5 Elements That Every Invitation Should Include

After the cold is behind us and spring arrives with its good weather, the streets fill with life. It’s the perfect season to celebrate. That’s when everyone’s diary fills up with events, celebrations and parties. And when it’s time to celebrate, it’s time to start inviting, using one of the fundamental elements for these events: invitations.

All designers receive proposals to design invitations and it’s a good way to start making a name for yourself in the world of design, proving your ability and increasing your portfolio. But to do the best job possible, it’s useful to know what elements a good invitation should include before thinking about what it should look like

The 5 informative elements of an invitation

The aesthetics of an invitation are fundamental to catching the eye of your guests, but as always, content is king. You must understand that a good invitation, as well as being an object ripe for collection, must serve to give the guests all the information they need about the event. The information it should contain of course depends on the event itself, but it should at least include what is known as “Laswell’s Paradigm” or “the 5W theory”, for its acronym in English:

What (type of celebration); Who (person or institution organizing the event); When (date and time); Where (name and address of the venue, whether it is an online or physical event); Why (reason for the event) and How (whether there is a dress code, whether you can bring a guest, how to confirm attendance or communicate absence, etc…).

How to prioritize the information of an invitation

Once you know what information the invitation should have, it is important to understand how to prioritize it according to its importance. Every design should have at least 3 levels in its hierarchy, where level one is the most important information and should be the most visible element in your design. Level two gathers related information and the use of fonts and other typographic elements should guide viewers to the different parts of the design to help them navigate through it with ease. Finally, level three should be easy to read and creative as the font size will be somewhat smaller.

In addition, there are other elements that help the hierarchy. For example, the use of a pair of contrasting fonts or, in the case of using more than two, making sure that they are used coherently and combined in a harmonious and appropriate way. Using color to make associations; changing the weight and thickness of the different fonts, or using spacing to “zoom in” or “separate” information are other techniques that will help you highlight the most relevant information.

As for the design of the invitation, you are only limited by your imagination: from typographic invitations where the design is marked by the hierarchy of the information and the visual richness of the fonts, through die-cut or handmade invitations, to invitations enriched with illustrations. The possibilities are endless.

Different types of invitations, according to theme

Once you are clear about what you want to say and how you should say it, remember to send the invitations at least two weeks before the event, or in the case of weddings, a couple of months before the event, so that your guests can mark that day in red in their diaries and calendars. It is also a good idea to send a digital save the date before the formal invitation, so that guests can organize themselves in advance.

At Freepik we can help you find all kinds of resources related to invitations, and at this time of year, we suggest annual content such as invitations to graduation parties, first communion, and weddings, among others. Also, if you prefer, you can edit them online with a powerful tool such as Wepik.

Never-ending love for paper. Which should you choose?

Lastly, if you want to print and make your invitation a collector’s object of desire, we recommend choosing a good paper. In terms of the type of printing, you can choose between offset, if you’re going for a domestic or less professional print run; glossy for offering little ink absorption; or laid paper, with its more professional finish and offering the possibility of choosing between different textures, colors, feel, etc…

And if you love the world of paper as much as we do, you simply must take a look at the wonders of the different paper mills with their multiple paper collections, from Fedrigoni and Arjowiggins, to Gmund and G.F. Smith. In their catalogs you will find the inspiration you need to turn your design into a work of art.