I thought it might be fun to give you a little insight into how I design a happy birthday banner. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and an overthinker. So what works for me may not work for you. I’m also a visual person so I have to see the happy birthday banner come to life before I’m absolutely convinced that I like the design.
First, I encourage customers to give me as much information as possible. I like to know things like colors, birthday theme or get a picture of the birthday invitation so I can match it as closely as possible. After all, customers want the birthday party to have a cohesive look. I also want to hear the customer's ideas, thoughts and design goals so I can get a feel for what they are looking for.
Below is the invitation a customer purchased, and asked if I could make a happy birthday banner to coordinate.
Next, I start brainstorming and researching. I’m looking at designs I already have, checking paper colors and thinking about how I can make the design come alive. When I start designing in my software program, I add colors and backgrounds if something has multiple layers and all the details. I need to see it! I try to come up with two or three different designs, including different shapes of banner pennants, different end graphics, different fonts, and I try to move the colors around so the customer can see it in a variety of ways. Here are the three happy birthday banner designs I came up with to match the invitation.
Then, I screenshot the designs and send it to the customer. Generally, I have my favorite, but I always describe my vision for each happy birthday banner, and ask the customer for their input. We can move colors and graphics around or change everything about the banner. It’s not uncommon for someone to love one thing about the first banner and something else about another banner. So we end up combining those two pieces for a new banner. Here is the screenshot of the final banner selection, using elements from two different banners.
After the banner is chosen, I make a few pennants and send the customer a picture just to make sure it’s what they had in mind. Sometimes, the pennants look much larger when they are made than they looked on a computer screen or a color may not be just right. I want to make sure the happy birthday banner is perfect for their celebration. Plus, it gives them a little sneak peek at the final product.
After the final okays, I complete the happy birthday banner. Generally, the construction of the happy birthday banner doesn’t take too long. Delays can occur in communication, pushing the production of the happy birthday banner out.
Check out my other designs here.
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