Dash of Inspiration: May 2016 Design Challenge
And our 1st Place Winner is …
Betsy Bush with PID 1435518
1st Place May 2016 Design Challenge – Betsy Bush©
With our Runner Up going to Christi Madden with PID 1436022
2nd Place May 2016 Design Challenge – Christi Madden©
Congratulations to both of you! Your beautiful cards are a welcome addition to the GCU marketplace, as are all the entries this month. Many thanks to each of you for participating and making this another fun and incredibly creative challenge!
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As our judges get to work today on judging April’s challenge, we are ready to kick off our new May Design Challenge …
Theme: National & International JUNE Days
Requirements:
- The Day you create a card for must be from this list of Days of the Year https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/2016/06/
- Text and/or inside verse must speak to the Day in June you’ve chosen and you need to represent the reason behind the ‘holiday’, so do your research to understand why the day you chose is celebrated and what the message is they wish to get across.
- Create a card which accurately reflects the unique qualities of these unusual ‘holidays’ by visually creating imagery which ties to the Day to celebrate and your message together.
NOTE: Some of you have been working on these new categories already. IF you have created a card which was approved within the last 30-days for one of these Days in June, you may enter that card into the challenge.
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Entry Deadline: Tuesday, 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: Holidays > National & International Days Cards (http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holidays/nationalandinternationaldays)
Remember ONLY new cards for JUNE DAYS are eligible for entry.
GCU is adding these Days of the Year as fast as they can, so if the day you choose in the month of June is not listed in the category list yet, then choose OTHER (http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holidays/nationalandinternationaldays/other)
and REQUEST the new category in your Notes to Reviewer when you submit the card by clearly stating: “Created for May 2016 Challenge – please consider adding “Upsy Daisy Day” to the National & International Days categories here is the link: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/upsy-daisy-day/”
Also, please note your request for a new category to fill this challenge in the forum announcement for the May 2016 challenge – this gives Mindy a central place to look for all the new category requests to fill this challenge.
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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.
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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 30,000 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: 1.4K!
- 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!
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!
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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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Off you go then! Be inspired to create and learn something new!
Created for International Jazz Day in April – Doreen Erhardt©
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Participants:
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Nuts and Bolts: Change or New Submission
Nuts & Bolts – Change or New Submission
GCU needs to maintain consistency of design to the product id #, it should reflect the same card over time so shoppers coming back for a specific card can find that design. Minor improvements and edits are acceptable and encouraged but major design changes will cause confusion for shoppers and may result in lost sales for repeat orders.
We encourage you to create new designs. This expands your opportunity for sales, you will have established designs available for repeat orders and new designs will offer further sales opportunities!
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Wanted New Cards: Lost Sock Memorial Day – May 9
We have a new categorie that needs your attention:
At the moment there is only 1 card in this category.
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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Tips and Tricks: Tutorials
Tutorials
Photoshop, GIMP, PSP, Corel Draw—these graphics editing programs and others like them are complex, capable of really great things provided you know how to use them. Rather than single out one trick, we’re listing here some of the sites offering tutorials for you to check out.
If you know any other resources you’d like to share, leave a comment! 🙂
PSDtuts
Whether you’re just getting started or an old hand wanting to learn new tricks, this is the place for Adobe Photoshop users.
GIMP Tutorials
You’ll find good stuff here from beginner to advanced instruction.
Photoshop Tutorials on YouTube
If you want some visual aid.
700+ Free Photoshop Tutorials
More tips and tricks than you can shake a stick at!
GIMP-Tutorials.net
Plenty of resources here including text to path, making patterns, etc.
Paint Shop Pro Tutorials
This learning center offers tutorials through PSP 9 + user forums.
20 Photoshop Elements Tutorials to Try
Some basic techniques you’ll likely need.
Free Tutorials: Photoshop Elements User
Looks like plenty of video tuts and information for artists using Elements.
Corel Draw Tips
Tutorials and more for beginning and advanced users.
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Rainbow Connection: What Your Color Choices Say
Rather than bring you a color palette or two today, I wanted to talk about color as a whole. Did you know the color choices you make in your designs can have an effect on a shopper’s decision to buy or not to buy?
For example, what color would you choose for a four year old girl’s birthday – black, lavender, or soft yellow? If you picked black or lavender, you probably won’t sell very many of these cards.
Below, you’ll find a brief chart outlining some of the meanings of basic colors that can influence shoppers. The colors you choose in your designs are just as important as the designs themselves, so I hope this will help you make appropriate choices for the message you’re trying to send.
Have fun!
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Dash of Inspiration: Fun Font Finds
At least once a month, this Font-a-holic simply must pass of some great font finds, so here you go …
This is a great grab, with some delightful fonts, only $20.00 for a limited time and comes with CU License.
The Handlettered Fontbox by Nicky Laatz at Creative Market
Next, this is a really good font for certain types of card designs. Light, fun, humorous, these are all themes which are well-matched to this font. 30% off until May 2nd!
TRANSMOGRIFIER by PintassilgoPrints at My Fonts
Here are a couple of FREE Commerical Use friendly fonts for download you might not have:
Also found this useful Dingbat font which should spark your imagination!
Enjoy!
Remember this is the last week to get your submissions in for April’s Dash of Inspiration Design Challenge!
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Nuts and Bolts: Homework Always Pays Off
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Wanted New Cards: Good Luck Tryout / Audition
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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Font Frenzy: Eraser Font
Font Squirrel is a great source for 100% free fonts. Eraser font by David Rakowski is a perfect fit for all those trendy blackboard designs. It’s casual, all caps, distressed and grungy.
Eraser comes with no licence so it’s free to use commercially.
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Rainbow Connection: Exploring Palettes on Pinterest
Pinterest is a great place to find inspiration and can also be an excellent source of new color palettes to use in your design work. Here are a few places we recommend featuring colors. Don’t forget, if you’ve got a Pinterest account, you can Follow any of these boards and be notified of changes/additions.
Summer Color Palettes
Get inspired for Summer.
Color Palettes
Mostly pictures with very fresh color schemes.
Perfect Palettes
Some very trendy color schemes going on here.
Pins From the Perfect Palette.com
A collection of trendy wedding palettes
Have fun and happy designing!
GCU Community 