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Card’eology: Designing for the Greeting Card Market

Presented By: Alan Friedman & Kathy Alpert.

Originally aired in August 2017.

Observations gleaned and lessons learned over four decades in the Social Expressions Industry. Alan Friedman discusses his observations gleaned and lessons learned over four decades in the Social Expressions Industry. Kathy Alpert, Founder and Creative Director of PostMark Press, helps you unravel the mysteries of greeting card design.

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More About This Webinar or Presenter

Alan Friedman, president of Great Arrow Graphics discusses his observations gleaned and lessons learned over four decades in the Social Expressions Industry.

  • The morphology of the greeting card… understanding the category and how creating a successful greeting card differs from other design assignments.
  • Is the greeting card a dinosaur in the landscape of modern communication or is paper expression poised for a resurgence in the digital world?
  • A look at today’s greeting card marketplace… the limitations and potentials for your creative expression and generating income.
  • Forty years of success and failure… a story of the most beautiful cards that didn’t make it…  the long shots that we never would have guessed would be bestsellers.

Kathy Alpert, Founder and Creative Director of PostMark Press, helps you unravel the mysteries of greeting card design.

  • Where to start?  Kathy will discuss her experiences with PostMark Press
  • Challenges of publishing
  • Publishing as a route to licensing
  • Licensing
  • Can you do both?
  • One artist that does it all:  Ann Scott
  • Boutique publishers: Amber Lotus, Calypso
  • Major greeting card manufacturers that license art: Leanin’ Tree, Legacy Publishing
  • Tips for pitching ideas to greeting card companies
  • Realistic expectations (Hint: Don’t give up your day job.)

About Alan Friedman

Alan Friedman is President and CEO of Great Arrow Graphics, a greeting card publisher based in Buffalo, NY. Founded as a silkscreen workshop in 1977, Alan and his wife Donna Massimo brought their first six cards to the National Stationery show in 1983. Seven thousand designs later, Great Arrow’s talented team produces the work of 150 contributing artists. The line today represents the most extensive collection of silkscreened cards in the world. The company is a long time member and supporter of the Greeting Card Association, a trade organization that supports the health and creativity of the social expressions industry. Alan currently serves on the Executive Committee of the GCA.

A wearer of many hats (as an avid collector of vintage headwear, he is never seen without one) Alan is also a noted astro-photographer. His portraits of the sun are shared widely with science and art audiences through galleries and in print and digital publication. Alan’s TEDx talk discussing his journey as citizen astronomer has been viewed more than 58,000 times. You can find out more about Alan at his website, avertedimagination.com.

About Kathy Alpert

Kathy Alpert  is Founder and Creative Director of PostMark Press, a design and licensing business that often collaborates with freelance graphic designers. Kathy has created and licensed hundreds of greeting card designs inspired by ephemera and infused with contemporary humor.

In 2003, Kathy attended the Greeting Card Association’s Annual Convention,  where she was offered her first licensing deal with Leanin’ Tree, a relationship that continues today. Other current greeting  card licensees include Trader Joe’s and Sellers Publishing. PostMark also licenses its work to manufacturers of other products such as coasters, magnets, linen towels, floor mats, match boxes, mugs, and canvas wall art, among other products. The Retro Mama calendar/planner,  a top seller for Sellers Publishing, is in its 10th year.

Kathy is on the Board of Directors of the Greeting Card Association. Before entering the greeting card world, she owned and operated Alpert Communications, a PR and marketing firm.

 

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