2024 Graduation Card Ideas and Trends

Originating from Ivy League schools in the 1950s, the preppy look is a classic that will never go out of style. For a preppy graduation card, choose a design that is simple, clean, and polished — not flashy or overly trendy. To add a bit of visual interest to the design you can incorporate classic patterns, such as stripes, checks, plaids, and trim-inspired scalloping. Since this style emphasizes quality, choose thicker cardstocks like Minted's DoubleThick paper to elevate the overall look and feel of the card. Finish off with a wax seal on the envelope for a classic touch.

For the perfect preppy graduation card, pay attention to what your graduate is wearing in the photos you plan to feature. Go for classic pieces like polos, oxford shirts, khakis, and blazers in traditional colors like gray, navy, white, and beige.

Whether you’re honoring a grad who is off to art school, just completed a fine arts degree, or is simply artistic, the hand-drawn trend is the perfect way to honor their creative spirit. Look for a style that speaks to their personal aesthetic — think traditional illustrations for those who love classical art, playful doodles and handwritten elements for those with a more casual vibe, or trendy bows and squiggles for grads with their finger on the pulse of what is new in the art world. To complete the personality-filled look of these graduation announcements, encourage your grad to wear an outfit that puts their personal style on full display.

The colorful graduation announcement trend is all about celebrating grads’ achievements in bold and beautiful style. These cards veer away from colorful graduation announcements of years past by embracing quirky and unique palettes — so don’t feel the need to limit yourself to featuring only the colors of your graduate’s school. Instead, lean into their favorite shades or go for a full-on rainbow of hues.

A graduation announcement that puts a photo of your graduate front-and-center will never go out of style. These cards, called full-bleed — which refers to printed images that extend all the way to the edges of a document or card — work best when paired with a high quality, colorful portrait of your graduate. If you want to go this route, we suggest checking out Minted’s guide to taking great graduation photos.

Once you have your photos in hand, use the colors of the background and your grad’s outfit to inform design details like typography — though we’ll always recommend pairing a full-bleed design with foil pressed lettering to make the card feel extra-special…and easy to read.

If the thought of picking just one photo out of a lifetime of shots to celebrate your grad feels impossible, a multi-photo graduation announcement design may just be the right way to go. In general, there are two variations of this trend — go with a “then and now” card style to showcase photos of your graduate throughout the years, or choose a more straightforward design to highlight a few of your favorite images from their graduation photoshoot.

Like with the full-bleed trend, the key to putting together a beautiful multi-photo card is to let the colors in your images lead the way. Keep the rest of the colors and design elements simple to avoid things becoming visually cluttered.

If your grad’s style leans traditional, going for an announcement design that uses calligraphy-inspired script to highlight key details is a beautiful way to add a bit of visual interest to a graduation card. You can go for a design that looks hand-written for a sweet touch, or keep things feeling a bit more formal with classic script fonts.

Don’t be afraid to lean into funky fonts and bold typographic details if your graduate’s style is more trendy and modern. To get this look right, make sure to pick a typeface that your grad loves — and that goes nicely with the other visual elements that will be on your card. For example, retro-inspired fonts work well with photos of your grad in 60s or 70s-inspired clothing while typographical elements that take up a large chunk of real estate on your card look best when paired with simpler images.

Tassels are one of the most iconic parts of graduation — so we love the idea of incorporating them into a graduation announcement card. Minted’s independent designers have woven tassels in clever and creative ways into this year’s batch of designs, so you’re sure to find a style that fits your graduate’s personality perfectly. Look for a design that incorporates a tassel into the script for a subtle nod to the trend, or go bold with cards that feature foil-pressed or bright illustrations of tassels.

If you’re looking for a card that balances photography and design elements, a design that features a frame is a great idea. This trend comes in many different variations – ranging from designs that mimic classic matting to modern negative-space frames — and can be paired with many of the other popular design elements on this list. We particularly love combining frame elements with foil-pressed details to make your announcements feel like a true keepsake.

For a design that is both classic and modern, go for a simple and minimalist graduation announcement. These cards tend to feature a black-and-white color palette and a traditional combination of script and serif typography, putting all of the focus on your graduate’s portrait. Like with preppy announcements, these styles look best when printed on premium heavyweight cardstock, which can help elevate their paired-back designs into something truly special.

As we’ve mentioned a few times already in this article, the best graduation announcements let photos lead the way. So we always recommend having your graduation pictures done before you pick out your design. To make the most of your photoshoot, check out our complete guide to graduation pictures — which features 25 ideas for outfits and poses. Once you have your favorite shots in hand, upload them to Minted to preview how your photos will look in all of our graduation card designs and narrow down your search from there.

If you are unsure which design will best complement your photo, use Minted’s easy photo-styling service for free. Simply text your photo to 22737, complete our brief style survey, and our team of Minted design stylists will text you back 5 graduation announcement designs selected and styled with your photo for free!

Though each of our unique grad announcements have been lovingly designed by our network of artists and designers, we like to think of them as templates for you to customize. Once you’ve selected a design you like, personalize it with your pictures, grad’s name, school, favorite colors and fonts. You can also play around with our various card shapes — opting for an oval or rounded shape can help your card stand out in a sea of graduation announcements.

While graduation announcements are typically sent out to a wide range of family and friends, there may be a subset of those on your list that you want to invite to a graduation party after the ceremony. One of the easiest ways to do this is to include graduation party invitations as an insert card alongside your main announcements. Typically smaller than the main announcement, these cards contain all of the information your guests will need to know about the celebration — including time, place, and where they can RSVP.

Whether your graduate is off to college or is moving to a new city for their first job, they could likely use a bit of cash to start their next chapter off right. Make it easy for your friends and family to support your graduate by including a cash registry URL. You can create a registry through Minted’s partnership with Send Birdie, and then add your URL to an insert card or on the backside of your announcement.

Each Minted grad announcement and invitation design comes with envelopes in a matching style. And, to make sending out your announcements as easy as possible, we’re proud to offer free recipient addressing on the envelopes. Simply upload the recipient names with their addresses to your Minted account and choose your preferred address style before finalizing your order.

Once your order has been finalized, expect to receive your graduation cards within a week. Once your cards come, stuff your envelopes with the main card and any insert cards you plan to include, put on your stamps, and mail them off!

Nearly all of Minted’s graduation card designs can be customized with foil-pressed details in a variety of metallic colors ranging from classic gold and silver to trendy rose gold, copper, and even black. Some of our favorite places to add foil-pressed elements are on graduates’ names and the name of the school that they are graduating from.

For someone who is graduating from a specialized program like medical school, law school, or an MBA program, put their achievements front-and-center with a card that incorporates their profession’s iconography. Bonus points if you feature a photo of your grad that incorporates other hallmarks of their profession — think scrubs or a lab coat for doctors and nurses and suits for law or MBA grads.

While most graduation announcements limit text to the graduate’s name and where they’re graduating from, there is always room to show off your graduate’s personality with funny or bold sayings. Go for a saying that ties into your grad’s achievement like “Mastered it!” or “There’s a doctor in the house!”

Need more space? Minted makes it easy for you to customize the back of the main card with messages, quotes, or more photos of the graduate. This is a great opportunity to share a little bit about your grad’s journey to the podium, and to put a bit of their personality on display. Here are a few examples to get your creative juices flowing:

• We are so excited to announce the graduation of our son, Henry Lawrence, from Dana Hills High School. From finding his passion in chemistry to making lifelong friendships with his waterpolo teammates, we could not be more proud of Henry as he ends this chapter of his life!
• After her fair share of all-nighters, lifelong friendships made, and more parties than we care to think about, we are so excited to announce that our daughter Poppy Jane has graduated with honors from the University of Montana with a degree in English Literature. Please join us in celebrating her as she begins her next chapter working at a marketing firm in New York City.

To make your graduation announcements feel extra special, upgrade your envelopes with beautiful liners. Each of Minted’s card designs come with optional envelope liners in coordinating designs. Hut for a seriously luxe touch, upgrade to envelopes that are pre-lined with gold, silver, or rose gold foil.

In addition to accessorizing the inside of your envelope with liners, you can use personalized wax seals, fun stickers, or Minted’s signature skinnywrap address labels to help your announcement stand out in your recipient’s mail piles.