Features: Temple grad co-creates inspirational card line

As a senior graphic-design student at Temple Tyler in spring 2002, Erica Keith had what many college grads don't - a job lined up that was related to her major. Hallmark recruited Keith as a member of its design team, and she eventually joined the Mahogany line, the largest African-American card line in the United States.

Last year, Keith, in collaboration with Hallmark writer Dierdra Zollar, developed Mahogany's Uplifted!, an inspirational card line celebrating relationships shared by African-American women.

Uplifted!, which was initially a filler for the slow, off-holiday season, has now become a permanent, year-round line, owing Zollar and Keith for both its name and essence.

We chatted Monday with Keith about her work.

Q. Why do you feel the Uplifted! line is important for the African-American community?
A. I really feel it's important because the African-American community really appreciates and values products that look like them. If you take a look at the regular Hallmark line, Mahogany cards display people more, whereas the other lines don't do that.

Q. What kinds of design elements go into creating cards for the black community?
A. All kinds. We are able to take time to research a card line before we actually get into designing. We look at magazines, films and theater to get inspiration before we sit down with a pencil and paper... the rest really follows.

Q. How does your own identity as an African-American woman show in your cards?
A. It's so funny because when I was starting the design process and thinking about what I was going to do, I really pulled inspiration from my childhood. A lot of the houses I used to visit were filled with interior décor that was really colorful and rich. They had a lot of richness. I pulled from that and started thinking about color palettes and what I wanted to do.

Q. What are you working on now?
A. I'm now art-directing in Hallmark's Business Expressions Department, where we custom-create cards for outside clients. I think Uplifted! showed a lot of leadership internally, and... helped put my face on the map.