# Graduation announcement ideas: posts, cards and congrats

[Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/graduation-post-ideas)

A graduation announcement has to carry a name, a degree, a date and a lot of pride without turning into clutter. Here is what to say, what size to make it, and how schools can congratulate a whole year at once.

## The short version

- A graduation announcement needs the graduate's full name, the qualification, the school and the date, with the name as the largest line.
- A printed 5×7 inch announcement card is 1500×2100 pixels at 300 dpi, and a 6×4 inch postcard is 1800×1200 pixels.
- For Instagram, design graduation posts at 1080×1350 and stories at 1080×1920.
- An announcement shares news and an invitation asks people to come, so a party invitation also needs a time, a place and how to reply.
- Schools congratulating many graduates can design one page and fill it from a spreadsheet of names, so every post matches.

A good **graduation announcement** puts the graduate's name first and largest, then the qualification, the school and the date, set on a background in the school's colours or the graduate's own. Keep it to those four facts plus one warm line, and make it at the right size: 1500×2100 pixels for a printed 5×7 inch card, 1080×1350 for an Instagram post and 1080×1920 for a story. Everything else, the party, the thanks, the next step, can go on its own post.

## What to put on a graduation announcement

Announcements go wrong by trying to hold everything: a photo, a quote, the party details, a thank you to every teacher. Order the facts by importance and let the type sizes follow that order. [Visual hierarchy](https://gradiently.design/guide/visual-hierarchy) explains why one dominant line reads better than five equal ones.

1. **Name.** The full name the graduate wants used, largest on the page.
2. **Qualification.** Degree, diploma or course, with honours if they want it shown.
3. **School.** The full name, or the name people actually call it.
4. **Date.** The ceremony date, or simply the season and year.
5. **One line of feeling.** "We did it", "Proud doesn't cover it", or a short line in the graduate's own words.

A portrait graduation announcement post reading Maya Okafor, BSc Biology, Class of 2027, with the university and date below

A graduation announcement post with the name and degree as the headline and everything else small underneath.

## Graduation announcement wording you can copy

The words decide the tone more than the design does. Pick a register that sounds like the graduate, then fill in the details. These work as the main line on a post or the opening of a card.

| Tone | Main line | Supporting line |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Formal | Mr and Mrs Patel proudly announce the graduation of Arjun Patel | Master of Engineering, Westbrook University, July 2027 |
| Warm | Our girl is a graduate | Sofia Romero, BA English, Class of 2027 |
| From the graduate | Four years, one degree, a lot of coffee | Thank you to everyone who got me here |
| Short and bold | Done. | Liam Walsh · Diploma in Nursing · 2027 |
| High school | Senior year, complete | Ava Chen, Lincoln High School, Class of 2027 |
| With an invitation | Celebrate Noah's graduation with us | Saturday 19 June, 3pm, 12 Oak Lane · Reply by 10 June |

Six registers for the same news. Keep the graduate's preferred name and qualification exactly as they want them written.

## Graduation announcement sizes for print and social

Most families do both: a printed card for relatives who keep things on the fridge, and posts for everyone else. Design each at its own size rather than cropping one image, because a portrait card and a vertical story put the space in different places.

- 5×7 in card 1500×2100: 1500 × 2100
- Postcard 1800×1200: 1800 × 1200
- Instagram post 1080×1350: 1080 × 1350
- Story 1080×1920: 1080 × 1920
- Facebook post 1200×1200: 1200 × 1200

The usual graduation formats to scale. Print sizes are at 300 dpi; add bleed if a printer asks for it.

If you are printing, read [bleed and margins](https://gradiently.design/guide/bleed-and-margins) before you send the file, and keep names well inside the trim so a slightly off cut never clips a letter.

## Class of designs and school colours

The "Class of" year is the one detail everyone in a year group shares, which makes it a natural headline for group posts, banners and hoodies. Set the year large and let it carry the school colours. Most school palettes are a dark colour and a bright one, which is an easy pair to build a background from.

- School navy: #0b1f3a
- Lifted navy: #1d3f6e
- Old gold: #c99a2e
- Pale gold: #f3e3b5
- Certificate white: #faf7f0

A classic navy and gold set, extended with a lifted navy and a pale gold so a gradient has somewhere to travel. Swap in your school's own two colours.

Gold on navy is beautiful and easy to get wrong: thin gold type on a mid navy loses contrast fast. Use gold for the year and large words, and white or pale gold for small text. [Gold gradient design](https://gradiently.design/guide/gold-gradient-design) shows how to make gold read as metal rather than mustard.

## Graduation party invitations

An announcement says it happened; an invitation asks people to come. Keep them separate if you can, because an invitation needs details an announcement does not: time, address, what to bring and how to reply. A 5×7 inch card at 1500×2100 pixels is the standard printed size, and a story version is easy to send to friends. [Invitation design](https://gradiently.design/guide/invitation-design) covers layouts and wording for any party.

### Announcement

- Name, qualification, school, date
- Sent after or around the ceremony
- Nothing for the reader to do
- One feeling line is enough

### Invitation

- Whose party, when, where
- Sent three to four weeks ahead
- Asks for a reply by a date
- Dress code or gifts note if needed

## Congratulations posts for schools and teachers

Schools, colleges and clubs often want to congratulate every graduate by name. Doing that by hand means hundreds of nearly identical posts and a real risk of misspelling someone on the most photographed day of their year. The safer route is one designed page, a spreadsheet of names and courses, and a review before anything is posted.

1. **Collect names as graduates want them** Ask for preferred names and how qualifications should be written. A form into a spreadsheet saves arguments later.
2. **Design one congratulations page** Name large, course and year small, school colours behind. Leave room for the longest name on your list.
3. **Fill it from the spreadsheet** On Gradiently Pro, [bulk create](https://gradiently.design/guide/bulk-create-from-spreadsheet) connects columns to the page's text and makes one page per row. You review every version before creating them.
4. **Check the longest names** Look at the five longest names first. If they fit, everyone fits.
5. **Post in a steady rhythm** A few a day reads as celebration; a hundred at once reads as spam.

A portrait school post with 2027 set very large and Congratulations, graduates above it

A whole year group post: the year as the headline.

A portrait congratulations post for a single graduate named Jordan, with the course below the name

One graduate by name, made from the same page as every other.

For year round school content, see [university social media](https://gradiently.design/guide/university-social-media) and [teacher classroom graphics](https://gradiently.design/guide/teacher-classroom-graphics). And when the ceremony is over, a simple [thank you post](https://gradiently.design/guide/thank-you-post) to staff and families is often the most shared graphic of the week.

## FAQ

### What should a graduation announcement say?

The graduate's name, qualification, school and date, plus one short personal line. Party details belong on a separate invitation.

### What size is a graduation announcement card?

A 5×7 inch card is the most common, which is 1500×2100 pixels at 300 dpi. A 6×4 inch postcard is 1800×1200 pixels.

### When should graduation announcements be sent?

Usually in the weeks around the ceremony, either just before or just after. Party invitations go out three to four weeks ahead.

### What is the difference between a graduation announcement and an invitation?

An announcement shares the news and asks nothing of the reader. An invitation asks people to attend, so it needs a time, a place and a reply date.

### What size should a graduation post be on Instagram?

Design feed posts at 1080×1350 and stories at 1080×1920.