This article was originally published on Nooga.com.
The creators of Felt—which is an iPad app that allows users to send personalized, handwritten notes without the hassle of envelopes, stamps and the post office—have made a new product that allows users to customize and share photos on greeting cards.
The product is called Storyframes, and when customers download the Felt app, they can also use Storyframes.
Local entrepreneurs David Littlejohn and Andrew Clark teamed up with Colorado entrepreneur Tomer Alpert for Felt and Storyframes. Click here for a 2013 article about Felt.
About Storyframes
Storyframes launched this week and is now available for iPhones from the App Store, and it will be available for iPads by the end of the month.
Felt users can write a personal message on a card in their own handwriting and address the card using the tablet’s touchscreen. Felt then prints, seals, stamps and sends the card.
And Storyframes takes the experience a bit further, allowing users to add photos with customized frames and personalized writing.
Users can design frames and use different filters for photos, and add handwritten messages on the front and back of the photos. They can also handwrite and address each envelope using the iPhone or iPad.
The product aims to bridge technology with more traditional habits, such as mailing holiday cards or sending letters through the mail.
“It’s all about sharing in a more personal and authentic way,” Alpert said.
Handwriting using a phone or iPad can take some getting used to, but even just adding personally drawn hearts or smiley faces can add to the experience, he said.
This is the other side of the cards, where users can write messages. (Photo: Staff)
Users can choose from sending one to five personalized photos. The company takes care of printing the products on cardstock, adding stamps and mailing them.
The photos come in an accordion-style format with perforated edges between the photos so they can be displayed on a mantle or detached to use individually.
Felt Storyframes start at $3, including postage, and it’s $1 extra for each additional photo.
Making connections
Alpert said that when the opportunity to join the Felt team came about, he was looking to do something that really impacted lives.
He wasn’t sure that Felt was the answer, but he soon found it was, he said.
Felt users started sharing their stories with him, he said. For example, a young woman said she used Felt to reach out to her estranged mother.
Another man wrote in a review that he suffers from ALS, and Felt allowed him to write his wife the first love note he’d ever been able to do.
“To hear from people how it impacts their lives does bring that feeling of fulfillment to us,” he said.