The Front of a Creative (Image Templates)
What it is
The front is the design side of your mail piece: a full-bleed image printed on the front of a postcard, Magnacard, notecard, or gift card. For a letter, it is an optional background printed behind the handwriting.
Each creative has one front, stored as an image template. You make and change it inside the creative, alongside its message, rather than in a separate list of templates.
The front covers the design side only. The back of a postcard, the inside of a notecard, and the text of a letter are the creative's message.
Each mail piece has its own canvas size, and each postcard size is its own mail piece: 4x6, 6x9, and 6x11 postcard fronts are made separately, and only fronts of the matching size are offered when you send. See Print Specs & Safe Zones.
Make or change a front
- Go to Creatives in the sidebar.
- Click New creative (or click an existing creative's card to edit it).
- On the Front step (Background for a letter), choose how to make it:
| Option | What it does | Available for |
|---|---|---|
| Upload a file | Upload a JPG, PNG, or PDF at the print size. Other sizes are cropped to fit, with a warning. | Every mail piece |
| Start from an inspiration | Pick a ready-made design from the Inspirations gallery, by theme or search. | 4x6 and 6x9 postcards, notecards, gift cards, letters |
| Design in Canva | Opens Canva at the right size and brings the finished design back to the wizard. | Postcards, Magnacards, notecards, gift cards |
| Street View design | A front showing each recipient's own home with your words on top, personalized per recipient. | 4x6 and 6x9 postcards |
| Use your own AI | Copy a prompt with the exact print size into Claude, ChatGPT, or another image AI, then upload what it makes. | Every mail piece |
Step-by-step instructions for each option are in Creating a Creative.
To have AI design the whole front from a description, choose Design it with ThanksAI when you start a new creative. See ThanksAI Studio. A front made in ThanksAI Studio is edited in the Studio (Edit in Studio on the card).
Changes save to the same front
A creative's front is edited in place. Every option above writes onto the creative's existing image template, and its image template ID stays the same. That means anything already using the front (a campaign action, a Zapier zap, or an API integration that names its image_template_id) prints the new look on its next send.
To change a design without affecting what's already using it, duplicate the creative and edit the copy.
Street View designs
A Street View design is a dynamic front: it is drawn separately for every recipient. You choose a layout, a background (Street View, Map View, or Your image), a header and sub-header, a QR code URL, a logo, and an optional overlay, and you can personalize text and image fields with tags such as ~FIRST_NAME~ or ~CUSTOM1~. With a Street View background, you can also add an AI effect that restyles each home.
See Creating a Creative for the editor, Dynamic Images (Street View) for every tag, and Street View AI Effects for the effects and their per-mailer fee.
Canva
Design in Canva opens Canva's editor in your browser at your mail piece's canvas size. When you finish, Canva returns you to the creative wizard with the design on the front. A Canva-made front shows a Canva badge and an Edit in Canva option that reopens the same design. See Canva.
Where image templates still appear
You don't manage image templates as their own list, but they're still there underneath every creative:
- Image template IDs for the API. Every front has an image template ID, shown with a copy button in a creative's Preview, in the front step's current design panel, and on the Review step. API v2, Zapier, and other integrations accept it as
image_template_id. To send the whole creative (front and message together), use its creative ID instead. See Finding Creative & Template IDs. - Separate front & message in Send Mail. In the Send Mail Design step, the Separate front & message tab lets you pick any of your image templates (or upload a file) as the front, and choose the message separately on the next step. See Send Mail Walkthrough.
- The default front for API sends. Make default on a creative makes its front the account's default image template for that mail piece, used when an API or Zapier send names no template. See Creative Defaults & Sharing.
- Old links. Bookmarks to the Image Templates page, the inspiration gallery, and the dynamic builder open Creatives (or the creative wizard). Links to a specific template, for example from an order or a scan report, open the creative that template belongs to.
Design tips
- Design to the exact canvas size for your mail piece and keep important content inside the safe zone. The wizard's preview draws the cut line and safety zone over your design.
- Leave a clear area where the QR code goes if your creative uses one.
- Don't put your message, a return address, or postage on the front. Those print on the other side.
- Give each creative a descriptive name (for example, "Just Listed - Modern Blue 2026"). The front takes the creative's name, so it stays findable everywhere.
Limits & gotchas
- Uploading a front and using Canva are available on all plans.
- Street View designs are available for 4x6 and 6x9 postcards only.
- A front belongs to one mail piece. A 4x6 postcard front is not offered for a 6x9 send or campaign; make a 6x9 creative instead. 6x9 campaigns already set up with a 4x6 postcard front keep sending with it.
- If your account has a 6x9 postcard front with the same name as a 4x6 one, it is a separate 6x9 copy resized to the 6x9 canvas. Editing or deleting one does not affect the other. Check the copy's preview before sending, since resizing to a different aspect ratio can crop the edges of the design.