Over the next few weeks, families all over the United States will come together to celebrate the holidays. However, during the busy and rushed nature of the season, it might be difficult for one to adequately invite people to a party or get together. This tutorial aims to create a seasonal and eye catching layout for a holiday party invitation.
Preface
This tutorial uses Creative Suite 4, although prior versions of the software should work adequately as well.
Programs you will need:
-Adobe InDesign
-Adobe Photoshop
Files Used
-http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/3118174529/sizes/o/
-http://www.sxc.hu/photo/422131/
-http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachel_s/429074338/sizes/o/
Step 1
Open Photoshop and create a new document that is 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches tall. Also, be sure that the resolution is set to a number above 300 pixels/inch, the background content is White, and that the color mode is CMYK (this allows better color matching with a printer, rather than a screen).
Step 2
Press CTRL + R (Command + R on Macs) to bring up the rulers. Then, click and drag a guide from the left ruler and place it at 4.25 inches. Following, click and drag a guide from the top ruler and place it at 5.5 inches. This should effectively make a cross section of the document (example can be viewed below).
Step 3
The card is now set up into 4 separate quadrants. The front of the card is located in the lower right hand side, and the back will be displayed on the lower left hand side. The middle of the card, will be upside down on the top two quadrants, but it will be flipped after the design is mostly completed. Below is a diagram of how this will be broken down:
Step 4
Download the first picture in the Files Used section of this tutorial. This will be used as the front of the card. Resize the picture so that it fits into the bottom right quadrant (you may need to crop it slightly to make it fit).
Step 5
Download the second picture in the Files Used section of this tutorial. When the image is placed inside the document, flip it 180 degrees so that it is upside down. Keep the image in proportion as you scale it up, and bring the edges to match either side of the document. Then cut off any of the image that falls below the middle division.
Step 6
Download the third picture in the Files Used section of this tutorial. Resize and place it in the final quadrant. This section could also be used to place a logo, if the invitation is from a company or business.
Step 7
Once you have all of the pictures in their respective places, save the document (.psd, .eps, or .pdf will do), and open Illustrator. Create a new document with the same dimensions as the Photoshop file, and make sure that there are no margins/gutters included.
Step 8
Place (CTRL + D/Command+D on Mac) the Photoshop document, and align it. This should match up perfectly with the InDesign file. Type all of the pertinent information necessary to the invitation in the top left quadrant.
Step 9
Simply flip the text 180 degrees. Export the file as a PDF, and print as many as you need. To fold the card correctly, first fold it long ways, and then again short ways.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at matthew.bitley@gmail.com.
