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Electronic Greetings
With email becoming a popular phenomenon in 1993, it was inevitable that mailing Christmas cards would take a back seat to their electronic counterparts.
What Is An eCard?
Hot on the heels of the creation of email came The Electric Postcard site. Judith Donath created the site at the MIT Media Lab in 1994.
Initial versions of the ecard were similar to regular postcards. They were simple, still images that could be emailed to people with varying degrees of customization.
Over the years, ecards have kept pace with the rapidly growing capacities of the internet. eCards were animated with Shockwave Flash technology, video embeds and increasingly sophisticated multimedia platforms.
You can send simple postcard-like greetings, comical dancing elves with the faces of friends or relatives superimposed over the elves’ heads or even a custom video game these days.
Prices range from free to almost $900 for a customized business-to-business ecard service.
How You Can Send An eCard
There are a variety of excellent ecard services these days. I’ve included a list of sites for your convenience:
Take a look at each of the sites and see which of them offers electronic greetings that best reflect your personality.
How To Make A Memorable Photo Greeting Card
Whether you are sending your greeting card online or designing it online for printing and surface mailing, the family photo is always a winning choice. Continuing advances in computers and digital photography have made it easier than ever to snap the ideal holiday greeting card family photo.
Taking a family photo gives distant relatives an idea of how the kids are growing. It also makes a statement on what sort of people you are. Digital technology allows you to take and retake photos quickly and conveniently, before downloading the final candidate to your computer for editing and incorporating into a greeting card design.
Many families still prefer the traditional family photo with everyone dressed in their Sunday Best and set into a proper sort of pose. Others opt for a more casual themed attire, an array of ugly Christmas sweaters or even a shot of everyone wearing Santa hats to create a more playful holiday look.
When it comes to designing your family photo card, you might have mad design skills. If so, you might choose to use your favorite graphic design suite to create a unique holiday card design.
If not, you might want to leave it to the professionals. There are a variety of sites where you can design a printed or e-delivered photo greeting:
You will have options for the size of your finished card and the finish, if you prefer matte or gloss. You’ll also typically have options for photo paper or card stock that can be framed and/or scrap-booked by the recipient. Of course, if you go with an online delivery rather than printed cards, you won’t need to be concerned with materials. The medium will be the defining factor.
Photos, animated GIFs or even videos are options that can be achieved with tools that aren’t nearly as expensive as you’d expect. The higher-end tools can produce spectacular effects, but you’ve got to have the time and skill to put it all together.
Final Note On eCards
Email delivery is no longer in vogue, so many of these services also offer delivery via social media services like Facebook. Electronic greetings have kept pace with the times over the last twenty-four years and we can expect them to keep up going forward.
Physical Christmas cards are still a treat and a valued tradition, but all of the latest technological tricks available in electronic greetings make them an attractive alternative for people with a small budget for their Christmas card list.