Skip to content

Nuts and Bolts: Artist Interview Pamela Jorgensen.

September 18, 2020
tags: ,
by

nuts-and-bolts-head

Nuts & Bolts – Artist Interview Pamela Jorgensen

 

One of the many perks of being a GCU Design Challenge winner is an interview.  These mini-interviews are fun reads and a peek into the makings of the winning card.
Be sure to enter September’s Design Challenge.

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

Leave a comment
from → Nuts & Bolts

Wanted New Cards: Thanksgiving Relation Specific.

September 17, 2020
tags:
by

wanted new cards head

Wanted Cards – Thanksgiving Relation Specific
 
The following relationship specific subcategories could use some new cards for Thanksgiving.
Aunt & Boyfriend
Aunt & Fiance
Aunt & Fiancee
Aunt & Girlfriend
Aunt & Wife / Both my Aunts
Brother & Boyfriend
Brother & Fiance
Brother & Girlfriend
Brother in Law to be / Future Brother in Law
Cousin & Boyfriend
Father in Law to be / Future Father in Law
Grandnephew / Great Nephew & Family
Grandnephew / Great Nephew & Wife
Grandniece / Great Niece & Family
Grandniece / Great Niece & Husband
Nephew & Fiancee
Nephew & Husband
Niece & Wife
Sister & Boyfriend
Sister & Girlfriend
Son & Husband / Son in Law
Son in Law to be / Future Son in Law
Uncle & Boyfriend
Uncle & Fiance
Uncle & Fiancee
Uncle & Girlfriend
Unce & Husband / Both my Uncles

Note: for like image series, please be sure to add a Note to Reviewer like “this card is based on prior approved card pid#XXXXX”.

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Freebie Wednesday: Rainbow Dreams Font.

September 16, 2020
tags:
by

Freebie Wednesday:

Rainbow Dreams is a bouncy handwritten font with extra font doodles! Includes a doodle font – Rainbow Dreams Extras – with 52 decorative doodles! This font is perfect for quotes, branding, ornaments, shirts, mugs, headings, blogs, logos, invitations and more!

This beautiful freebie is brought to you by KA Designs! Only available for a week on the Hungry Jpeg site, make sure to download it ASAP!

 

 

This product comes with a complete commercial license.

 

Leave a comment
from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Nuts and Bolts: Holiday Custom Request Design Change.

September 11, 2020
tags: ,
by

nuts-and-bolts-head

Nuts and Bolts: Holiday Custom Request Design Change.

 

Holiday card sales have begun! For the next few months, we expect to see growing numbers of shoppers coming to find their perfect holiday card. We are already seeing a lot of custom card requests coming in. Many great new custom cards being created resulting in larger sales, happy shoppers, and happy artists! Unfortunately some of the requests are going unanswered by the artist. These are potential sales that you are missing out on.

 

 
Here is a wonderful example by GCU artist Stephie McCarthy:

 

From the shopper:  
Is this Beautiful card available in landscape? We have a wonderful picture to put on inside! Thank you! I would be ordering a dozen or so cards…  
 
Original Card:

 

Resulting Card: 

See this insightful piece on Orientation Considerations.
 
And another excellent example by GCU artist, MGDezigns:  
 
From the shopper:
Hello, I love this card, and was wondering if you had the same design with Happy Holidays on it? Thanks!  
 
Original Card:
Resulting Card: 
See this related piece on Leveraging Designs and specifically the link to Image Use Guidelines on the Forum re: Term Variations specifically.

 

Big holiday kudos to both of these artists for delighting these shoppers and helping them get the perfect holiday card ordered early!

Tip: Remember when submitting a new card that is a variation on a previously approved card to make a note in the Notes to Reviewers the pid# that it is based on.  “Based on approved card PID #12345”.  And remember custom requested cards can be set for FastTrack review.  Just leave the reviewer a little note for that too like “for a shopper’s request #14667 ”.

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

Leave a comment
from → Nuts & Bolts

Wanted New Cards: Mercats / Purrmaids.

September 10, 2020
tags:
by

wanted new cards head

Wanted Cards – Mercats / Purrmaids

 

Different strokes for different folks – people have their interests, sweet spots, and hobbies.  We’ve talked about aficionados of pets, birds, cars, and flowers.
Let’s talk mercats and purrmaids!

 

It’s a thing and their fans (or should I say fins) are crazy about them!  Believe it or not, GCU with any card imaginable, has NO – zero – zilch cards that result in a search for mercats or purrmaids.

 

Please consider creating cards for a variety of occasions featuring mercats / purrmaids.  Note, mercats come in of all colors and ages (think merkittens).
We will begin adding >> Mercat / Purrmaid subcategories to some occasions under >> Mystical / Myths / Fantasy.  Until then, please submit your designs under this subcategory in your occasion’s category (birthday, thinking of you, etc) accordingly:
>> Mystical / Myths / Fantasy

 

and if that does not exist please use:
>> Other

 

As usual, no matter what category your card resides in, its meta-data will serve it best for searching shoppers so be sure to put the key and descriptive terms in your card title, keywords, and Artist Notes.

We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function or your own graphic designs.

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”.

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Freebie Wednesday: Free Coffee Time SVG

September 9, 2020
tags:
by

Freebie Wednesday:

 

FREE Coffee Time SVG (by Happy Letters) is the freebie of the week at The Hungry Jpeg.

This freebie includes 24 unique Coffee time illustrations and calligraphy lettering phrases, perfect for decorating all your beautiful works! Comes in AI, PNG, EPS, and SVG formats!

This wonderful freebie is only available for a week so don’t miss out!

 

 

This product comes with a complete commercial license.

 

1 Comment
from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Nuts and Bolts: The Difference is in the Details 

September 4, 2020
tags: ,
by

nuts-and-bolts-head

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.

 

In this example, to grunge or not to grunge?  That is the question.

 

Observation from the reviewer:
Because of the distressed nature of the card front we require a more noticeable alert for shoppers so they do not return the card thinking it is a printing error.

We added DISTRESSED into your title and edited it so it would fit.
Please edit the artist notes.


For grunge or distressed designs that the shopper may think were printing errors please add something similar to the following in your Artist’s Notes. Please do use all caps. “THE EDGES OF THIS DESIGN ARE INTENTIONALLY DESIGNED WITH DIGITAL EFFECTS TO LOOK WORN AND AGE” or”THE TEXT ON THE COVER OF THIS CARD IS GRUNGE STYLE THAT INTENTIONALLY LOOKS AGED AND WORN OUT”.
https://gcucommunity.com/2020/06/12/nuts-and-bolts-describe-distressed-effects/

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

 

 

From the artist:
I can make the necessary edits but do you think the background would be better in a solid color rather than distressed look?
 
Resulting Image:
Thank you to GCU artist, Linda Gladman Art, for her quick and adept skills working with our review team to create a design shoppers will fall in love with.

 

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

Leave a comment
from → Nuts & Bolts

Wanted New Cards: Modeling Agency Signing

September 3, 2020
tags:
by

wanted new cards head

Wanted Cards – Modeling Agency Signing

 

The successful result of auditioning or attending an open call for models at a modeling agency is getting signed.  Congratulations cards for signing with a modeling agency are needed in this new sub-category:

 

 

 

Consider models of all ages, races, and gender.

 

We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function or your own graphic designs.

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”.

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Freebie Wednesday: Gabrialle Casual Script Font.

September 2, 2020
tags:
by

Freebie Wednesday:

 

Gabrialle – Casual Script Font is a modern and elegant font can be used for any variety of purposes, such as: Photography, Wedding Invitation, Packaging Product, Logo Type, Brand, and also can be used for personal purpose.

This beautiful freebie is brought to you by StringLabs. Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for a week!

 

This product comes with a complete commercial license.

 

Leave a comment
from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Dash of Inspiration: Big Stock ONLY Design Challenge September 2020

September 1, 2020
tags: , , , ,
by

DashInspirationBanner_2015

Try to find your holiday spirit and create something new and different using the stock image library this month.

………………………………………

Theme: Holiday Spirit

Requirements:

  • ONLY Big Stock cards will be accepted in this challenge.
  • Write your own verse, be creative with a message and/or imagery that clearly depicts ‘the spirit of the season’ in some form and ties the imagery of choice  with the category choice and challenge theme  – this will be extremely important in this challenge.
  • The judges will be looking for professional quality text layout, typography placement and font combinations in addition to a unique and captivating message that tells the story of the stock image you choose. Your added value needs to wow the judges!

……………………………………

Entry Deadline: Wednesday, September 30th

…………………………………..

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.

NOTE: Submissions will appear immediately in your Private gallery as they await review.  If approved, the reviewer will move them to the public gallery – they will then become ‘live’ in the marketplace within 24-hours or so just like regular submissions. Be patient and wait.
…………………………………

CATEGORY: Any winter holiday which suits your message, recipient and imagery.

…………………………………

Rules:

  • Submission must meet GCU’s Submission Guidelines and be Approved through the usual Review Cycle. Big Stock creations are automatically identified as Fast Track – please add in the Notes to Reviewer: September 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.
  • Big Stock Card Creations ONLY will be accepted.
  • Your designs should differ from those already offered in the categories above to offer shoppers a variety of choices, not more of the same.
  • No BLANK cards will be accepted.

……………………………….

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. Your overall ‘added value’ determines this.

…………………………………

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 57,000 followers, now THAT’S exposure!
  • The winning card will be Design of the Day following the announcement of the winners (within 48-hours).
  • The winning card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board – currently GCU’s Pinterest Page followers: 4K!
  • 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.
  • Winning card will be posted on GCU’s Instagram with 6,800 followers and counting!
  • 10 free greeting card credits added to your GCU account. Apply them at checkout and they never expire.
  • A Design Challenge GCU digital award!

2nd Place:

  • Your submission will be Design of the Day the following week of announcing the Challenge winners (within 7-days).
  • 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 6,800 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!

…………………………………..

Tips:

12 Comments
from → Community Challenge, Contests, Dash of Inspiration, Design Challenge, Design Contest
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »