Guest Blog: Sheryl Kasper, Photo Fixing
Today’s guest blog is from Sheryl Kasper, who’s sharing her technique for turning a not-so-great flower photograph into a beautiful, marketable shot by using digital manipulation techniques in Photoshop. This technique will work for virtually any object, by the way. Thanks, Sher!
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Digital Magic:
How to Make the “Ho Hum” Disappear
From Your Photographs
Do you ever find you have a nice image, but there are a lot of distracting elements in the background? I have!
When I started getting into photography, I took a lot of photographs of flowers out in the garden. I found a lot of my flower images taken in the garden had so many distracting elements in the background. Though my subject flower was very pretty, I was always disappointed by the background.
I soon realized my passion for flower photography was better suited in a controlled setting. By that I mean table top, or still life, photography where I could set up my own background and add my own lighting. I did not have to contend with weeds, dead flowers or the wind blowing the flower around making the flower difficult to photograph.
So with that said, I have written a Squidoo Lens that may help revamp some of your ho-hum images. Though I used a flower image as an example, I feel these directions may help with any other type of photograph where the subject is well lit and the background is bad. It is called, “Turn a Plain Image into a Marketable Design”, and includes Photoshop tutorials on how to:
- Isolate the flower out of the photograph,
- How to add a new background,
- How to add a drop shadow under the flower,
- How to size the flower,
- How to add a colored rectangle design element,
- How to put an outline around the rectangle,
- How to add text.
I made the final design very simple so that it would be easier to teach how to use these Photoshop features. Thank you and I hope you find it useful.
Turn a Plain Image Into a Marketable Design
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Guest Blog: Tanya, Photos of Teddy Bears
Today’s guest post comes from Tanya (Moonie) at Moonlake Designs, and it’s all about the do’s and don’t of photographing teddy bears. I know some artists enjoy taking snaps of their bears and other toys. The same general rule will apply no matter what object you’re photographing – if you didn’t make it, you don’t own the copyright. Read on for some good information, and join me in thanking Moonie for all her diligent work!
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PHOTOGRAPHING TEDDY BEARS:
DO YOU HAVE THE (COPY)RIGHT?
It seems so easy. You’re a photographer and you collect teddy bears, so you think you’ve got a quick and easy way to make attractive greeting cards: just photograph the cute little bears, add some text, and you’re done. Unfortunately, it’s not always clear whether the bears you’ve purchased are under the manufacturer’s copyright or not, and whether you have a right to sell commercial products with their images.
I was asked to make this guest post to shed some light on a very confusing issue, and I was surprised myself by the outcome.
GCU has policies regarding copyright and intellectual property rights. Making greeting cards using someone else’s property (yes, you took the photograph, but an image of an identifiable bear – like an image of an identifiable automobile – may be under copyright to the creator or manufacturer) can cause delays in the review process since GCU has no way of knowing whether you have permission to use the bears on a commercial product.
If you’ve gotten the necessary permission, and you’ve followed the requirements of each manufacturer or artist creator to obtain a license (more about that later), be sure to include that information in the Notes to Reviewers field when you’re creating a card. You’ll have much smoother sailing and you won’t have cards Returned for Edits or Declined for possible copyright infringement reasons. Also, GCU has stated in their Wiki that they don’t really want photos of store bought items like teddy bears unless the photographs are studio quality – meaning good lighting, in focus, well cropped, good composition, etc.
Now let’s talk about bears!
General Rule of Thumb: Do not include the name of the bear or the manufacturer or creator in your keywords. This will cause them to be declined by GCU.
Common Bears: That is, stuffed teddy bears with no special tags or identifiable marks, which can be purchased in any Dollar or Pound store and are not attributed to anyone in particular. These you can photograph to your heart’s content.
Barbara Ann Bears: I spoke to the lovely Barbara Ann Bears, and as she sells thousands of distinct bears that are easy to spot, I figured she would be an excellent starting point. Barbara’s take was: if you photograph her bears in any situation (decent of course), you will be required to add in your Artist Notes the company name and website if possible. In this case, you’d put in the Artist Notes – Bears by Barbara Ann Bears.
To be honest, that is exactly what I would expect if someone wanted to photograph one of my own bears for commercial use, but like Barbara pointed out, it’s always nice to be asked and she is happy with that. I’d say most artist would be happy to be asked rather than a photographer presuming they can do what they want without permission.
Merry Thought Bears: This one’s harder. I telephoned them and spoke in person to the lady who deals with these issues (they have a full legal department). Merry Thought requires you to have a licence to use your photograph for each bear, particularly the Cheeky Bear – this bear holds a licence all to itself as it is their key signature bear. So if you plan to photograph anything from Merry Thought including the rocking horses which they are famous for, you will need to email them what you are going to do with it, where you plan sell it, and a small picture of the card. They will then instruct you regarding a possible license.
Gund and Boyd: To obtain a license, you must first contact them by e-mail requesting a licensing form. Fill out the form, include the photographs you took of the bears, send the whole lot off to the company, and wait until they give you the thumbs up. When you get permission, you must include Bears by Gund or Bears by Boyd in the Artist Notes.
E-mail address: kelly.barlow@enesco.co.uk
CC: helen.scott@enesco.co.uk
Dean’s: These were my biggest surprise to be honest. Not only were they quite happy for you to take photographs of the bears, they did not even want you to remove the labels and tags, they left that one up to your own discretion (quite clever, really). Dean’s are one of the UK’s big guns and sells globally. They also carry artist bears, but each of those bears has the Dean’s logos and tags. Now Dean’s told me if you remove the foot tag and the tags and all other marks, please be courteous and put Bear By Dean’s, Name of bear if applicable, in your Artist Notes. BTW, they loved the idea of their bears on cards. I was rather taken aback but then Dean’s boss is a sweetie. I have had dealings with him previously.
Steiff: Steiff is a BIG no-no. They will not tolerate anyone photographing their bears for commercial use in any shape, way or form. They say you have no right to do this even if you own the bear, and their legal department will take a dim view of any violation. So no matter how cute that Steiff bear is, don’t go there.
Russ Berrie Bears: Now Russ… I always loved talking to them, and the lady was so very helpful. Basically, Russ is NOT out of bounds. They are quite happy and have for a long time allowed people who have purchased their bears to use them for this purpose, but you must not have any keywords, Artist Notes, or any labels, tags or distinctive marks showing to alert the customer that it is a Russ Bear. You can even use the Signature collector bear by Russ Berrie himself (pre-death of course) but you must remove his signature from the foot of the bear, no tags may show. The bear you use is irrelevant as long as you stick to those guidelines. They also require you to email them and to attach a small picture of the card you intend to make. This is for legal purposes. They will reply, and she said they are always very happy to do this.
This makes me happy as I have all the signature bears plus some rare ones that only shops could get for display
Original Hermann Teddy Bears: This is a big one we all recognize. I was told by the Managing Director of the company that while they have no problem with you taking photographs of their bears for personal use, you must identify them either company name, by making the red teddy tag visible or the company’s older marque. BUT – and this is a big “but” – if you want to use that photo commercially, as in mass market greeting cards (which is GCU), then you must write them for permission and pay a licensing fee.
The address to send a permission request is:
Teddy-Hermann GmbH
Margit Drolshagen, Managing Director
Amlingstadter Str. 5
D-96114, Hirschaid
Germany
So you see, most of the time, (but not all the time) the manufacturer is okay with granting permission as long as they’re assured the cards including their products are in good taste. Most of the time, you don’t need to purchase a license, just ask permission and follow the guidelines. If you’re using several bears on a number of cards from one manufacturer, I suggest you send them photographs of the entire series of proposed cards at one time rather than individually to save time and hassle (of course before uploading to GCU).
Artisan Bears: These take a long time to create (I make them myself and they can take days depending on which bear you are creating) so please be courteous and ask the maker. Most are approachable, there are a lot of good artists out there who will take time to answer an email. Be nice and ask. If permission is given, out of thanks to them just place Bear By: Artist Name or company name in the Artist Notes.
If you are a teddy bear artist and you’re taking photographs of your own designs, do not title your photograph/art as Teddy Bear Birthday Card By Avalon Bears (for example) or put this information in the keywords. This violates GCU’s rules. Put the information in the Artist Notes instead.
Second Hand Bears: What happens if I don’t know the artist because the bear was bought second hand? Well that is not really an excuse to be honest, with the Internet and forums there is always help at hand. If it is straw filled, bean filled, and well made using mohair mostly, and has joints, you can bet it’s not made in China with no pattern.
These bears are usually identified with a small bum tag saying the name of the artist, and/or bear company. It could be as little as Bears From Bruin. You might say “huh?” but these artists can recognise a bear from a mile off as they tour fairs and each other’s stores, so each bear artist will know another by nature if they are in those circles. It costs nothing to do a little research and send an email. Bottom line: if you are in doubt ,don’t use it for your own sake.
What if your bear has a “made in China” white label, no description, just the safety text on the label? Well, you can photograph it unless it also has the copyright symbol. In that case, research will be required before you can use a photograph of the bear commercially. Bottom line: cover your bases, do the research to identify the bear before you make a card or any mass market commercial design.
How do you tell if your teddy bear is an artisan bear?
- Cotter pin joints: Feel the bear’s arms at the top. You will feel a disk of card, a hard circle, it will differ from the commercial joints as these are usually plastic and not as defined.
- Seam: Run your finger down the bear’s spine and/or sides. On an artisan bear you will feel the seam nine times out of ten. Of course, this method isn’t perfect, but it’s the best you can do.
- Ears: Feel the bear’s ears. If they’re slightly rough, and you can feel stitching, I’d bet on an artisan bear because their bears are not for children, so the ears can be attached differently than a manufacturer who has to comply with safety standards.
- Wrist: Gently run your fingers down the arms to the paw pads. If the bear has a slightly bent wrist, you will feel the pinch on an artisan bear.
- Nose: Feel the nose. Has it got straw in there? Bit of a crunchy feeling? A lot of artists use this technique. Another point with the nose is the ever telling stitching. Each artist has a style of their own. My bears had big old noses and little eyes, easily recognisable by me. A lot of the artists, purely because they have to hand stitch the bears, will recognise the nose as it has been practiced over and over again and they usually (not always) but usually do stick to what comes naturally since the nose can take so long to get perfect.
- Eyes: Rub your teeth on the eyes. Are they glass? if they are, then they are artisan bears, as not many use plastic. Only the wild, wacky bears will have plastic eyes.
- Color/Material: If it is wild coloured, an obvious long hair tie-dyed effect, and is mohair, again an artisan bear.
With or without labels, artisan bears are easy to spot, including the miniature bears. These will also have distinct seams and joints. Some use cotton joints on the tiny bears. I have one no bigger than half inch, but it’s still jointed and is an obvious one. Bless him, his label is bigger than he is!
So in short, if you want to photograph teddy bears (or any stuffed animal, or doll, or toy bought from a store, a garage sale, a fair, or anywhere else for that matter), it’s best to be sure to get permission from the manufacturer and/or artist BEFORE you start uploading cards or you may find yourself in a legal pickle.
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Dash of Inspiration – August 1, 2011
A Dash of Inspiration…A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Floral Photography 101 and Beyond
As we all know, weeding is being done at GCU and much of that is of our photographs. Floral photography is perhaps the largest subject matter on the site and a love for many of us. So this morning I created a Squidoo Lens which offered a good format to provide some examples of beautiful floral photographs at GCU and allowed me to include tutorials that might help improve some of our flower photos.
For My Wife - Floral Garden Birthday Card - artist Doreen Erhardt
Due to Squidoo’s limit of 8 outgoing links to the same site, none of the GCU examples have direct links, rather they have a link to the artist’s store listed which can be copied to your browser. This lens will continue to grow with beautiful examples and tutorials as I have the time to add them. I hope some of you find this helpful and that it also offers inspiration to perhaps go play with some of your existing floral cards to improve them as you see fit.
Here’s the link to Floral Photography 101 and Beyond.
ENJOY!
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Critique Clinic – July 29-July 31, 2011
How does it work? For three days a week (Friday-Sunday midnight), I will open the clinic to any artist who wants an honest peer review and critique of a card which gets plenty of clicks but no sales, so something’s probably not quite right, or you’ve got a new design you want to test drive, or you’re unsure about the marketability of a card. Or perhaps you’re a newbie who isn’t sure if a recently submitted card is up to a marketable standard. Anyone is welcome to participate. In fact, I encourage everyone to at least look at the cards in question and read the critique comments – you may learn something. The purpose of the clinic is to help artists improve the commercial appeal and marketability of their cards.
THE RULES
- ONE card per artist only.
- Card must be for sale at Greeting Card Universe.
- We will take an unlimited number of artists, including those who have submitted recently, HOWEVER I reserve the right to close a clinic for the day if the submissions become overwhelming. If the clinic has been closed, and you submit a card, your comment will be deleted.
- To submit a card for critique, post a link to the card’s details page at GCU in the comments section of this clinic post.
- Any artist is free to comment and/or give a critique of a submitted card. HOWEVER, post-and-run comments like “great card” or “you suck” will not be tolerated, nor will abuse. Criticism should be constructive, not destructive. Play nice or you will be banned.
- I also won’t tolerate temper tantrums if you decide your “artistic integrity” is being stepped on because you asked for a critique, and someone told you the photo you’re using isn’t in focus. If you can’t take honest criticism, don’t submit. Once gets you a warning; twice and you’re banned from submitting in the future.
- Artists who critique may do so by giving their opinion, posting an example of another card, or pointing the submitter to a video, on-line article, or other helpful suggestion.
- Don’t forget that artists who are giving you tips and helpful advice are volunteering their time and trouble. Be nice. A link back to their store on your website or blog is appreciated (but not mandatory).
- You are free not to take any advice offered. There’s no guarantee any card will be a bestseller, so don’t come into the clinic with unrealistic expectations.
- Rules may change as we go along and we see how things turn out, okay?
So without any further ado, I declare this week’s Critique Clinic open!
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GCU Community Newsletter #13 – July 28, 2011
Busy, busy, busy in the last seven days! I’m still seeing artists who are unsure about the new marketability standards, and what that might mean for them. To help those who aren’t sure if their design skills are up to par, I’ll be posting a series of articles titled Design 101 where I’ll be guiding you through the basic rules of design (yes, there are rules; yes, rules can be broken, but you must first understand them and how they work). Look for the first to appear next week.
Hidden Gems: Birthday for Birth Mom - artist Sandra Rose Designs
Last week, our Critique Clinic drew quite a number of submissions from artists seeking advice on improving their cards – if you haven’t read the responses, what are you waiting for? Our Design Spotlight was on Janet Lee Palaggi of Janet Lee Designs; the Rainbow Connection gave us a beautiful and trendy Nautical color palette; and Doreen Erhardt’s Dash of Inspiration – Cup of Creativity celebrated artists around the world.
Until next time, don’t forget to pass the love around!
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Put Your “Pro” Face On: Back of Card Credits
It’s time to talk about the Back of Card Credits (BOC). That’s the information printed on the back of every one of your Greeting Card Universe cards – your logo + your store’s URL.
I don’t know about you, but when I pull a greeting card out of the rack at a grocery store, I look at the card’s front, inside, and the back as well. So do shoppers. The BOC is the second face of your store, something that represents you as an artist, a greeting card designer and a business person whenever a shopper buys your card and sends it to someone.
Just as you want your storefront to be professional looking, you want your BOC to be as professional as possible. It’s your brand, it helps sell you to customers, and it says a lot about you as a business. A logo can make or break a business, which is why companies pay thousands of dollars to design firms to come up with consumer-attracting logos.
You only have one chance to make a good first impression. When the recipient of a card flips it over to look at the back and find out where it came from, no matter how nice your front of card design is, a BOC that looks amateurish, ugly, sloppy, or just plain bad will not draw shoppers to visit your store.
And in case you weren’t aware, in the beginning GCU actually had cards returned by shoppers because the BOCs weren’t well done – hence the option for shoppers to choose a “simplified” BOC instead – meaning store URL, no logo.
Hidden Gems - 35th Birthday - Ya-Graphic
So what goes into making a good logo? Think about the company logos you see every day, the logos of companies you trust to give you a great product experience in exchange for your money.
The basic rules of logo design are:
Follow the Fundamentals – The logo must follow the basic principles of design – form, clarity, consistency, space and color. This means your logo must have aesthetic appeal, the same as the greeting cards you design, and be designed to attract shoppers of all types. No personal photos. The logo should not appear distorted or squished. Every element of your logo, including any fonts you use, must be visible and above all, recognizable or readable at a small size. For GCU, a 200×200 pixel square is the ideal size for BOC.
Form Follows Function – Keep it simple. You logo must be instantly recognizable and usable in any context, at any size, on any background (from plain to patterned, any color) – whether on the back of a greeting card, in a store banner, on a T-shirt, on a matchbook cover or a bumper sticker. The fussier and more intricate your design, the further you’re getting away from a functional logo. Do not under any circumstances use shadow, 3D effects, texture effects, embossing, beveling, glare, a photograph or gradients. Simple is best.
For Consistency: Use your logo on every product you produce, on every on-line store you maintain, on your business cards, brochures, and everywhere else. Branding is important to create consumer awareness. The more shoppers see you out there, the more they’ll want to find out more about you.
Find Your Face – Choose an image for your logo that represents something about you as an artist, or some aspect of your business. For example, my CorrieWeb logo is an illustration – the Earth encircled by different animals because a lot of my art has animals in it, and our tag line is “The Wonderful World of Corrie Kuipers.” Your logo should be unique, and have a classic, timeless quality that will not become dated in two years. And don’t be a copycat. It’s a fact that copycat logos will fail. Don’t believe me? Just ask Pepsi. Their old logo was very similar to the one used by Coca-Cola. It wasn’t until Pepsi completely redesigned their logo to be unique that they saw a big increase in sales.
Hidden Gems: Mother Birthday - artist Maria Dryfhout
For the Forum – You may not be aware, but the picture you upload to your ARTIST PROFILE which appears in your Forum posts is the same picture used for BOC unless you choose otherwise. If you want to show your “little old me” face to the Forum, and a professional logo for BOC, you need to: go to MANAGE STORE > ARTIST PROFILE. You’ll see two boxes – Artist Profile Picture and BOC Picture. Upload the appropriate graphic to each. Be sure to SAVE your changes.
Bottom line? If you’re designing and selling greeting cards, you are a professional. If your logo doesn’t reflect that, you may be losing sales – not just now, but in the future.
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The Critique Clinic is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to all GCU artists seeking peer review, advice and tips. Any artist may submit or leave a critique. All artists are encouraged to check the comment threads – you’ll learn something that may help you with your own marketability.
The title you choose from your greeting card is as important as your keywords. Search engines place great weight on a title, so you shouldn’t use a string of random words. Instead, titles should be unique and descriptive without becoming a shopping list, such as “To my Aunt – Chinese New Year Lanterns” not “Aunt, Lanterns, Chinese New Year, Red.” Also, when shoppers do an off-site search through Google or other search engines, they won’t see an image of the card in the search results, just the title. Would a string of random words entice YOU to click the link?
Tanya (Moonie) at Moonlake Designs has made a small collection of high quality photographs available to any artist who wants to use them. Other artists have joined in. See her Forum post for all the details.
Websprinter continues to maintain her very helpful list of Free Art Programs.
There is a GCU artists’ group on Facebook? We encourage you to join, post cards for your fellow artists to admire, share news, and have fun!
DID YOU KNOW you can “like” this newsletter or any post on the GCU Community blog, or include them in your social bookmarks? Or Google +1 them! Just click the title of the post, which takes you to the permanent link page. At the bottom of the page you’ll see buttons for social sites like Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc.
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The next Newsletter will be published on August 5, 2011
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Dash of Inspiration – July 27, 2011
A Dash of Inspiration…A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Inspiration From Around the World
This week, I’m a bit out of sorts after losing my furry companion Thursday, so I hope its okay with all of you if I keep this simple. I thought it might be nice to just explore the body of work created by artists all over the world. Places like Redbubble and FineArtAmerica are great places for such inspiration.
Below are links to seven very creative Fine Art artists whose work should inspire you to push the limits of both your imagination and your skill level.
ENJOY!
Amanda Cass ,Heartland, New Zealand; Painting and Mixed Media
Philippe Sainte-Laudy, Strasbourg, France; Photography Plus
Bobby McLeod, Seoul, Korea, Republic Of; Photography
Leonid Afremov, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico; Oil on Canvas
Stephanie Rachel Seely, Moncton, Canada; Photo-Manipulation
Lorraine Stern, Gowrie Junction, Australia; Pencil Drawing
Annya Kai Joslow, Boston, United States; Comical Drawings/Paintings
Image: "loVe is a symphony" © Amanda Cass
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Rainbow Connection: Nautical is Nice
One way to suss out the trendiest color schemes is to delve into the world of scrappers and stampers. The magazines catering to these crafters always point out the hottest colors to go along with new design ideas and new materials. Nautical themes are always in fashion during the summer months, so here’s a super trendy color scheme to get you started. I’ve used some of these colors for other themes, too, especially the combination of true red like Molten Lava, Aqua Sea or a lighter shade of blue, and white – it’s so cool, it’s hot!
Aqua Sea – #6BB5B6
Aurora – #F5DF67
Cream – #E6E2D7
Molten Lava – #C01B21
Ocean Wave – #93C6B3
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Design Spotlight: Janet Lee Designs
Today our Design Spotlight is on Janet Palaggi from Janet Lee Designs – very pretty card!
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We all know June is the time for weddings, and when I think of June, I think of fresh light delicate colors. This Pastel Swan Wedding Cake is one of my newer designs.
I’m hoping it will become a best seller. It has not been in my store long so only time will tell. I’m especially hoping it will go over well with the younger ‘Brides’, because there is a nothing traditional about this wedding cake design…which is what I was going for and what I think the younger generation prefer when designing their own cakes now days.
I have several cards with this design, all wedding related. This was a fun design to create, I’m hoping it sells well.
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Critique Clinic – July 22-July 24, 2011
The Critique Clinic is now closed! Please read the comments on this post to learn what advice and tips were given, and join us next Friday for a new clinic.
How does it work? For three days a week (Friday-Sunday midnight), I will open the clinic to any artist who wants an honest peer review and critique of a card which gets plenty of clicks but no sales, so something’s probably not quite right, or you’ve got a new design you want to test drive, or you’re unsure about the marketability of a card. Or perhaps you’re a newbie who isn’t sure if a recently submitted card is up to a marketable standard. Anyone is welcome to participate. In fact, I encourage everyone to at least look at the cards in question and read the critique comments – you may learn something. The purpose of the clinic is to help artists improve the commercial appeal and marketability of their cards.
THE RULES
- ONE card per artist only.
- Card must be for sale at Greeting Card Universe.
- We will take an unlimited number of artists, including those who have submitted recently, HOWEVER I reserve the right to close a clinic for the day if the submissions become overwhelming. If the clinic has been closed, and you submit a card, your comment will be deleted.
- To submit a card for critique, post a link to the card’s details page at GCU in the comments section of this clinic post.
- Any artist is free to comment and/or give a critique of a submitted card. HOWEVER, post-and-run comments like “great card” or “you suck” will not be tolerated, nor will abuse. Criticism should be constructive, not destructive. Play nice or you will be banned.
- I also won’t tolerate temper tantrums if you decide your “artistic integrity” is being stepped on because you asked for a critique, and someone told you the photo you’re using isn’t in focus. If you can’t take honest criticism, don’t submit. Once gets you a warning; twice and you’re banned from submitting in the future.
- Artists who critique may do so by giving their opinion, posting an example of another card, or pointing the submitter to a video, on-line article, or other helpful suggestion.
- Don’t forget that artists who are giving you tips and helpful advice are volunteering their time and trouble. Be nice. A link back to their store on your website or blog is appreciated (but not mandatory).
- You are free not to take any advice offered. There’s no guarantee any card will be a bestseller, so don’t come into the clinic with unrealistic expectations.
- Rules may change as we go along and we see how things turn out, okay?
So without any further ado, I declare this week’s Critique Clinic open!
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GCU Community Newsletter #12 – July 21, 2011
A little panic going around as GCU announces it’s new Marketability Standards (unfortunately, Mindy’s forum thread was lost). Not to worry; check below for an article about marketability and what it means to you, both as an artist and as a business person. And we’ve gleaned Mindy’s original forum post from Google, so you can read it below!
Hidden Gems: Birthday Humor - Sharon Fernleaf
Last week ,our Artist Interview with Sandra of Sandra Rose Designs gave us insight into a successful artist, while Doreen Erhardt’s weekly column, A Dash of Inspiration – a Cup of Creativity was for the birds ;-). Our Community Challenge: Guest Bloggers ended with John H. Johnson winning the prize. Finally, the weekend Critique Clinic offered help and advice to GCU artists.
Until next time, don’t forget to pass the love around!
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What the Heck is Marketability Anyway?
What makes a shopper in a store reach for a certain card in a rack? What makes a shopper open their wallet and put down their hard-earned cash for a piece of colorfully printed card stock? There are as many answers to these questions as there are stars in the sky, but it all boils down to one word: appeal.
Commercial appeal, that is.
What’s that mean? Simply put, greeting cards that are well designed, attractive, and suit the purpose for which they’ve been created have commercial appeal. While the appreciation of art is subjective, therefore not every design will appeal the same way to every shopper, a marketable card ticks the boxes for many consumers and entices them to buy.
GCU’s new Marketability Standards have been created to raise the bar for artists, enabling GCU to compete on an equal footing with the “Big Boys” in the greeting card market. The review team will not only be looking at new cards, they will be taking a look at older cards, too. And some stores may end up deleted.
This does NOT mean that if a card has never been sold, it will be deleted.
This does NOT mean your store is in danger of being snatched away without warning.
This does NOT mean you should stop designing cards because you’ve never had professional training.
Here is the text of Mindy’s original Forum post (found through Google’s cache):
On the heels of our recent landmark of reaching 500,000 cards it is due time for GCU to turn an honest and critical eye to our existing collection and new cards. To date GCU has accepted virtually all submitted work and artists. Today we are introducing a MarketabilityStandards policy. Based on GCU’s evaluation of marketability and commercial appeal, GCU will begin saying “no thank you” to cards and ultimately some artists.
The Marketability Standards and Guidelines raises the bar on card designs to increase professionalism and marketability and ultimately a better experience for our shoppers. This will up the overall product quality on GCU which reflects on all artists in our community as shoppers view GCU as a single store. Our goal is to provide a selection of greeting cards to the buying public that are competitive, professional, and equal to the highest level of design.
Although we’d like to say this process will be clear cut, objective and quantitative, in practice that is virturally impossible. By nature it is subjective and heavily qualitative. However here are some of the elements that we have established as standards and guidelines that our reviewers will be looking at. These will soon be reflected on our GCU Wiki page with image examples:
- Subject Matter – poor, random, unrelated, not professional
- Image Quality – clarity, color, lighting, angle, cropping, shadows, composition, misuse of filter, out of focus, exposure, particularly with photographs
- Overused Image
- Unrelated Image – not related nor appropriate to occasion/category, gender, relation, age, etc.
- Any Reason – on a case by case basis we reserve the right to not accept a card considered to be lacking in commercial appeal
The review team will begin to apply these standards to newly submitted cards. No cards will be grandfathered in so GCU will also begin weeding through existing cards and saying “no thank you” to those deemed to be lacking in commercial appeal. Ultimately the direction is for new artists to submit sample work for evaluation before opening a GCU storefront.
This is an excellent time for all artists to look at their body of work with a critical eye as well. Schedule your own “Weed out Week” where artists look at their own cards and remove those designs that you feel do not reflect your best work or do not shine with professionalism and polish. Consider using your family and friends and peer artists as honest and frank critics and participating in the GCU Community BLOG Critique Clinic.
We realize many artists will not be happy with this new policy. This is another corner for GCU and artists to turn and we will all feel the growing pains. However we are confident that this is a fair and necessary step as GCU grows and strives to be the leader in online paper greeting card sales.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and support! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
And to clarify what is meant by overused image, here’s another quote from the same lost thread, also by Mindy:
At this point overused will go hand in hand with images or subject matter that is unrelated or inappropriate to the card/occasion. For example: a lovely pine cone may be fine for winter birthday, christmas and father’s day but not so much for baby naming ceremony or congratulations on moving for example UNLESS of course the artist has done something in design or verse that makes the connection.
What can you do to give your designs more marketability? Here are some tips to help you create greeting cards that have commercial appeal, and should comply with GCU’s new Marketability Standards:
Photographers Should – Only use photographs portraying subjects that are in focus, well exposed, well cropped, sharp, creative and dynamic. Be certain the photograph you choose suits the category you’re designing the card for (in other words, a depressed looking mongoose is unlikely to be make a successful birthday card UNLESS paired with a clever verse). If you put text on the front of the card, make sure the composition is correct. Go easy on filters and effects – while such designs may look “cool” on your computer monitor, they will print poorly.
Hidden Gems: Birthday Humor - artist Angela Castillo
Illustrators Should – Ensure your design’s composition is correct and pleasing to the eye. Choose your font for front of card text with care – it should match the tone of your design, and be readable even at a small size. When drawing people, keep in mind that many shoppers don’t generally like cards with “real” looking people on the front (unless it’s a cartoon panel with a point) – to give your people blue, purple, green or other outlandish colored skin to make them more cartoonish, or substitute animals. If a viewer can’t immediately distinguish the subject of your design (in other words, if they think you’ve drawn a fish when you’ve actually drawn a cat), then go back to the drawing board.
All Artists Should – Consider the recipient when designing cards (feminine, masculine or general) – for example, a birthday card with a vase of flowers is unlikely to be sent to a male recipient, therefore you don’t need to include male relations if you’re doing relationship specific cards. Don’t mix religion with secular subjects (in other words, don’t create a design with Santa Claus holding baby Jesus unless you mean to be humorous – you won’t please either market), and be careful when designing with religious subjects as mistakes in this area may offend. Avoid overuse of effects including text effects and shadow, which may not print well, and don’t always look professional.
Our own community Critique Clinic is open Friday-Saturday-Sunday every week. It’s a place where artists can submit a card and receive an honest peer review and critique, along with suggestions and tips on how to improve. Even if you don’t want to submit a card, stop by and see what other artists have submitted. You’ll probably learn something new.
Don’t be afraid. These new standards have been put in place to help you, and don’t forget the community is here to help, too. Now’s the time to go over your old designs with a more critical eye. With all the tools at your disposal, you’ll be have a store filled with polished, professional looking designs that sell.
Hidden Gems: Birthday Humor - artist Corrie Kuipers
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Mindy’s forum announcement about the new Marketability Standards crashed and was lost yesterday, however you’ll find the original text quoted above thanks to my partner, Nene, and her Internet detective skills.
Tanya (Moonie) at Moonlake Designs has made a small collection of high quality photographs available to any artist who wants to use them. See her Forum post for all the details.
Websprinter continues to maintain her very helpful list of Free Art Programs.
There is a GCU artists’ group on Facebook? We encourage you to join, post cards for your fellow artists to admire, share news, and have fun!
DID YOU KNOW you can “like” this newsletter or any post on the GCU Community blog, or include them in your social bookmarks? Or Google +1 them! Just click the title of the post, which takes you to the permanent link page. At the bottom of the page you’ll see buttons for social sites like Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc.
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The next Newsletter will be published on July 28, 2011
GCU Community 