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Nuts and Bolts: Card Title – NO Punctuation.

August 28, 2020
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Nuts & Bolts – Card Title – NO Punctuation
 
To avoid a delay in the review of your card(s) and to avoid shoppers not finding your cards thus not buying your cards – please do not use any punctuation marks in your card title like but not limited to – , . * ! ; etc.   

 

The card review team will start returning cards that have punctuation in the card title with a note like:
Please remove the punctuation from your card title as it is not needed and may actually hinder search engine data

 

What are the key makings of an effective card title?
1. Descriptive
2. Unique
3. Differentiating terms first, especially when part of a series
4. Does NOT need the word “card” in it as GCU appends that automatically
5. Does NOT need punctuation like commas or periods
6. Proper capitalization use of upper & lower case
7. Reads like a sentence or short phrase, not “word soup” (a list of terms)

Please see these prior posts on Card Titles, The Art of the Card Title,  Card Title Punctuation.

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

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Wanted New Cards: Greek Rush/Recruitment.

August 27, 2020
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Wanted Cards – Greek Rush / Recruitment 
 
One of many decisions and new experiences for college students is Greek life.  Choosing to participate in recruitment is a big decision and can be an exciting, long, and sometimes unnerving process. Will they get a bid from their preferred fraternity or sorority?  Will they get a bid at all?  Even with distance learning and closed campuses this process, albeit virtual, is still under way at many colleges.

 

These categories are in need of cards:

 

>> General
>> Fraternity Rush / Recruitment
>> Sorority Rush / Recruitment
>> Other


NOTE: Important to note that the panhellenic organization / chapter letters, mascots, crests, and nicknames are trademark protected and cannot be used on commercial products without the proper license. An important related readThe Business of Greek Life.

We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function 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: Leorio Font.

August 26, 2020
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Freebie Wednesday:

 

Leorio Font (by Moreltype ) is a minimal and neat serif font. It can easily be matched to an incredibly large set of projects, so add it to your creative ideas and notice how it makes them stand out! It’s free at Creative Fabrica.

 

 

This product comes with a complete commercial license.

 

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Rainbow Connection: Monochrome.

August 25, 2020
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Some Monochrome color inspiration for you this week:

 

 

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Nuts and Bolts: Dedicate Yourself to the Details – Text Placement.

August 21, 2020
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Nuts & Bolts – Dedicate Yourself to the Details – Text Placement
 
It is often the little details that escape the artist’s eye. It is always a good idea to step away from a design that you have been meticulously working on or ask a brutally honest companion to give it a once over. The review team is certainly a fresh set of eyes and often catches tiny fixes or areas of improvement. GCU is grateful for artists who are open to collaborating with the reviewers on minor adjustments that make a big difference.

 

See this example by GCU artist, Eileen Forbes of Eileen Forbes Photography, with an improvement in text placement leading to a professionally composed design that shines.

 

Reviewers request for edits:
Please adjust the placement of the text so it is not touching or overlaying the petal.  
 
TYPOGRAPHY – Text Placement
See the GCU Blog for explanation & examples:
https://gcucommunity.com/2013/06/24/dash-of-inspiration-typography-text-placement/ 

 

Before:

 

After:

 

Well done, Eileen, and thank you for working so well with the review team.  Excellent teamwork!

 

It may take a little more time upfront to perfect a new design but this will save you time in the long run when creating a like image collection and derivative designs so the follow on designs all shine, pass review, and are highly marketable. See important Pre-approval for Card Series process and tips.
 
Look at this garden of lovelies!
Remember, GCU allows an image to be leveraged into a like image series of cards, see Leveraging Designs.

 

 

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

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Wanted New Cards: Interfaith / Chrismukkah 

August 20, 2020
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Wanted Cards – Interfaith / Chrismukkah 
 
Some people celebrate interfaith Winter holidays combined, lightheartedly known as Chrismukkah.  This may be more likely with a couple or family in which each partner or parent brings a different faith or traditions to the relationship thus a blending or acknowledgement of the two.

 

 

GCU could use some new designs to freshen up the offerings in these categories.

 

When submitting these cards please be sure to mirror the categories for best exposure, meaning one from under Christmas and one from under Chanukah / Hanukkah accordingly.

 

 

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Freebie Wednesday: Roller Blow Font.

August 19, 2020
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Freebie Wednesday:

 

Roller Blow (by lyanatha) is an elegant and lovely handwritten font, created by using a brush pen. Clean and a little bit quirky, this font is the perfect fit for all of your logos, branding, social media, and crafty DIY projects.  It’s free at Creative Fabrica for the next 5 days so be sure to check it out.

 

 

This product comes with a complete commercial license.

 

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Rainbow Connection: Spring/Summer 2021

August 18, 2020
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Here are some Spring/Summer Color Trends for 2021 I found on Pinterest this week:

 

 

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Nuts and Bolts: The Difference is in the Details 

August 14, 2020
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Nuts & Bolts – The Difference is in the Details 

 

It is often the little details that escape the artist’s eye. It’s likely that you’ve been so focused on other elements of your submission that you’ve overlooked one, small element.  It is always a good idea to step away from a design that you have been meticulously working on or ask a brutally honest companion to give it a once over. The review team is certainly a fresh set of eyes and often catches tiny fixes or areas of improvement. GCU is grateful for artists who are open to collaborating with the reviewers on minor adjustments that make a big difference.

 

Observation from the reviewer:
We love this idea and cute little bird however the cleanliness of the bird feeder is not ideal. If you can “clean” it up or have a different image we’re happy to re-review. Thank you for your understanding.  

 

See here for details on the Submission Guideline for Composition – Subject Matter

 

Original Image:

 

From the artist:
Thank you! I was so focused on the bird that I didn’t notice how bad the feeder looked! Let me know if this is better. 

 

Resulting Image:

 

Thank you to GCU artist, Sharon Dominick Photography, for her impressive photo work and collaborating with our review team to create a picture perfect submission.

 

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

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Wanted New Cards: Staycations and Holistays.

August 13, 2020
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Wanted Cards – Staycations and Holistays
 
Summer vacations, and upcoming vacations for that matter, are looking a little different than usual.  With COVID, travel restrictions, and work and school from home, many people are opting for getaways near home, or even at home. We may see this for a while.

 

Consider creating cards along these lines for this category. They need not be “bon voyage” specific but wishing someone an enjoyable reprieve from the day to day without traveling far or overnight.

 

Occasions >> Bon Voyage >> Staycation / Holistay

 

 

They also need not be COVID specific, but if you choose coronavirus specific designs or verses please use this category:
Occasions >>  Bon Voyage >> Staycation / Holistay >> Coronacation / Coronavirus /  COVID 19

 

as well as the following catchall category for all COVID cards:
Collections >> Health Awareness >> Coronavirus / COVID 19

 

Since Stock Card Creation cards are automatically assigned a category, their categories should be as follows and their meta-data will serve them best for shoppers searching for the right card:

 

To expedite the review of these cards, please check Fast Track Review on the card image details page when you create your card and add a Note for Reviewers like “for BLOG– Wanted Cards”.


For standard front designs, consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track.

 

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