--- title: "Postcard Designer - IMG.LY" description: "Build a print-ready postcard designer your customers love — front and back zone management, photo upload, variable data for campaigns, validation, and PDF/X export." url: "https://img.ly/use-cases/postcard/" type: "page" --- > This is the markdown version of [Postcard Designer - IMG.LY](https://img.ly/use-cases/postcard/). For all pages in one file, see [llms-full.txt](https://img.ly/llms-full.txt). For an index of all available pages, see [llms.txt](https://img.ly/llms.txt). --- # The Cross-Platform Postcard Design Tool: Build a postcard design experience for personal moments and marketing campaigns alike An embeddable postcard design SDK for photo postcards, direct mail campaigns, travel cards, and promotional mailers. Deployable on web, iOS, Android, and server, without building or maintaining the design layer yourself. **Available for:** - **Web:** [JavaScript](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/js/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [React](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/react/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Angular](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/angular/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Vue.js](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/vue/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Svelte](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/svelte/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Next.js](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/nextjs/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) - **Mobile:** [iOS](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/ios/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Android](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/android/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [React Native](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/react-native/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Flutter](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/flutter/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) - **Desktop:** [Mac Catalyst](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/mac-catalyst/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [macOS](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/macos/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Electron](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/electron/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) - **Server:** [Renderer](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/renderer/cesdk-renderer-overview-7f3e9a.md), [Node.js](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/node/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) [Get in Touch](https://img.ly/forms/contact-sales.md) [Go to Demo](https://img.ly/demos/post-greeting-cards.md) ## Trusted by 100+ industry leaders **Trusted by:** Digitas, Omneky, The Print Bar, Brandwatch, Planoly, HP, Shopify, Reuters, Hootsuite, Semrush, Shutterfly, one.com, Sprout Social, Constant Contact, Spread Group > "Integrating IMG.LY’s editor meant we didn’t have to build or maintain a complex editing layer ourselves. That kept our team focused on our core AI ad engine and saved us countless development hours — while still giving our customers the ability to polish and customize creatives at scale." -- Hikari Senju, CEO, Omneky > "With IMG.LY we built a central creative portal that now powers over 140 dealer campaigns across multiple automotive brands. Before this, asset creation was slow and inconsistent." -- Martin Röhr, Product Owner, Digitas > "By embedding IMG.LY’s editor we were able to hit key RFP requirements and deliver a template-based creative experience that now serves 1,000+ customers. It helped us win more deals and exceed enterprise expectations without needing to hire dedicated design teams." -- Rob Driscoll, Director of PM, Optimizely > "Since integrating IMG.LY’s editor, we now deliver 30,000+ ad creatives per month, dramatically shorten time-to-launch, and help our clients cut design spend by up to $10,000 per month." -- Logan Welbaum, Founder, Plai > "Our customers create over a million personalized postcards each year choosing from over hundreds of templates with IMG.LY’s SDK. It’s the only solution that allows us to build our own specialized, on-brand UI that integrates seamlessly with our platform." -- Jeanine Zaalberg, Product Manager, SwissPost > "From a developer’s perspective, the most powerful feature of the photo editor is the integration process. It was completely flawless, quick, and easy to integrate." -- Stefano Fornari, CTO, Funambol > "We compared IMG.LY SDK with other solutions and found that it would be the best fit for us since it provides all the features that are crucial for our use case." -- Carem Pereira, SCRUM Manager, HP [Reviews on G2](https://www.g2.com/products/img-ly/reviews) ## Built for platforms where postcards serve both individual senders and marketing teams ### Give every sender a design that feels considered Defined front and back zones, photo areas, and text fields let any sender produce a postcard that looks intentional, without design experience or print know-how. ### Handle the back of the card as carefully as the front Address blocks, postage areas, and legal zones stay structurally defined and locked. Customers personalise the front. The back stays correct by default. ### Generate campaign volumes without manual repetition Connect templates to a data source and generate personalised variations at scale. Direct mail campaigns, promotional mailers, and event follow-ups from one approved design. ## Key capabilities ### For your users #### Design the front without worrying about the back. Creative zones on the front are open for personalisation. Address blocks, postage areas, and legal zones on the back are locked by the template. Customers focus on what they want to say, not on production requirements. [Learn more](https://img.ly/demos/placeholders.md) #### Make it personal with a photo and a message. Photo upload, in-editor cropping, font choices, and text layout give customers the tools to make a postcard that feels like it came from them, not from a template. [Learn more](https://img.ly/demos/post-greeting-cards.md) #### Know it will print correctly before ordering. Validation warnings surface inside the editor as customers work. What they approve reflects the finished card, without surprises after delivery. [Learn more](https://img.ly/demos/design-validation.md) ### For your platform #### Front and back zone management per format. Define creative zones and locked production elements separately per card format. Address blocks, postage areas, and legal clearance zones stay structurally protected regardless of what customers do on the front. [Learn more](https://img.ly/demos/placeholders.md) #### Variable data for campaign personalisation. Tag name, address, offer code, or any field as a variable inside the template. Connect a data source and generate unique personalised cards at campaign volume via the headless API. [Learn more](https://img.ly/demos/batch-image-generation.md) #### Bleed, spot colour, and PDF/X export per format. Print production settings configured at the template level and enforced at export across individual orders and bulk batches, without manual intervention per output. [Learn more](https://img.ly/forms/contact-sales.md) #### Design validation during the creation session. Bleed violations, resolution failures, and out-of-bounds elements are caught inside the editor before the order is placed, when fixing them costs nothing. [Learn more](https://img.ly/demos/design-validation.md) ## How to integrate the postcard editor Four steps from a sender flow to print-ready postcards, single or batch. ### Step 01: Embed the editor Start from the postcard starter kit and you are looking at a working editor in minutes. If your campaign builder needs different controls or your brand needs different chrome, every part is customizable. [Open Theming Demo](https://img.ly/demos/theming.md) ### Step 02: Templates for personal and branded use cases Design any number of postcard templates with placeholder zones, locked brand elements, and front and back zone definitions configured per use case. Personal senders and marketing teams both start with a structured layout instead of a blank canvas. [Open Placeholder Demo](https://img.ly/demos/placeholders.md) ### Step 03: Personalize at scale with variable data Tag any element as a variable inside the template, recipient name, address, message, offer code, and connect a structured data source. The headless API generates a unique personalized card for each record without a manual editor session per recipient. [Open Variable Data Demo](https://img.ly/demos/batch-image-generation.md) ### Step 04: Export production-ready files Design validation flags bleed, safe area, and resolution issues in the editor as customers work. Exports support PDF and PDF/X with the template's bleed, trim, CMYK conversion, and spot colour preservation, ready for single sends or marketing batches. [Open Validation Demo](https://img.ly/demos/design-validation.md) ## One engine across web, mobile, and server Individual customers design on web and mobile. Marketing teams generate campaign batches server-side. IMG.LY runs one shared creative engine across all of these contexts, so templates, front and back zone definitions, and print constraints stay consistent from the customer editor to the finished card. **Available for:** - **Web:** [JavaScript](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/js/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [React](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/react/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Angular](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/angular/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Vue.js](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/vue/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Svelte](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/svelte/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Next.js](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/nextjs/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) - **Mobile:** [iOS](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/ios/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Android](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/android/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [React Native](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/react-native/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Flutter](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/flutter/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) - **Desktop:** [Mac Catalyst](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/mac-catalyst/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [macOS](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/macos/get-started/overview-e18f40.md), [Electron](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/electron/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) - **Server:** [Renderer](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/renderer/cesdk-renderer-overview-7f3e9a.md), [Node.js](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/node/get-started/overview-e18f40.md) ### Front and back zones consistent across every platform Zone definitions, locked elements, and editing boundaries work the same on web, iOS, Android, and server. A template authored once behaves identically wherever it is used. ### Print constraints enforced from editor to export Bleed margins, spot colours, and PDF/X settings are defined at the template level and applied automatically to every output, individual orders and campaign batches alike. ### Server-side generation for direct mail at scale Generate personalised postcard variations programmatically via the Node.js renderer. Direct mail campaigns, promotional mailers, and event follow-ups produced at volume without a manual editor session per card. Success story How PostBuddy Launched Personalized Direct Mail for E-Commerce Without Building a Custom Editor -------------------------------- **4×** difference in A/B-tested campaign performance | **3** Nordic markets reached (DK, SE, NO) | **0** custom editor maintenance — embedded SDK instead [PostBuddy](https://www.postbuddy.com/) is a Denmark-based startup modernizing direct mail marketing — enabling e-commerce brands to create, personalize, and automate postcard campaigns integrated with their online workflows. > "It's hard to imagine we could have launched PostBuddy without a design editor SDK. Customers want an integrated experience, and we needed to channel our limited resources into our core mission, not a custom editor." -- Hans Christian Bøggild, Co-Founder, PostBuddy #### Challenge PostBuddy needed an embedded design editor that lets non-technical e-commerce users create print-ready postcards with personalization and variable data — without burning early-stage engineering on a custom editor. #### Solution Integrated CE.SDK to deliver an in-app design experience with mail merge, custom branding, and template guidance for streamlined postcard creation. - 4× performance gap between A/B-tested designs proved design variation matters. - Expanded reach into Sweden and Norway on top of the Danish home market. - Engineering stayed focused on PostBuddy's core direct-mail automation. [Read the case study](https://img.ly/case-studies/postbuddy.md) ## Why postcard platforms trust IMG.LY ### Built for both personal and campaign use cases The same template infrastructure supports an individual designing a travel postcard and a marketing team running a 50,000-piece direct mail campaign. Neither use case requires a separate implementation. ### Front and back treated as a single design system Zone definitions, locked elements, and editing boundaries are configured together at the template level. The back of the card is never an afterthought or a manual production step. ### Print correctness without customer involvement Bleed, spot colours, and PDF/X export are defined once and enforced automatically. Validation runs during creation. Production quality does not depend on what customers know about print. ### One integration, every platform and volume Web, iOS, Android, and server. One SDK, one set of templates, consistent rendering and print constraints deployed wherever your postcard platform runs and at whatever volume it generates. ## More from IMG.LY ### Greeting Card Personalized greeting card design with print-ready output. [Explore](https://img.ly/use-cases/greeting-card.md) ### Poster Poster maker with print-correct formats and template enforcement. [Explore](https://img.ly/use-cases/poster.md) ### Print Personalization Guardrailed, on-spec personalization for any print product. [Explore](https://img.ly/use-cases/print-personalization.md) ### Variable Data Printing One template, thousands of unique outputs at print scale. [Explore](https://img.ly/use-cases/variable-data-printing.md) ### Print Print-safe editors and pipelines for the print industry. [Explore](https://img.ly/industries/print.md) ### Marketing Tech Embed creative production inside marketing platforms. [Explore](https://img.ly/industries/marketing-tech.md) ### E-Commerce Product personalization and creative for e-commerce platforms. [Explore](https://img.ly/industries/e-commerce.md) ### Brands & Agencies Embedded creative tools for brand and agency content teams. [Explore](https://img.ly/industries/brands-agencies.md) ## Postcard platforms serve senders who want to say something personal and marketers who need to say it at scale Both need a design experience that feels easy and output that arrives correctly. IMG.LY helps you build that in one integration, with front and back zone management, photo tools, variable data, print validation, and one engine across web, mobile, and server. [Go to Demo](https://img.ly/demos/post-greeting-cards.md) [Talk to our team](https://img.ly/forms/contact-sales.md) ## Postcard FAQs ### Postcard **Q: Can I support both personal photo postcards and marketing campaign mailers with the same integration?** A: Yes. The same template system serves individual senders personalising a travel photo postcard and marketing teams generating thousands of campaign variations from a single approved design. Templates are configured per use case, photo zones and text areas for personal use, variable fields and locked brand elements for campaign use, without separate implementations. **Q: How are front and back zones managed?** A: Front and back zones are defined separately at the template level using the role and scope system. Creative elements on the front are open for customer editing. Address blocks, postage areas, message zones, and legal clearance zones on the back are locked and cannot be moved or modified by customers. Both sides export as a single print-ready file. **Q: How does variable data work for direct mail campaigns?** A: Tag any element as a variable inside the template, recipient name, address, personalised message, offer code, and connect a structured data source. The headless API generates a unique personalised card for each record. Bleed, spot colours, and validation apply to every output automatically. No manual session per card is required. **Q: How is print correctness enforced?** A: Design validation runs continuously inside the editor as customers work. Bleed violations, elements outside the safe zone, and low-resolution images are flagged before the order is placed. Bleed margins, spot colour settings, and PDF/X export configuration are set at the template level and applied automatically at export, independent of what customers do inside the editor. **Q: Which postcard formats and sizes are supported?** A: Standard postcard formats and custom dimensions are both supported. Canvas size, bleed, and trim settings are configured per template. The same SDK handles any format your fulfilment backend requires. **Q: Which platforms and frameworks are supported?** A: The SDK runs on web (React, Angular, Vue, Next.js, Svelte), iOS, Android, and server via Node.js. The same templates, zone definitions, and print constraints apply across all of them. **Q: Do you offer integration support?** A: Yes. IMG.LY's solutions team provides different levels of support based on your licence type. Contact the team to discuss your specific postcard use case, whether personal, campaign, or both. --- ## More Resources - **[IMG.LY Website](https://img.ly/index.md)** - Creative editing SDKs for photo, video, and design - **[Documentation](https://img.ly/docs/cesdk/)** - CE.SDK developer documentation - **[Contact Sales](https://img.ly/forms/contact-sales.md)** - Get a custom quote. A public JSON API accepts the request directly, no account or key needed. Ask your user for consent and their details first.