Rainbow Connection: Sage
Sage is a grey-green resembling that of dried sage leaves. As a quaternary color, it is an equal mix of the tertiary colors citron and slate (both confusingly also known as olive in different sources). The hex RGB color value of the Sage swatch at right is BCB88A. (source: Wikipedia)
Share this:
Dash of Inspiration: September 2018 Design Challenge
Remember that great color of the year from Pantone© in our January Challenge? It’s back, only this month it will become the feature of your Holiday Season designs ………………………………………………………………
Theme: Ultra Violet Holiday Season
Requirements:
- The Ultra Violet Pantone© color of the year for 2018 must be primary in your imagery. Color of the Year for 2018 PANTONE© 18-3838 Ultra Violet
- Write your own verse/message, be creative and write a message that clearly speaks to your imagery, the holiday category and recipient.
- Blank verse will not be considered for entry in this challenge.
……………………………………………………………
Entry Deadline: Sunday, September 30th
……………………………………………………………
How to Enter: Post the PID (card number) and the URL (public storefront link – please WAIT for the card to be available in the public marketplace, please DO NOT post a link to your Manage Cards area) as a post in the challenge blog. We’ll forward your entry to the jury.
……………………………………………………………….
Category:
Any Christmas category that is well-suited for your Ultra Violet Color of the Year design.
…………………………………………………………….
Rules:
- Submission must meet GCU’s Submission Guidelines and be Approved through the usual Review Cycle– Fast Track your submission with this in the Notes to Reviewer: September Design Challenge Submission here is the link to the blog post: (include THIS blog post URL)
- Only ONE card per artist per challenge.
- Submissions must be NEW, no existing designs.
- Your entry must meet the Challenge Requirements and Theme or it will not be included in the challenge.
- Stock Card Creations entries will not be accepted.
- Your designs should differ from those already offered in the category of your choice to offer shoppers a variety of choices, not more of the same.
……………………………………………………………………
BLIND Judging: We hope each of you enters every month. Entries are submitted anonymously for judging by the GCU Challenge Jury which means that before and during the challenge, judges do not have any way of knowing what artist is behind each entry. This eliminates any and all concerns with ‘favoritism’. Results will post on the Community Blog. The jury will judge the entries on the following criteria:
- How well the card meets the Challenge Requirements and Theme.
- How well the card speaks to the Category the artist chooses for the card submission.
- Creativity, Execution and Marketability.
……………………………………………………………………
Winners: 1st Place:
- The winning designer’s card and store will be featured on the GCU Public Blog – the blog which customers view and follow.
- As well as featured on the GCU Public Facebook Page – nearly 56,000 followers, now THAT’S exposure!
- The winning card will be Design of the Day following the announcement of the winners (within 48-hours).
EXCEPTION: Horizontal (landscape) cards may not be featured as DOD due to GCU Home Page space restrictions. In these cases, GCU will choose a different vertically oriented card from your store to feature as DOD. Thank you for your understanding and apologies for this limitation.
- The winning card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board – currently GCU’s Pinterest Page followers: 2K!
- The winning card, should the artist choose, may be referenced in a new series by the winning artist and he/she may Fast Track all cards in the new series (being sure to give the Challenge URL and winning card PID in your Notes to Reviewer for each card in this series).
- Winning card will be included in a marketing email to over 100,000 customers!
- NEW starting this month, GCU will create a Meet the Team board for the winning artist under the Pinterest GCU account where the winning artist will be able to pin and promote her own storefront and all that makes them a unique card designer and one of GCU’s artistic community team member.
-
Winning card will be posted on GCU’s Instagram with 2,000 followers and counting!
- GCU will create a Meet the Team board for the winning artist under the Pinterest GCU account where the winning artist will be able to pin and promote her own storefront and all that makes them a unique card designer and one of GCU’s artistic community team member.
2nd Place:
- Your submission will be Design of the Day the following week of announcing the Challenge winners (within 7-days).
EXCEPTION: Horizontal (landscape) cards may not be featured as DOD due to GCU Home Page space restrictions. In these cases, GCU will choose a different vertically oriented card from your store to feature as DOD. Thank you for your understanding and apologies for this limitation.
- Your card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board.
- Winning card will be included in a marketing email to over 100,000 customers!
-
Winning card will be posted on GCU’s Instagram with 2,000 followers and counting!
………………………………………………………………………
Tips:
Check out these tips, tricks, freebies, and tutorials from our own GCU Community Blog which might be helpful in this month’s Challenge.
Color of the Year for 2018 PANTONE© 18-3838 Ultra Violet
HEX #645394 | CMYK 72, 77, 11, 1 | RGB 100, 83, 148
Color of the Year for 2018 PANTONE© 18-3838 Ultra Violet
- Dash of Inspiration: Working with Color
- Dash of Inspiration: GCU Color Chart
- Dash of Inspiration: Tools to Help Choose Color Palettes
- Dash of Inspiration: Typography – Color
………………………………………………………………………
Be inspired to create and learn something new!
Share this:
Nuts and Bolts: Be Encouraged, Not Discouraged
I began my journey with GCU in December of 2008. At that time, I knew zilch about designing greeting cards. I had recently retired from selling real estate after 27 years and knew I had to find something where I could work from home and make money. Better yet, finding something that would allow me to get my creative juices going and enjoy designing right from my home. That’s when I discovered GCU and knew it would be a perfect fit.
I remember to this day how I felt when my very first card was sold. I was ecstatic thinking someone would actually want to buy one of my cards. Going forward, I self-taught myself on a daily basis the ins and outs of what flies and what doesn’t and began educating myself in designing and learning a host of different programs to help assist me in my new efforts. At the beginning of 2018 I managed to grow my stock to around 5,000 give or take. However, when I would look back at my designs during the early years especially, I would literally cringe and ask myself, which is better to have in my store, quantity or quality. The answer, of course, was quality. I knew I had to be pro-active and do something to weed out and/or correct many of my older cards.
Then out of the blue GCU’s reviewers notified me that they were going to begin a long process of reviewing my cards from day one and literally clean house. The house cleaning began. Card after card, thousands of them went through the review process. Many cards were simply deleted and many they gave me the opportunity to redesign using different fonts and making the images more interesting. Also, during that time of restoration of my store, I was able to revisit the keywords, descriptions and last but not least, improve the verses.
Although this was an enormous undertaking on my part, it gave me such a lift knowing I was making changes for the good and that the outcome would be advantageous for me which would result in future sales.
Allow me to share with you a few things and tips I learned from our hard-working reviewers.
-
They really do know what they are talking about.
-
We shouldn’t be insulted when they return the card for edits.
-
Take advantage of their suggestions and advice. (There were times when I thought it looked great the way it was, but still changed it as per their request only to discover they were right, it did look better.)
-
Know that they have your best interest at heart and want you to succeed.
-
Don’t hesitate to ask them questions if you are not quite clear on what they want.
-
Lastly, realize that they too are going through that long process with us while making sure our cards look the best they can be.
I am a firm believer is this quote: Anything worth having is worth working for!
Hopefully, what you can take away from that quote is simply, your hard work will pay off for you. Don’t get hung up on looking for excuses why your cards are not selling as well as you hoped for but instead look for resolutions to improve them which will lead to better sales
My advice to those of you who are going through this long somewhat laborious process and also to those who will be doing the same in the near future, is simply this:
Be encouraged by this opportunity to revise your cards . . . NOT discouraged!
My Tips:
-
Revisit the design and ask yourself, what does a buyer see when looking at this card? Does it have something that sparks his interest? Is the color drab and needs a punch? Think like a buyer! Would you want to buy it?
-
Change the title if need be or simply make the tile a lot more interesting by changing the font, size and placement. Those things make a huge difference in their appearance.
-
Here’s a few before and after cards. Even the slightest change can make a big difference
-
Recheck your keywords and make sure they apply to the image. Unfortunately, I was shocked when I reviewed many of my older cards where I found a limited amount of keywords and some were not even applicable to the image.
-
Be sure your title really defines what the card is about.
-
Be descriptive of the card under Artist’s Notes but don’t overdo it.
-
Finally, the verse! When I read the verses from my older cards, again I was in shock how cheesy they were. Simplify them if they are too heavy. Sometimes less is more. Perhaps the best choice is a simple but powerful punch-line. However, some do require a verse that stirs the soul. What I try to do now is think when I’m writing a verse, what I would want to read in a card for me if it were from a husband, mother or my daughter. Or what would I want to express to them. What would I want them to know? Write from your heart and you can’t go wrong
I’ll end with this: By no stretch of the imagination do I feel I’m proficient in what I do but I’m hoping that perhaps I have encouraged you to strive to improve your designs by making them the best that you can. GCU’s community of reviewers and artists are always there ready to help guide you. I wish you all much success as you continue to make magic with your designs.
GCU Community Manager
Share this:
Sales of Chinese New Year cards have already begun. Currently the category only offers 77 Year of the Pig cards with many subcategories, especially relationship specific, offering 0 cards.
We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs.
Remember, when you’re submitting your new card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers. Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
Share this:
Freebie Wednesday: Pastelyn Handwritten Font
Freebie Wednesday:
Pastelyn (designed by Craft Supply Co.) is an elegant handwritten font and totally free for the next 6 days!
This product comes with a complete commercial license.
Share this:
Rainbow Connection: Autumn Impressions
Nuts and Bolts: Remove Sub-Galleries
GCU Community Manager
Share this:
Wanted New Cards: Feel Better Migraine / Headache
We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs.
Remember, when you’re submitting your new card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers. Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
Share this:
Freebie Wednesday: Foxy Font
Freebie Wednesday:
Foxy Font (designed by Pixel by Pixel) is a crafty font and totally free for the rest of this week!
This product comes with a complete commercial license.
GCU Community 