Card design is not a linear process. Although it is achieved through a series of steps, it’s not a series where I add one element at a time until I have a finished card.
Let’s look at today’s card.
How did this design come about?
It’s pretty wild, actually.
I started with one green tree, full size like the one in the front of this card. But the layers weren’t die cut, nor was the full tree die cut. And there was a lot of green and red in the background.
Then I added a Balmy Blue card base. Then I added a second die cut tree. Then I removed the Balmy Blue and went with Starry Sky, a deeper, yet brighter shade of blue. Then I removed the Starry Sky and returned to Balmy Blue, but with some Cherry Cobbler.
Then I removed the second tree. Then I added garlands, removed garlands, added and removed stars.
Don’t get me started on ornaments.
Basically I swapped elements in and out of the card. I even changed the overall design from portrait (vertical), to landscape (horizontal), and back to portrait.
The whole process took about 3 hours, from start to finish.
Want do see something really unexpected?
Visit my facebook page. While I don’t talk about it there, the photos I show on it were part of today’s creative process!
The result of the design process
The end result is the card you see at the top of the screen. I don’t know what version number it is. Maybe 12.
But the important thing is that I like it.
And the process, while very long, really was a lot of fun. (Probably because I have a card that I like at the end of it all lol)
So, remember that the next time that you struggle with a design.
Enjoy the creative journey!! Card design is not a linear process.
