As designers, it’s our job to solve problems, visual problems. Sometimes there are very simple solutions, a matter of adjusting a layout by a few little pixels, and other times, we have to take a bigger step back before getting to a solution that makes everyone happy.
And when it comes to making hosts happy, it’s important to provide them with the ability to customize their invite. One (very important) way of doing that is to design with picture windows — after all, nothing is more custom to the host than including a personal photo in their invitation.
So you may be thinking that it’s simple to add a picture window… just throw in a box somewhere on your design and there you go, a picture window is available to the host, right? Technically yes, BUT you want to do more than make the picture window available. Most likely, you want to create a well designed, well integrated invitation. To do that, you’re going to want to make sure the picture window is an element of your design, not an afterthought.
There are a couple ways you can achieve this result…
Make the picture window the main focus of your design. If you know that you are going to place a picture window into your design, why not start with that? Begin with a picture window and work your other design elements around it. Here are a few examples of the picture window being used as the main element of design:
pingg - Pink Floral
pingg - Baby Blocks
Another way to incorporate a picture window is to frame it. Without a border, your placement could appear random and without purpose. However, if your picture window is framed, it’s no longer a singular element placed onto your design. The frame or border grounds the picture window and helps transfer the style of your work to the placement of the box. You can see how frames were used in the designs below:
Marcia Copeland - Birthday Sweets Photo
Leah Milan - Deco Mod
Have fun designing!
