The pop-up card assignment was designed for students to put all the skills they have learned throughout the semester into creating and building a functional well-designed pop-up card. We could choose everything for the card which meant the design, layout, what program we would use, etc. To create a functioning pop-up, we did have to make the card out of cardstock, and to make the envelope we could use normal printing paper. The card could be any size but had to fit inside the envelope perfectly. All craft on the card had to be perfect which included showing no glue marks, precise cuts, and more.
Sketches
My first approach to this assignment was brainstorming and sketching what I wanted my pop-up card to be. I first started with what I liked doing and then in the middle I completely switched and thought about zombies. I drew some ideas for the zombies but did not like the design and switched again to thinking about things that mean a lot to me. During this stage, I thought about my best friend and how she will be graduating this month. I started thinking about all the fun times we had while she was in high school and how I could illustrate little rememberable pieces from those times. I went through all our photos which caused a problem because we do not take many photos we always enjoy living in the moment and spending time together. After looking through the few photos I was able to remember the major parts of our favorite times together and decided on making her a pop-up card.
Tutorials I used and an example of what a pop-up card is
After finalizing my sketch idea, I started working on prototypes for the layout and design of the card. I googled tutorials for how to make pop-up cards and asked classmates what their ideas for the card will be. Doing my prototypes, I did not worry about the appearance of the card I worried more about the function. Once I reached a confident level of how the card was going to function, I worked on creating elements from the high school she will be graduating from.
School logo and the logo I made
I wanted my card and envelope to have elements of the high school she will be graduating from because I also went there, and it was where we met. To create the high school elements, I googled the logo from the school and tried to replicate the design into my best friend's nickname and for the envelope the first letter of her nickname. To replicate the logo of the high school, I used the pen tool to create my best friend's nickname and used the shear tool to manipulate the letters for a better resemblance of the high school’s logo.
Illustrations in adobe illustrator
For all the other elements or illustrations of my card, I used the pen tool to trace over the images my best friend and I took during our times together and made the illustrations closed shapes to easily add fill color. For the background of the card, I wanted to create an illusion of colored smoke because we have a fond memory of going to a color war together. I created the background by using a freeform gradient and adding purples, blues, and whites to create the illusion of depth. After all the illustrations were completed, I printed them out and created another prototype close to the final design.
Prototype
Having a prototype close to the final design I worked on creating the envelope. For the envelope design, I used the pen tool to create the first letter of my best friend's nickname and tried to mimic the design of the school's logo.
Envelope design
Having the illustration for the envelope complete a classmate found a free envelope layout and provided me with the layout as well. With the layout, I was able to see how the illustration will look on the envelope and how to fold the envelope as well. Once the illustration was on the envelope, I printed it on 11 by 17 paper then cut off the margins and folded the sides then glued them to the front and completed the envelope by folding down the flap.
Prototype in envelope
With the envelope complete I put the prototype into the envelope and the prototype fit perfectly which reassured me the dimensions of the final card had to be the same or slightly smaller than the prototype. Having the prototype close to the final design I printed everything on cardstock and used a Cricut machine to precisely cut all my illustrations. By having all my elements on heavier paper this allowed for more stability and an easier creation process.
Supports
I wanted all my illustrations to pop up and in doing so I created supports that were connected to both sides of the card and acted as levers to pull the illustrations up. I created the supports out of strips of the background which allowed for the supports to not overpower the illustrations. I taped illustrations to the supports and taped the supports to the card for easier removal if I needed to move things around. I did have to move some elements around and this caused tape residue on the cardstock. To fix this problem I used another piece of cardstock which was designed the same as the background and cut it in half. Once it was cut in half I untapped the bottom supporting strips and glued the new cardstock on top of the old. I repeated the same steps with the top section of the card as well.
Finalized card inside envelope
After having no tape residue and the correct placement of my illustrations I glued down the supports. Once the supports were glued, I folded everything in half to make sure the card would fold flat. The card did fold flat, and I was able to glue all my illustrations to the supports. Completing the gluing process, I folded the card again and placed heavy notebooks on top to make sure the glue would dry flat. After the glue was completely flat, I put the card into the envelope, and it fit perfectly.
Finalized card back view, top view and front view
Completing this assignment, I learned it has been a long time since I made a pop-up card and paper can be hard to manipulate. Besides having difficulties along the way, I learned how fun it can be to work with my hands again and can simultaneously work at a computer while building something in 3D. I learned more shortcuts in adobe illustrator too and how to not only see the screen but to see how everything will appear in the real world.
