Ephemera is a term used to describe every day printed items such as flyers, pamphlets, business cards, ticket stubs, magazines and anything of that nature.
At first I would just look for inspiration online, but I soon realized having physical items to look at is so much better, especially for ephemera such as print business cards. It truly helps to be able to feel the texture and weight of the paper and really examine how the ephemera was printed.
A Great Source of Inspiration
Specialty Business Card Design – From Dailypoetics’ Photo
I often find myself looking through my personal collection of ephemera for inspiration and ideas and it has become such as useful asset I am now always on the lookout for new booklets, business cards and other pieces of free ephemera to add to my collection.
You should be able to find plenty of free ephemera by going into stores, businesses and even looking through your own mail. Don’t be afraid to take badly designed pieces of ephemera because it will only help you understand what works and doesn’t work eve more.
I look forward to getting ephemera from some of the larger companies and design studios because they tend to have the budget to spend on really nice paper and specialty printing. If you happen to live near or in a big city, you should find it easy to start building up your collection.
Don’t forget to organize all your ephemera so when you do refer back to it you can quickly find what you need. Here is an example of a great ephemera collection: Dailypoetics’ Photos