Animated eCards for GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com

This page presents a large series of hand-drawn animated eCards created for 1&1 Mail & Media Applications SE, including GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com. The illustrated digital greetings were used across major email platforms and reached a very large European audience.

The project combined concept development, custom illustration, character-led humor and short loopable animation. Each card was designed to make a simple message — thank you, sorry, get well soon, invitation, birthday or seasonal greeting — feel more personal, memorable and visually distinctive.

This type of work can also be developed for other clients as custom animated greetings, short-form campaign animations, illustrated digital invitations or branded motion-based message formats for portals, newsletters, internal communication, product launches, seasonal campaigns and user engagement.

See also: Clients and Project Partners

From concept to animated delivery

Each animated card was developed individually, from the initial idea and message structure through drawing, animation and final delivery. The work included:

• Concept development — finding a clear visual idea for each message type
• Character design — creating expressive animals, people, mascots and comic situations
• Storyboarding — shaping the timing, visual gag or emotional beat of each card
• Hand-drawn illustration and animation — producing original artwork rather than template-based graphics
• Web-ready delivery — preparing animated content for digital platforms, email environments and campaign use

The important distinction is that these were not generic template greetings. Each card was created as a small illustrated sequence with its own tone, rhythm and character logic.

Where animated eCards and short campaign loops work well

• Seasonal campaigns — Christmas, New Year, Halloween and other calendar-based greetings
• Customer messaging — birthdays, thank-you messages, apologies, invitations and loyalty touchpoints
• Internal communication — employee recognition, team celebrations and company culture content
• Brand engagement — illustrated animated content for portals, apps, newsletters and social channels
• Events and launches — invitations, announcements and short campaign-led motion pieces

Highlights from the GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com collection

The GIFs below are short teaser previews, not the full HD animation quality. A broader selection can be seen on my YouTube channel.

Highlights from the GMX | WEB.DE | mail.com Collection

The GIFs below are short animated teaser previews, not the full HD animation quality. A broader selection can be seen on my YouTube channel.

Animated Butler Invitation eCard – Formal Greeting

A hand-drawn animated invitation eCard featuring a butler lifting a silver cloche. Created for GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com, the piece uses character, timing and a small visual reveal to give a formal message a more elegant and humorous tone.

Animated Dog Apology eCard – Cookie Jar Illustration

A humorous apology eCard featuring a guilty-looking cartoon dog beside an empty cookie jar. The animation turns a simple “sorry” message into a small character-led scene with charm and immediate readability.

Animated Thank You eCard – Bear with Gingerbread Heart

A warm thank you card featuring a bear holding a gingerbread heart with “Danke” written on it. Illustrated and animated for GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com, the card uses a simple emotional gesture to make a gratitude message feel more personal.

Animated New Year eCard – Fireworks Celebration

A cheerful New Year’s eCard showing a smiling couple enjoying fireworks with champagne. The image was designed as a festive seasonal greeting for GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com, combining celebration, color and a clear occasion-based message.

Animated Christmas eCard – Dog with Giant Bone

A Christmas card featuring a boy and his dog with a giant bone tied with a ribbon. The composition gives the greeting a clear seasonal setting while keeping the humor simple, warm and instantly understandable.

Animated Thank You eCard – Birds Hugging

A gentle animated thank you eCard showing two birds hugging in a nest. The short loop uses expression, posture and timing to give a small digital greeting a more affectionate character.

Animated Birthday eCard – Hatching Bird Surprise

A colorful animated birthday greeting featuring a bird hatching from a spotted egg. The piece was produced for GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com as a light, playful birthday animation with a clear surprise moment.

Animated Get Well Soon eCard – Bird on Thermometer

A funny get well card showing a cartoon bird perched on a thermometer above a patient in bed. The animation gives a recovery message a more cheerful and sympathetic tone without becoming overly sentimental.

Animated Apology eCard – Cat with Broken Vase

A lighthearted apology card featuring a wide-eyed cat beside a broken vase of flowers. Animated and illustrated for GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com, it uses a familiar visual gag to make the apology message friendly and disarming.

Animated Get Well Soon eCard – Skydiving Daredevil

A humorous animated get well card with a skydiving daredevil and the words “Gute Besserung.” The concept combines physical comedy, energy and an optimistic tone for a recovery greeting.

More related work: animation and motion videos by Ian David Marsden.

What this format adds

Animated greetings are small pieces of communication, but they can carry a surprising amount of brand value. A well-designed eCard can make a standard message feel more personal, more shareable and more memorable.

• It creates a warmer connection between brand and audience
• It turns simple messages into visual content people are more likely to notice and share
• It allows communication to be localized and culturally adapted across markets
• It brings humor, charm or warmth to messages that might otherwise feel generic
• It gives seasonal or recurring communication a more distinctive visual identity

By combining illustration quality, character-led storytelling and motion design, I help brands turn simple greetings and campaign messages into distinctive visual assets with a longer afterlife than standard template-based content.

Commission custom animated eCards and illustrated greetings

I create custom animated eCards, illustrated digital greetings, loopable campaign animations and related short-form branded motion content for agencies, companies, institutions and cultural organisations. These can be developed for portals, newsletters, internal communication, seasonal campaigns, invitations, customer engagement or broader branded content needs.

If you are looking for this kind of work — or for adjacent formats such as explainer videos, business illustration or character-led visual storytelling — feel free to get in touch.