Card Designer Highlight x Yeppie Paper

The Card Designer Highlight is a sequence that includes impartial makers whose greeting playing cards you will discover in Paper Supply shops.  Meet and be impressed by a brand new designer each month on our weblog!

Jim & Jen are the brother-sister duo of Yeppie Paper that took an entrepreneurial leap into the greeting card world. Taking the phrase ‘Yeppie’ from their South Korean heritage, the model interprets to “cutie paper” which completely pairs with their playful card assortment.

How did you start your card-making profession?

In 2013, I had just lately left my job in inside design and felt the itch to do one thing inventive the place I might apply my love of portray and drawing. Having at all times been a fan of stationery and paper items, I quickly realized that greeting playing cards can be the right solution to share my illustrations on a product that folks might really use. I mentioned my concept with my oldest brother, Jim, and to my delight and shock, he was curious about partnering up. Collectively, we launched Yeppie Paper in 2014 with a wholesome dose of fearless optimism and lots of onerous work as we tried to navigate the greeting card world and small enterprise possession for the primary time.

The place do you draw inspiration from? Meals? Pop Tradition? Timeless Motifs? Playful Puns?

I’m impressed by so many issues. As a life-long animal lover, I wish to depict animals in our merchandise doing issues that come naturally to them, however that people can relate to as nicely. For instance, a hamster stuffing its cheeks with a birthday cupcake, or a pair of beavers constructing a dam like newlyweds beginning a brand new life collectively. My youngsters and their revolving pursuits encourage me as nicely. Due to them, I’ve made playing cards with unicorns, rainbows, caterpillars, butterflies, planets, leopards and cheetahs, simply to call a couple of! I’m additionally impressed by my family and friends as a result of they’ve good style – haha – and I attempt to create playing cards which might be playful in a classy means.

What does your day appear to be as a cardmaker?

No two days are the identical – in addition to my morning espresso! My brother and I don’t have any official staff, which implies we each put on ALL the hats in working our enterprise. He handles the stock, packaging and order success aspect of issues, in addition to gross sales rep relations and bookkeeping. That permits me the area to develop new merchandise (we have now three new releases per 12 months that add about 40-60 new designs in whole), keep and replace our product listings on our web sites, and deal with ongoing advertising and outreach efforts. My to-do listing modifications relying on the time of 12 months.

Presently, I’m deep in “manufacturing mode”, which implies I’m portray and dealing on Photoshop and Illustrator on a regular basis. I binge podcasts (often true-crime) and hearken to music as I work. Within the late afternoon, I shift gears and decide up my youngsters from faculty and ask them one million questions on how their days had been. We eat dinner collectively, slowly prepare for bedtime, and after they’re asleep, my husband and I’ll calm down on the sofa and ideally watch a present collectively.

What’s your most well-liked medium?

All of our merchandise begin with a hand-painted illustration. I take advantage of gouache on paper. Gouache is an opaque watercolor with sturdy pigment and is nice for layering and advantageous element. I additionally use ink pens to hand-letter lots of the textual content on our playing cards and stickers.

What does your inventive course of appear to be?

I’ve a giant sketchbook the place I hold working lists of concepts for brand spanking new playing cards and stickers. Every new launch contains quite a lot of “on a regular basis” classes (birthdays, congratulations, thanks, sympathy, and many others), in addition to seasonal holidays relying on the time of 12 months. I sketch out sure concepts that I’d wish to develop additional, and from there I advantageous tune the illustrations and paint. I scan the ultimate paintings onto my pc and do some bit of unpolluted up and colour correction on Photoshop, then I’ll end up the design on Illustrator and get it print-ready. At varied factors alongside the way in which, I understand I have to get out of my very own head, so I’ll present my brother what I’m engaged on to get his suggestions. He’s a very inventive and intelligent particular person with nice concepts and can usually assist me out after I’m feeling caught.

What are you most pleased with as a creator and card designer?

My brother and I had zero enterprise expertise previous to beginning our firm, and we managed to determine issues out by sheer dedication. The truth that over 500 shops domestically and overseas have embraced Yeppie Paper nonetheless blows my thoughts. Oftentimes, it could really feel fairly isolating to take a seat in my dwelling studio, making one thing that I’m undecided individuals will like. However for nearly ten years, prospects and store homeowners have persistently ordered merchandise from us and I really feel so grateful for the chance to share my artwork with them.

We’re additionally proud that, since 2020, we’ve donated 100% of proceeds from our Shock Packs and Abortion Rights stickers to causes which might be necessary to us, like Direct Reduction, Everytown for Gun Security, and The Nationwide Community of Abortion Funds. This 12 months, we’re donating to Our Home Grief Assist Heart, an LA-based non-profit that gives grief assist to adults, teenagers, and kids.

Any enjoyable information? Attention-grabbing hobbies exterior of card designing?

A enjoyable truth about Yeppie Paper is that we’re actually a household enterprise! Our mother and father moved all the way down to Los Angeles from the Bay Space to be nearer to us after they retired. They bundle 1000’s of our playing cards within the consolation of their dwelling and we’d be drowning with out their assist. Jim and I dwell solely minutes other than one another and his transformed storage doubles as our warehouse and success heart. We’ve a brother in between us named Bobby, who lives along with his spouse and children in Orange County… and because the honorary third (silent) associate of Yeppie Paper, he’s at all times one of many first to “like” our social media posts!

On the weekends, my husband and I like to discover totally different components of Los Angeles and Southern California with our children, akin to scenic hikes, native seashores and parks. We’ve a 13-year-old canine named Royce (that I like to check with as my first baby) who joins us on our little adventures.

Discover Yeppie Paper’s Porcupine Balloons Birthday Card, Constructing Your New Life Marriage ceremony Card, and Ring of Fireplace Encouragement Card at your native retailer or on-line at papersource.com. For extra inspiration and behind-the-scenes motion, observe yeppiepaperjen on IG.

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