too branded and gimmicky.
I like the DIY effect of this wrapping paper it makes it look hand done which gives it a personal touch.
This wrapping paper has two purposes of acting as wrapping paper but also could be a poster. This makes the paper more disireable and more precious, since most wrapping paper is thrown away in the bin, this is an interesting concept that we could think about incorporating.
Chocolate :
Confectionary is a classic gift for a loved one to buy as a romantic gesture. We could incorporate this into our card brand making Northern romance chocolates, maybe in the shapes of pies. This could be an entertaining gift. below are some examples of creatively packaged chocolate .
This is a really clever product packaging for chocolate by Construct. The messeges are humourous and whitty, and makes the chocolate bar memrable. This kind of concept of writing messeges on the chocolate could be worth exploring for our range, but with northern saying.
Poster :
sovereign ring:
As a gift as part of our range we thought about a Northern Romance his and hers sovereign ring, would be an entertaining and if excecuted well, disireable product.
ballons :
Sick bag :
range of humorous sickness bags for those who are made a little queasy by sentiment
As a way of packaging the card in a gift bag we thought of a sick bag as it fits with the nature of our range, sentimental but with a twist. This would be humourous and posibbly necessary.
Envelope :
