Choosing between a printed card and a digital one

What each format is actually good at

A printed card is an object. It gets propped on a shelf, signed by eight colleagues, and found in a drawer a decade later. That physicality is the entire value, and it is worth the printing time. A digital card is a delivery mechanism: it arrives in seconds, costs nothing to send, works when the recipient is four thousand kilometres away, and is almost always deleted. Neither is better; they solve different problems. The mistake is sending a digital card for an occasion where the recipient expected an object, such as a milestone birthday or a wedding, where the card is part of the gift.

• Printable wins: milestone birthdays, weddings, group signatures, anything to be kept.
• Digital wins: last-minute sends, long distance, large recipient lists, impractical postage.
• Printable cost: paper, ink or a print shop, plus an envelope and postage.
• Digital cost: nothing to deliver, but no physical presence at the event itself.

Sizes: A6, A5, A4 and what they hold

European A sizes halve neatly, which makes printing simple. A6 is the standard greeting card, A5 is the generous one, and A4 folded gives you A5. Choose by how much writing you have and how many people will sign. If you print at home, remember that a folded card comes from a sheet twice its size, so an A6 card is printed on A5 and folded once. Getting that wrong is the single most common reason a home-printed card comes out half the intended size. Write the finished size into the file name so the wrong sheet never reaches the printer.

• A6 card: 105 by 148 mm. Holds about forty handwritten words. Printed from A5, folded once.
• A5 card: 148 by 210 mm. Holds about ninety words or seven signatures. Printed from A4, folded once.
• A4 flat: 210 by 297 mm. Use for a large group card or a poster-style card in an office.
• US equivalents: A6 is close to 4 by 6 inches, A5 is close to 5 by 7 inches.
• Custom pixel sizes help for screens and for print shops that ask for exact dimensions.

Paper, resolution and printing without disappointment

Most home-printed cards look thin because of the paper, not the design. Card stock between 250 and 300 gsm folds cleanly and stands up on a shelf; ordinary 80 gsm paper does not. Matte hides fingerprints and takes pen well, which matters if people are signing. Check the file resolution before printing: for a sharp result you want roughly 300 pixels per inch at the final size, which is about 1240 by 1748 pixels for A5 and 1748 by 2480 for A4. If the card is going to be signed by a group, choose the heavier stock, because ballpoint skids on anything glossy.

• 250 to 300 gsm card stock for a card that stands unaided.
• Matte or uncoated finish if anyone will write on it.
• Score the fold with a bone folder or the back of a butter knife before folding.
• Print a draft on plain paper first to check margins and text position.
• Leave a 5 mm safe margin so nothing important sits near the trim line.
• A local print shop is usually cheaper than a home printer beyond about five cards.

Digital delivery that does not look careless

A digital card sent as a screenshot in a chat looks like an afterthought, which undermines the message it contains. Send a single high-resolution image file with a short personal note in the same message, and send it at the start of the day rather than late at night. Avoid animated cards that require the recipient to visit a site and sit through an advert, because that friction is the main reason digital cards have a poor reputation.

If the occasion is significant, do both: send the digital version on the day so something arrives on time, then post the printed one. The printed copy is what survives, and arriving late is forgiven when something already arrived punctually.

Cost, timing and how to decide

Decide with two questions: when does it need to arrive, and will it be handed over in person. If you have less than three days and no printer, digital is the answer regardless of the occasion. If several people need to sign, print at A5 and start it circulating early, because a group card always takes twice as long to travel round an office as anyone estimates. Write the deadline on a sticky note on the front, and name one person responsible for getting it back before the day. Photograph the signed inside before handing it over, since whoever keeps it rarely shares it back.

• Under three days and no printer: send digital, and post a printed card afterwards if it warrants it.
• Group signing: print A5 or A4 flat, and start it circulating four working days ahead.
• Posting internationally: allow ten working days, or send digital on the day as well.
• Meant to be kept: print on 300 gsm, since thin card curls within a year.

Making the same design work both ways

The efficient approach is to design once and export twice. Keep important content away from the edges so the same artwork works flat on a screen and folded on card, and avoid tiny text, which survives on a screen but disappears at A6.

On Festivo AI you can generate a card in AI mode from a short prompt, or edit the wording on a ready layout in template mode, preview it with a watermark for free, then download a print-ready PNG at A6, A5, A4 or a custom pixel size. The same file can be sent as an image and taken to a print shop, and it can be downloaded again later if the first print goes wrong.