A GIF, sent at 8 a.m. Four seconds that loop, at a size every messaging app shows inline.
GREETING
CARDS!
A card for the family chat that actually moves, and a postcard for the people who still check the letterbox. Same birthday, same afternoon, one app.
The 90 looks good on you card in its Watercolour theme, in Design. Its message layer is selected; in the Design panel its brand field, message, is changed to Happy 90th, Nonna Rosa! and Enter is pressed. The words on the card change, in the same lettering and colours.
AWW!
THE BRIEF
Nonna Rosa turns 90 on Saturday
This is an example, but you know this family. Nonna Rosa is turning ninety. Half the cousins live in one group chat that never sleeps. The other half live in three countries and believe a birthday without paper did not happen. Rosa herself has a phone, uses it for exactly two things, and one of them is looking at GIFs her grandchildren send.
So the job is two cards. A moving one for the chat, sent at 8 a.m. sharp so nobody beats you to it. And a printed postcard with the party details, posted to everyone who will not see the chat. The usual way is a card app on your phone and a print shop's website with its own editor, fonts and opinions. Here it is one file each, about an hour in all, with time left to find the stamps.
660
animated card templates
217
occasions, from 1st birthdays to retirements
16
themes, from Confetti to Pixel
2
postcard sizes: 4×6 and 5×7
STEP 1
Pick the card, then make it say it
In New file, type 90th. Three cards come up: Happy 90th! in Elegant, Ninety years of memories in Sparkle and 90 looks good on you in Watercolour. We took the watercolour one, because Rosa paints.
The words on a card are a brand field called message. Select the text and the Design panel shows it in a box of its own. Type Happy 90th, Nonna Rosa!, press Enter, and the card says it in its own lettering, wrapped to fit. You are not fighting a text box. You are filling in a blank.
The 90 looks good on you card in its Watercolour theme, in Design. Its message layer is selected; in the Design panel its brand field, message, is changed to Happy 90th, Nonna Rosa! and Enter is pressed. The words on the card change, in the same lettering and colours.
STEP 2
Pick the mood, then press Space
Not sure about watercolour? The same occasion in another theme is one search away. Here is Elegant: gold rules, a cake that sways, a serif that would look at home on a wedding menu. Press Space to watch the four-second loop, and again to stop it.
The loop is the point. A card that stops dead after one pass looks broken in a chat; these end exactly where they began, so they just keep going while the cousins type “awww”. If you want more than a quick change of words, every layer is a normal PopCraft layer. The animated GIF cards page takes a card apart.
The Happy 90th! card in its Elegant theme, open in Animate and zoomed on the 480 by 480 card. Space plays its four-second loop, then it runs on into its second pass.
STEP 3
Send it as a GIF
In Animate, the download button in the transport bar opens Export animation. Pick GIF. It uses one shared palette for the whole loop so the colours do not shimmer, dithers the gradients, and is set to loop forever. The summary tells you the size and frame count before you commit.
Then it is a file like any other: drag it into WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal or an email. At 8:00 the chat lights up. At 8:01 an aunt replies with a GIF of a cat. That is not PopCraft's fault.
The Love you more card in its Doodle theme, in Animate. The export button in the transport bar opens Export animation; GIF is picked as the format, showing its shared palette, dither and loop forever settings and the summary of the size, frame count and estimated file size.
The Happy Birthday card in its Confetti theme, open in Animate and zoomed on the 480 by 480 card. Space plays the four-second loop: the cake bobs above the words while confetti falls and turns around them, and the loop runs on into its second pass without a jump.
STEP 4
Now the paper one
The GIF is for screens: a 480 pixel square. For the post, open a print template. PopCraft has two postcards: the 4×6 Postcard, with an address side whose lines are components, and the Postcard 5×7, with a picture front and a message back. Ours ships as a “We moved” card from a made-up shop called Fern & Field. Change the words and it is a party invitation.
Want the birthday art on the front? Copy the card's layers and paste them onto the postcard. Shapes and type are vectors, so they print sharp at any size. Stretch the background to the bleed line so a wobbly cut never leaves a white sliver; that is the one print rule worth learning today.
The 5×7 postcard template in Design: a front and a back side by side. Command-P opens Print, listing both pages and how they sit on the paper, with Full bleed on; Crop marks is turned on for a printer that trims.
STEP 5
Print at home, or hand it to a shop
Press ⌘P. The dialog prints both sides with Full bleed already on and asks how the pages sit on the paper: single pages for most printers, or two per sheet to save card stock. Turn on Crop marks and you get little lines that show the guillotine (or your scissors) where to cut. The pages are rendered to a PDF first, so what prints is the card, not the app around it.
Going to a print shop instead? Export a PDF, choose CMYK if they ask for it, and keep the bleed. The print and PDF page covers booklets, colour and the rest.
The bold business card template. The Preflight tab opens in the right panel and Run checks both sides: image resolution, safe margins, bleed, hairlines, overflowing text, fonts and transparency, each issue listed with where it is.
The whole-issue comic template. ⋯ › Export › Export as PDF… opens the PDF export. Color is switched to CMYK (uncalibrated), Full bleed is turned off so each page carries its bleed, and Crop marks and Registration marks and color bars are ticked; the notes under each control say what the file will be.
STEP 6
Thirty cousins, thirty names
Writing “Dear Luca” thirty times is how hand cramp starts. Bulk create merges a CSV into the postcard and makes one page per row: a name here, a town there, a personal line for each. One print run, every card different. The family below is made up; the feature is not.
cousins.csv
name,town,note Luca,Turin,Bring the accordion. Giulia & Sam,Leeds,The twins can stay up late. Uncle Pino,Bari,Yes, you have to dance. Marta,Toronto,Video call at 8, our time.
Dear Luca,
Nonna turns 90 on the 3rd. Bring the accordion.
TURIN
Dear Giulia & Sam,
Nonna turns 90 on the 3rd. The twins can stay up late.
LEEDS
Dear Uncle Pino,
Nonna turns 90 on the 3rd. Yes, you have to dance.
BARI
Dear Marta,
Nonna turns 90 on the 3rd. Video call at 8, our time.
TORONTO
AFTER THE PARTY
The thank-yous write themselves (nearly)
A week later you need the other card. There are thank-you cards in eight themes, from Doodle to a Postcard look, plus anniversaries, new babies, get-well cards, graduations, retirements and the first day of every season. The occasions sit on seven shelves, so you browse by moment, not by keyword.
THE POST
THUNK!A 5×7 postcard, both sides, bled and marked, with each cousin's name merged in from a list.
THE THANKS
AWW!A thank-you card in the same theme the week after, so the whole birthday matches.
WHAT YOU SKIP
The card aisle, before and after
| THE USUAL WAY | IN POPCRAFT |
|---|---|
| A card app for the GIF, with a watermark unless you pay | Export a GIF from the file you made, no watermark |
| A print shop’s web editor for the postcard | Print pages with bleed, crop marks and a CMYK PDF |
| Typing thirty names into thirty cards | Bulk create: one CSV, one page per row |
| A different look for the thank-you | The same theme, a different occasion |
| Hunting for “90th” in a sea of “Happy birthday” | 217 occasions, searchable by name |
FROM ZERO
Your first card in six moves
- 1
Find the occasion
New file, search the occasion: “90th”, “thank you”, “new baby”. Each card says which theme it wears. - 2
Say it your way
Select the words. The Design panel shows the card’s message field; type yours and press Enter. - 3
Watch it loop
Press Space. Four seconds, then it starts again without a jump. - 4
Export the GIF
The export button in the transport bar, GIF, loop forever. Drop it in the chat. - 5
Make the paper one
Open the 4×6 or 5×7 postcard. Front and back, bleed on, your words on both. - 6
Print or send it out
⌘P with crop marks for home, or a CMYK PDF for a print shop.
BEING HONEST
We make the card. You lick the stamp.
PopCraft does not send texts, mail postcards or sell printing. The GIF cards are squares for screens, not print files, and there is no folded greeting-card template yet: the paper route is the postcard. Each GIF is its own export, so personalising a hundred of them is a job for printed cards and Bulk create. The print docs cover bleed, imposition and the rest.
ASKED & ANSWERED
Questions, answered
How many cards are there?
660 animated card templates, for 217 occasions, in 16 themes: confetti, watercolour, elegant, papercut, pop art, pixel, neon and more. Each is a 480×480 square that loops in four seconds.
Can I print an animated card?
Not as it is: a GIF card is a square for screens. For paper, use the 4×6 or 5×7 postcard templates, which are print pages with a front and a back. You can copy the card’s artwork onto the postcard; shapes and type stay sharp at any size, and Preflight warns you about any picture that would print below your minimum resolution.
Does PopCraft mail the postcards?
No. PopCraft prints them on your printer or writes a PDF for a print shop. Stamps, envelopes and the post box are still yours.
Will a GIF work in my messaging app?
The cards are made for it: 480 pixels square, a four-second loop, and the export uses one shared palette so the colours do not flicker. Most chat apps play GIFs inline. Some shrink big ones, so keep the default size.
Can I change the colours?
Yes. Every colour on a card is a layer you can restyle, and the 16 themes give each occasion a few looks to pick from. The card colours are the occasion’s own; a brand kit fills in the fonts.
Can I send a card to fifty people with their own names?
For printed cards, yes: Bulk create merges a CSV into the postcard and makes one page per row. For GIFs, each name is its own export, so it is quicker for a handful than for a hundred.
THE MANUAL, FOR THE DETAILS
KEEP EXPLORING
Goes great with
AWW! YOUR TURN.
660 cards for every moment, sent as a GIF or printed as a postcard. Free to start, in your browser or on your Mac.