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Creating a Creative

A creative is a front design and a message, saved together under one name. This page walks through making one in the creative wizard.

There are two ways to make a creative:

  • Design it with ThanksAI - describe the mailer in a sentence and ThanksAI designs the front and drafts the message. You refine both by chatting. See ThanksAI Studio.
  • Build it yourself - bring your own artwork (or start from an inspiration, Canva, or a Street View photo) and write the message exactly as you want it. The rest of this page covers this path.

Start a creative​

  1. Go to Creatives in the sidebar.
  2. Click New creative.
  3. On How would you like to make this creative?, choose Build it yourself. (Choosing Design it with ThanksAI opens ThanksAI Studio instead.)

The steps of the wizard are shown across the top. Building it yourself goes through:

StepWhat you do
StartChoose ThanksAI or Build it yourself
Mail piecePick the type and size
Writing (letters only)Choose a handwritten cover letter or a whole-letter PDF
Front (Background for letters)Make the design side. Whole-letter PDFs skip this step.
Back / Inside / LetterWrite the message and choose how it looks
ReviewName the creative and save it

The wizard keeps your progress while you work, so you can go back a step without losing what you've done.

Step 1: Choose the mail piece​

On What are you making?, pick one of the eight mail pieces: 4x6 Postcard, 6x9 Postcard, 6x11 Postcard, Magnacard, Windowed Letter, Windowless Letter, Notecard, or Gift Card. Picking one moves you straight on.

The front and the message are both made for the mail piece you choose, at its print size. A creative's mail piece is fixed once it is saved; to use a design on another size, make a creative for that size.

Step 2 (letters only): Choose how the letter is written​

On How Would You Like To Send Your Letter?, choose:

  • Handwritten Cover Letter - you write a message and thanks.io prints it as a handwritten-style cover page, over an optional background design. You can attach a PDF of up to 10 additional pages to print after it.
  • Upload Full PDF - your 8.5 x 11 in PDF (up to 12 pages, 30 MB max) is the whole letter, with no handwritten page. For a windowed letter, keep the address area on page 1 blank, because the address prints there.

A whole-letter PDF skips the front step and goes straight to uploading the PDF. See Sending a PDF Letter.

Step 3: Make the front​

The front is the design side of the mail piece. For a letter, it is an optional background printed behind the handwriting, so keep the middle of the page light.

Don't put your message or an address on the front. The message is written in the next step, and thanks.io prints the address and postage on the other side.

Choose one of these options. Whichever you use, the result becomes this creative's one front design; using another option later replaces it.

Upload a file​

Click Upload a file and choose a JPG, PNG, or PDF. The button shows the print size for your mail piece (for example, 1875 × 1275 px for a 4x6 postcard and 2738 × 1838 px for a 6x9 postcard). An image at a different size is cropped to fit and you see a warning straight away, so upload at the exact size to avoid losing content at the edges. See Print Specs & Safe Zones for every size.

Start from an inspiration​

Click Start from an inspiration to open the Inspirations gallery of ready-made designs. Browse by theme, or search theme names, then click a design to use it as your front. Inspirations are available for 4x6 and 6x9 postcards, notecards, gift cards, and letters.

Design in Canva​

Click Design in Canva to open Canva at the right size for your mail piece. Authorize Canva if prompted, design your front, and Canva brings you back to this step with the design on the front. A front made in Canva shows Edit in Canva instead, which reopens the same design.

Canva is available for postcards, Magnacards, notecards, and gift cards. It isn't offered for letter backgrounds, or when you build a creative inside Send Mail with Make creative now. See Canva.

Street View design (4x6 and 6x9 postcards)​

Click Street View design to build a front that shows each recipient's own home, with your words on top. It opens in a full-screen editor: the form on the left, and a live preview with the personalization tags on the right.

  1. Enter a Design name.
  2. Layout - pick where the photo, your text, the QR code, and your logo sit.
  3. Background - choose Street View (a photo of each recipient's home), Map View (a satellite view of their address), or Your image (the same image on every card, by URL, upload, or a tag such as ~CUSTOM1~). With Street View, you can click Add an AI effect to restyle each home photo. See Street View AI Effects.
  4. Your words - write a Header (up to 90 characters) and Sub-header (up to 250 characters). Click in a field, then pick a tag from the palette to personalize it, such as ~FIRST_NAME~ or ~STREET_ONLY~.
  5. QR code and images - set the QR code URL, or click Use message QR to send scans to the same place as the message side's QR code. Add a Logo URL and an optional Overlay image URL (a transparent PNG laid over the whole card); each has an Upload button.
  6. Check the preview, which fills in a sample recipient with your branding, then click Save design.

If you close the editor with unsaved changes, it asks before discarding them. See Dynamic Images (Street View) for every tag and how per-recipient images work.

Use your own AI​

If you already use an image AI such as Claude or ChatGPT, click Use your own AI. The Design it with your own AI dialog gives you a ready-made prompt that tells the AI the exact print size and margins for your mail piece, with your saved branding filled in.

  1. Optionally pick an idea to start from in the list on the left (search it with Search ideas). Ideas marked For your industry match your account's industry. General is a blank-slate prompt.
  2. Replace anything in [brackets] with your own details.
  3. Click Copy prompt and paste it into your AI. If you have a saved logo, click Get your logo and attach it too.
  4. Download the image the AI makes, then click Upload the image.

Skip the front for now​

Click Skip for now, add a front later to move on without a front. The creative saves with Add a front on its card, and you can still send it from the dashboard by adding a front during the send. For a letter, click Use the standard letter background instead.

The current design panel​

Once the creative has a front, a panel above the options shows it, with:

  • The design's name (click the pencil to rename it, or let ThanksAI suggest a name).
  • Badges for Street View, Canva, or ThanksAI Studio designs.
  • The Image template ID, with a copy button, for API and integration calls.
  • For 4x6 and 6x9 postcards, an email address (send+<ID>@thanks.io) you can write to with the recipient's address as the subject and the message as the body to mail this design.

Changes to the front save straight away and keep the same image template ID, so anything already using this front (a campaign, an API integration, or a Zapier zap) picks up the new look on its next send.

The preview beside the options shows the front at print proportions, with the print zones drawn over it. See Print Specs & Safe Zones.

Step 4: Write the message​

This step is titled Back for postcards and Magnacards, Inside for notecards and gift cards, and Letter for letters. The editor is on the left and a live render of the side it prints on is on the right.

Gift cards: choose the gift card​

For a gift card, the first section is Choose the gift card: pick the brand and amount every card carries. Gift cards are available in the USA only. Amounts of $5 and under need a paid plan and a card on file.

Click Advanced options to have recipients watch a YouTube video, or visit a website, before they redeem. Use one or the other. With a website, the step shows the Return link to redeem the gift card your page must send recipients back to. See Gift Cards.

Write your message​

Choose how to write it:

  • Manual edit - type the message. Click Personalize to insert a merge tag such as %FIRST_NAME% or %YOUR_PHONE% where the cursor is. See Replacement Variables.
  • Write with AI - describe who it's for and what it should say, then click Write it. The AI's draft replaces the message in Manual edit. Ask for changes and click Rewrite it as many times as you like; click Edit it myself to go back and fine-tune it by hand.
  • Real estate CMA (letters, real estate accounts) - click Turn on the CMA letter and AI writes a different comparative market analysis letter for every recipient from their name, address, and city, so there's nothing to type.

Under the message box, click Check my message to have AI rate the words as written. See Check my message.

If your message still contains %REPLACE_THIS% (from a starting template), replace it with your own words before continuing.

Choose how the handwriting looks​

  • Handwriting style - choose from AI styles or Classic styles.
  • Color - Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Red, or White. On the free plan, the color is fixed to the default; the lock links to an upgrade.
  • Size and Realism - offered for AI styles. See AI Fonts & Realism Mode.

To match the handwriting on a windowless letter's or notecard's envelope, use "Analytic Atom" in blue. For type that doesn't look handwritten, use "Normal Print".

QR code​

Enter a QR code destination (optional): where recipients land when they scan. It can be a web address (https://...), an sms:, mailto: or tel: link, or ~CUSTOM1~ to ~CUSTOM10~ to use each recipient's own URL from a custom field. Click Use default to send scans to the thanks.io default landing page, which shows your branding's contact details and notifies you on each scan. Leave it empty for no QR code.

MagnaCards and gift cards don't print a QR code. On the free plan, the QR code is a paid feature. See Enabling QR Codes.

Optional extras​

What's offered depends on the mail piece:

  • Additional pages (handwritten letters) - a PDF printed after the handwritten page.
  • Cloud CMA (letters, real estate accounts) - print pages of a Cloud CMA report after the letter, using your Cloud CMA API key and the Report pages to print. A letter prints either your own additional pages or a Cloud CMA report, not both.
  • Background behind the message - what prints under the handwriting:
    • Your branding default - the background for this mail piece from your Branding. Click Change your branding backs to see or replace it.
    • A background just for this design - upload a JPG or PNG, or use an image you host (it must be the exact print size shown).
    • No background - plain card stock, even if your branding has a background.
  • Email me when it's scanned - addresses that get an email each time a recipient scans the QR code, separated by commas.

Continue​

Continue stays unavailable until the message is ready, and the footer says what's missing (for example, a handwriting style, a fix to the QR address, or a message too long for the card). Wait for the preview to finish rendering before continuing.

To save the creative with only its front, click Skip for now, then Continue without a message. Its card shows Add a message until you add one.

For a whole-letter PDF, this step is Upload your letter instead: upload the 8.5 x 11 in PDF, up to 12 pages.

Step 5: Name and save​

  1. Enter a Creative name you'll recognize when you send, or click Suggest a name in the field to have ThanksAI suggest one. The front and message take this name too.
  2. Check the summary and the preview of both sides.
  3. Click Save creative.

You return to Creatives, where the creative appears with Ready to send or with what it still needs. If you were editing an existing creative, its Creative ID and template IDs are shown on this step, ready to copy.

Editing a creative​

Click a creative's card, or choose Edit from its menu. The wizard opens at the front step (the letter upload, for a whole-letter PDF), titled with the creative's name, and skips the Start and Mail piece steps. Change what you need, then save on the Review step.

  • A creative designed with ThanksAI Studio opens in the Studio instead (Edit in Studio).
  • A front made in Canva reopens in Canva with Edit in Canva.
  • A Street View front reopens in the Street View editor with Edit the Street View design.

The wizard edits the creative's own front and message in place; it doesn't pick a different saved design. To start from an existing design, Duplicate its creative and edit the copy. See Creative Defaults & Sharing.

Making a creative during a send​

In Send Mail, the Design step's Make creative now tab runs this same builder (or ThanksAI) without leaving the send. Send Mail has already chosen the mail piece, so the builder starts at the front. When you save, the creative is added to your library and fills in the send. Canva isn't available there. See Send Mail Wizard.