Dash of Inspiration: JULY 2021 Design Challenge
This month we’re pairing our Design Challenge with a fun GCU Promo at GCU for even more exposure! Let’s get to it and have some fun!
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Theme: Christmas in July
Requirements:
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Create a brand new design the Christmas in July category featuring appropriate summertime Christmas celebrations.
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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: Saturday, July 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 > Christmas Cards > Christmas in July
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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: JULY 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 58,000 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: 5.36K!
- 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!
- 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.
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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.
- 10 free greeting card credits added to your GCU account. Apply them at checkout and they never expire.
- A Design Challenge GCU digital award for 2021!
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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Winning card will be posted on GCU’s Instagram with 2,000 followers and counting!
- 5 free greeting card credits added to your GCU account. Apply them at checkout and they never expire.
- A Design Challenge GCU digital award for 2021!
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Tips:
- Nuts and Bolts: The Right Image
- Nuts and Bolts: Writing Funny Greeting Cards
- Inspiration Station: What to Say
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Be inspired to create and learn something new!
Doreen Erhardt©
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Wanted Cards – Thank You Sanitation / Waste / Garbage Worker
Hard work deserves great praise! Leaving a note of thanks for a waste collector is very common and surely appreciated. Thanks for their weekly service, thanks for their careful ins and outs of the neighborhood, thanks for perhaps removing more trash than your allotment.
Please consider creating new cards for this category:
Occasions >> Thank You >> Occupation Specific >> Sanitation/Waste/Garbage>>
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: Summer South
Summer South is a blend of 2 handwritten fonts with a distinctive and classy style. They are suitable to give a summer touch to all your creative projects!
This stylish freebie is brought to you by Ergibi Studio! Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for a week!
This product comes with a commercial license.
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Nuts and Bolts: Artist Interview Laurie Schneider
Here is May 2021 Design Challenge winner, Laurie Schneider, interview.
Congratulations to Laurie on her winning design.
A lovely and natural combination of elements from the list of fusion items:a remote control – a mirror – a mailbox – an orange – a daisy – a beach towel – a bird – a coffee mug
Only one week remaining to enter June’s Stock Card only Design Challenge themed CHOCOLATE! Hello? Yum, how can you not be inspired?! Submit your entries by Wednesday, June 30th.
The difference is made in the detail.
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Early Retirement Congratulations.
Wanted Cards – Early Retirement Congratulations
A rise in retirement rates were evident during the pandemic, particularly early retirements. These can be planned as well as an unwelcome or forced situation. Consider both the positive and sensitive nature in the messages of these cards.
Please consider creating new cards for this category:
Occasions >> Congratulations > > Early Retirement
Familiarize yourself with some of the issues here.
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: Free So Pink Watercolor Clipart
So Pink Watercolor Clipart is perfect for making DIY wedding invitations, blog headers, floral letters, art prints, greeting cards, and wall arts! All elements come in PNG format!
This lovely freebie is brought to you by Cornercroft! Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for a week!
This product comes with a commercial license.
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Nuts & Bolts – Update Winter Holiday YEAR specific cards
Get a head start on updating holiday cards! Do you offer Year Specific designs? Be sure not to miss out on sales or worse, have your card taken offline because you’ve neglected to update it for the new year.
Not only should images be updated but also card titles, keywords and artist notes. This even applies to custom front designs to make them more marketable and avoid shopper errors.
Please add this to your to do list and begin to update cards while you have time in the summer season.
Christmas cards should reflect the current year (2021) and New Year cards should reflect the coming or new year (2022).
TIP: A quick way to pinpoint the bulk of your related cards is to search your storefront entering in the search box “<holiday name year>” ie: “christmas 2020”, “new year 2021”.
The difference is made in the detail.
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: 100 Days of School
Wanted Cards – 100 Days of School
We’re a long way away from back to school, but it will be here before we know it! A tradition, especially for younger elementary school ages, is to celebrate the 100th day of school.
Please consider creating new cards for this category:
Occasions >> School Days >> 100 Days of School
It’s a way to celebrate notable progress at the start of a new year and a great opportunity to incorporate counting and math concepts.
Please note if you use original numbers in your design to follow the superscript standard.
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: Free Father’s Day Pattern Set
A fun Father’s Day pack which includes 12 coordinating papers and 15 cliparts, created in a blue/green themed colour palette all in JPEG & PNG formats! These are perfect for celebrating Father’s Day!
This great freebie is brought to you by Poppymoon Design! Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for a week!
This product comes with a commercial license.
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Nuts & Bolts – Dedicate Yourself to the Details – Flow & Connection
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, Ness Nordberg, with an improvement in design that impacts the cover text as well as a connection to the design in the inside verse both leading to a professionally composed design that flows naturally.
Reviewers request for edits:Hi, super cute! A few notes before we give the green light for this as a like image series:
1. please add to your meta-data the variation of spelling “mus·tache”
2. not required but please consider adding a comma after Birthday OR move the order of the mustache graphic after birthday and before Husband
3. We love the verse – this works! However we’re left thinking why the typewriter? If you can work that into your verse too it would really pull this together. Something about type, key, old fashioned.
Thanks! We look forward to your resubmission.
Before:
After:
and added to the inside verse:You’re one of a ‘type’!
Well done, Ness, 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 all these stache variations!
The difference is made in the detail.
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
