- 13 million tart cards are distributed annually to promote sexual services.
- The cards have become as ubiquitous a symbol of that city as the red telephone boxes in which they can be found.
- Although illegal, the tart cards are now a recognised art form and are collected by institutions and individuals worldwide. They are considered a 'unique' form of graphic design but have developed and continue evolving.
'Sex sells- but the ladies (and the gentlemen) have to sell it.
Design and production
- Fewer people involved in the manufacturing the better
- For those with no patience/ access to a computer, hand written cards were and continue to be a cheap, cheerful/ fortnight option
- Early illustrations were mono chrome line work and were cut out, traced or photo copied from magazines.
- Some images were deterioised to an unacceptable degree and often bear the marks of having been inexpertly re-touched.
- Cards dependant upon full-page, four-colour photographic images of nude, or nearly nude women were the norm by 1998. Images carried by the cards are from scanned in porn magazines or the internet.
- Printing tart cards has always been a backroom, backhanded job.
- Cards originally printed in black. The first four colour card was produced in 1992 this was unusual and it wasn't until th summer of 1997 that they began to appear.
- First size was A8 to keep them discrete and businesslike. This enabled them to be disguised among other visiting cards filled in a mans top pocket. However, as more girls started to advertise in telephone boxes, some started to increase the sizes of their cards in order to catch clients attention. They then became A6 by 1994 as girls wanted to increase attention.
- Modern cards are printed on high white paper suitable for four-colour images.
