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Nuts and Bolts: Punctuation Clean up.

May 4, 2018
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Nuts & Bolts – Punctuation Clean up

 

In GCU’s sitewide re-review of cards, we come across many older cards using the ellipse and other forms of punctuation incorrectly.

 

Here is a handy related read on the abused & misunderstood ellipses.

 

And a good refresher on another common error on comma usage and overuse of exclamation points.
 
All good tips to keep in mind while you peruse your older cards so you can make your own edits.

 

NOTE:  As informal writing becomes more commonplace, the interrobang (combination of ?!)  is becoming commercially acceptable. Yes, it has a name. Interrobang. Props to Phebe aka: Reviewer #443, for that little tidbit.

 

 

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Lineman Appreciation Day

May 3, 2018
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Wanted Cards – Lineman Appreciation Day
 
Please consider creating cards for a new category:

 

Note: both men and women hold the job as lineman so consider designs and verses that address either or both genders.

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!

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Freebie Wednesday: Sayes Free Handwritten Font

May 2, 2018
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Freebie Wednesday:

 

Sayes by Eva Barabasne Olasz is a smooth, handwritten font offered free for a limited time (just 5 days!)

 

 

 

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from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Rainbow Connection: Color Schemes that Inspire.

May 1, 2018
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This week I’m showing you some websites that talk about Web Site Color Schemes that perhaps can be useful in our approach to chose color when designing cards.

 

 

Canva about Website Color Schemes:

 

AWWWARDS about Trendy Web Color Palettes and Material Design Color Schemes:

 

Visme about the 50 Gorgious Color Schemes from Award Winning Websites:

 

Artonic about Color Makes a Comeback:

 

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Dash of Inspiration: May 2018 Design Challenge

May 1, 2018
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  • DashInspirationBanner_2015

It’s time for a new Design Challenge, so get your designer hats on and be creative!

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Theme: Trade School Graduates

Requirements:

  • Choose one of the cateogories below in need of cards and create imagery and message which matches the theme of your Trade School Graduation choice.
  • Write your own verse/message, be creative and write a message that clearly speaks to your imagery, occasion and recipient.
  • Blank verse will not be considered for entry in this challenge.

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Entry Deadline: Thursday, May 31st

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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.

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Category:

Choose from one of these categories in need of new cards: Trade / Vocational / Career School

Fashion (5)

Midwife (4)

Travel (5)

Truck Driving (2)

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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: May 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.

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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.

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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!

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Tips:

Check out these tips, tricks, freebies, and tutorials from our own GCU Community Blog which might be helpful in this month’s Challenge.

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Be inspired to create and learn something new!

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from → Community Challenge, Contests, Dash of Inspiration, Design Challenge, Design Contest

Nuts and Bolts: Custom Request Design Change.

April 27, 2018
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Nuts & Bolts – Custom Request Design Change

 

Be sure to keep an eye out for custom design change requests.  Here is a look back at some good tips to not miss any shopper requests.
 
Custom design requests can be a wonderful source of new card ideas.  So although you may submit the shopper’s final card as a private card, consider making it fitting for other shoppers and submit it to the public gallery.

We’d like to share a recent example by GCU artist Barbara Schreiber.

From the shopper:
Would it be possible to replace the word golden to silver,and the glasses from gold to silver please?

 

As usual, well done, Barbara!  A great new take on her April 2016 Design Challenge winning card.

 

Note: if you submit a  new card that is a variation on a card or variation on a card series be sure to include in the Note to Reviewer the pid# of the original card it is based on for easy and quick review.  If it’s for a custom request, be sure to also include this in your Note to Reviewer.

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Thank You Hospitality

April 26, 2018
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Wanted Cards – Thank You Hospitality

One good turn deserves another. So many acts of kindness, gracious gestures, generosity and hospitality that GCU has just begun to scratch the surface.  A thank you card for someone’s hospitality is always appreciated.

 

Here are some specific areas of hospitality in need of new cards:

 

>> Brunch
>> Hosting Speaker
>> Lunch
>> Shabbat Hospitality
>> Weekend
Note: GCU allows up to 3 different wording variations within the same category, feel free to explore different expressions like “great weekend”, “memorable weekend”, “wonderful weekend”, “unforgettable weekend”, “epic weekend”, etc.  OR make a custom front design so the shopper can add the superlative that best fits their weekend!

 

Specifically:
Wording Variations meaning essentially the same thing using the same image/art will be limited to 3 times when in the same category.  For example: Friend, Buddy, Pal, My Bud, Ole’ Partner, BFF, Best Friend, etc.  Only 3 of these would be allowed as they would all go into the same subcategory >> For Friend.

HOWEVER if subcategories exist for any of these specific terms it is an exception to the rule.  For example: If there are subcategories for >> For Best Friend and >> For Friend then “BFF” and “Best Friend” are allowed in >> For Best Friend AND 3 others can go into >> For Friend.

Another similar example: Mom, Mommy, Mother, Mama, Mum, Mummy.  Only 3 of these would be allowed as they would all go into the same subcategory >> From Mom / Mother.

HOWEVER if subcategories exist for any of these specific terms it is an exception to the rule.  For example: If there are subcategories >> For Mum and >> For Mom / Mother then “Mum” and “Mummy” are allowed in >> For Mum AND 3 others can go into >> For Mom / Mother.

 

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!

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Freebie Wednesday: Amazing Poppies Watercolor Set.

April 25, 2018
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Freebie Wednesday:

Creative Fabrica has a nice Freebie for your design arsenal – download this creatively beautiful Amazing Poppies Watercolor Set (this pack includes a free commercial license as well).
Grab your copy today, but hurry because it will only be free for 2 more Days!

 

This pack contains:

Frames | Borders | Patterns

All illustrations are highly detailed. Aquarelle elements could be used for background, texture, pattern, frame or border. Ready to print or use for anything you want. Full editable (size, colors, etc.). The possibilities of use are endless!

Elements are painted by hand and every image is a separate file. The graphics are a PNG file, 600 dpi, without background. Patterns JPG size 5000x5000px.

 

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from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Rainbow Connection: Hot Tropical Palettes

April 24, 2018
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Hot Tropical is all the rage this year. Lets have a look at some vibrant color schemes:

 

 

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Nuts and Bolts: Fortifying Meta-data – Gender.

April 20, 2018
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Nuts & Bolts – Fortifying Meta-data – Gender
 
Consider adding additional descriptive terms to your cards’ meta-data to help searching shoppers find EXACTLY what they want. By card meta-data, we mean card title, keywords and Artist’s Notes. Shoppers shop via categories, onsite search and also search terms within category. Sometimes that is not enough especially as GCU grows with more and more cards in each category. We need to offer shoppers ways to narrow down their choices quickly and accurately so they can find the perfect card!

 

The better and most accurate description you give your card, the best chance of it being found by a shopper. Believe it or not, as specific and refined our categories are sometimes it isn’t granular enough. Think about including terms specific to your card as they relate to: age, gender, tone, style

 

Here is some food for thought on Gender.

 

Designs for a general audience (not relationship specific) still speak to a female or a male audience.  Birthday for Her and Birthday for Him are relatively straight forward and have their own sub-category.  It seems a natural practice to specific in these cards’ terms to identify what gender the card is intended for.

 

Below are some good examples by GCU artist Sharon Dominick Photography:
Here is where it gets a little trick and you have to put your thinking cap on. Consider cards for a gender neutral relationship like Cousin.  If the design is gender specific, have you added the terms to help shoppers find the cards for a male cousin (“male, him”) or female cousin (“female, her”)?  It would help shoppers a lot!

 

See the 2,122 Birthday cards for Cousin.  At a glance there are clearly some for female cousins and some geared for male cousins.

 

Below are some good examples by GCU artist Judy Adamson:
Similar to cousin, gender is NOT implied in other relationships like friend, neighbor, boss, babysitter, teacher, co-worker, etc.  Is your design gender neutral?  Or is your design for a female or male?  If the latter, be sure to specify as such in your meta-data.

 

NOTE: if the design & verse are gender neutral do NOT use both gender descriptive terms in your meta-data (him, her).  That defeats the purpose of helping shoppers narrow their choices with specific search terms. GCU has always emphasized in the review process to submit your card for what it is, not what it could be. 

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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