Gift Card Designing
Pedro J. Lemos
THERE is less satisfactory holiday hunting for greeting cards than forany other gift. Visit any shop where gift cards are in evidence and youwill note how prospective purchasers go over and over the display,finding one here, discarding it later and at the end possibly making ahesitating and unsatisfied selection.
Publishers have stated to me that if there is one symbol of the holidayseason that should be rejuvenated, it is the custom of sending giftcards. We can all recall how dear to our eyes were the lace-edged,isinglass, snow-encrusted gift cards, which had to be handled withfinger tips, and the singing bird sentiments, which were so daintilyrevealed by a surprise opening of a flap. These cards, together with thehorse-hair sofa and the wax flowers in a glass dome, were part of acertain evolution, and, of course, the only place now for such cards isway down at the bottom of some memory box.
Previous to the world war, America was flooded with cards of agingerbread tinsel order of decorations turned out by the million inforeign countries. These, as well as postcards, were printed in hugeeditions by sweat-shop methods, which, together with certain“can’t-be-done-better” slogans, caused our own shops to fall back ascompetitors.
Now we all know that, no matter how perfect the printing may be, thedesign and idea must be the selling factor of the gift card. And again,the more the idea and wording meet with the personal or local trend ofthe community in which it is distributed, the better it will beaccepted.
That possibly is the reason why you and I can’t find what we want whenwe look for a card to express our personal feeling, because it wasexpressed either in Dresden or London or Hoboken or Squashville. What weneed are cards that are typical community expressions from the parts ofthe country from which they come. It is just as foolish for me to sendyou a card from California with a home-coming sleigh scene havingsnow-burdened roofs for a back-ground, as it would be for you to send adecoration unrelated to your environment. Let’s use motifs and scenesand wording which create the charm of our home section, and we will findthat the card will be doubly welcomed by the recipient on that account.
If the American card is to be encouraged in America, the designing andappreciation of such must be started right in the art rooms of ourschools; and the most important part of such a problem is thelettering.
Lettering need not be approached with fear and trembling, for it can bedone with ease and pleasure. I know of students who shunned letteringbecause they thought it mechanical and laborious, but who, afterdiscovering its possibilities, had almost to be bribed to do anythingelse.
The old masters and artist-craftsmen recognized that lettering could beas artistic as the worker desired and nothing is more beautiful inlettering than the illuminated manuscripts and books of those ages.
The easiest way to produce lettering is to use the lettering pens. Thesepens are made with a separate, small brass tip which