Skip to content

Nuts and Bolts: Dedicate Yourself to the Details.

June 19, 2020
tags: ,
by

nuts-and-bolts-head

Nuts & Bolts – Dedicate Yourself to the Details
 
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.

 

Observation from the reviewer:

I think with the bucket in his mouth here can pass as a please give me treats look so going to approve but the Christmas version I will return with concerns that it may not fit the occasion as well.

Reviewer’s Request for Edits:

We feel the doggie’s expression is a little sad for this category and would not consider this for a Christmas relationship series. However, with an appropriate verse we could consider this single general submission for this category -Holidays >> Christmas >> Anti Christmas / Bah Humbug if you would like to edit and resubmit.

 

Original Image:

 

 

Resulting Image:

 

 

From the reviewer:

Thank you, Sharon, this is better suited. I guess you have to up the treats quota!
 

Thank you to GCU artist, Sharon Dominick Photography, for her extensive photo collection and collaborating with our review team to create a submission that begs for attention.



The difference is made in the details!

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Wanted New Cards: School Leadership Position Thank You 

June 18, 2020
tags:
by

wanted new cards head

Wanted Cards – School Leadership Position Thank You 

 

Students in a leadership position have likely dedicated a lot of extra time and effort into their role to make their school and class year run more successfully, smoothly, and fairly.

 

Thank you cards for students serving these positions are in need and should go here:

 

Occasions >> Thank You >> Student Leadership Position …
>> Other
>> General
>> Student Body President
>> Class President
>> Vice President
>> Secretary
>> Treasurer
>> Head Pupil / Head Boy / Head Girl
>> Sports Captain
>> School Captain
>> House Captain


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 Forum – 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.

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Freebie Wednesday: Give it Colors.

June 18, 2020
tags:
by

Freebie Wednesday:

 

Give it colors – set of vector patterns and background. Beautiful seamless wallpaper patterns set in classic style. High detailed and carefully drawn. 100% vector art. Vector versions allows you infinite scaling while preserving the beautiful hand-drawn characteristics. Ideal for wedding decorations, wallpaper, fabric patterns, packaging, cards and much more! Provided in vector and raster formats (Ai, EPS10, JPEG preview). Seamless designs

You will get:

  • 4 Ai file with seamless patterns, 4 EPS10 file, 4 JPEG preview (5000X5000 px),
  • 1 Ai file with floral background, 1 EPS10 file, 1 JPEG preview (5000X5000 px)

Note: mock ups are not included in download

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

 

 

 

This product comes with a complete commercial license.

 

Leave a comment
from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Nuts and Bolts: Describe Distressed Effects.

June 12, 2020
tags:
by

nuts-and-bolts-head

Nuts & Bolts – Describe Distressed Effects

 

We have discussed before the importance of special notes to call attention to any special, unusual, digital effects or elements in a design. Online shoppers looking at a product image can assume and expect all kinds of things. In your metadata and product description (Artist’s Notes) is the place for you to explain to them exactly what the card is (and is not).

 

Here is the overriding guideline on Describing Digital Elements.  We have also included tips for Music related designs.

 

We will now add to the list of design effects that need footnoting; grunge, distressed, aged, worn, etc. GCU has had unhappy shoppers receiving cards that they feel “the printer ran out of ink” or “the mail truck must have run over it”.  We hear the strangest things!

 

When designing cards with any distressed, grunge or aged effects first consider the following. The review team will hold submissions to the following criteria as well:
1. does it look intentional – is it used in a manner that looks like part of the design and not a printing error?
2. does it add value to the design?  does it make sense in the overall subject matter of the design and occasion of the card?

 

Please include appropriate descriptive terms in the metadata (title, keywords) like:
grunge, aged, distressed, industrial, torn,
 
and in the Artist’s Notes (in CAPS) something like:  
THE TEXT ON THE COVER OF THIS CARD IS GRUNGE STYLE THAT INTENTIONALLY LOOKS AGED AND WORN OUT
THE EDGES OF THIS DESIGN ARE INTENTIONALLY DESIGNED WITH DIGITAL EFFECTS TO LOOK WORN AND AGED

 

This can prove to be an issue in the Artist’s Notes with a like image series to still attain the “unique” thumbs up.  So, consider using a thesaurus to help creative different variations of your effects disclosure statement to keep it unique. See Notes Uniqueness Tips here.

 

This is similar to circumstances where shoppers do not like the Papyrus font, of which GCU will be Removing Papyrus.

 

Here is a great example of a design where the distressed look on the cover font was too subtle resulting in a shopper thinking it was a printing error. The artist was asked to either make the effect more obvious or remove it.  Thanks to artist, Judith Gorgone Designs, for the quick edit on this cute design.

 

The difference is made in the nitty, gritty details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Wanted New Cards: Death / in Loving Memory Announcements.

June 11, 2020
tags:
by

wanted new cards head

Wanted Cards – Death / in Loving Memory Announcements
 

 

There seems to be no way around such an abrupt title – an announcement to share the news of a loved one’s death. With a downturn in readership of formal obituaries in the newspaper, there is a growing trend of sending the news of a family member’s passing in an announcement, especially if there will not be a funeral, service, celebration of life or other gathering.

 

Consider your designs as a tribute and in loving memory of someone’s passing where shoppers can add additional details like an obituary.
 
Please consider creating custom front designs allowing the shopper to personalize the front with a photo and / or custom front text for name, date of passing and possibly other details. 
 
Consider gender neutral designs as well as for male and females. 
 
The cards should go here:
 

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 Forum – 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.

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Freebie Wednesday: Magical Sprinkles.

June 10, 2020
tags:
by

Freebie Wednesday:

 

Magical Sprinkles is a one of a kind, cute hand-lettered font! You will love the fun and whimsical characters!

OTF and TTF are included for the full font. Multilingual Support for Western European Languages!

This cute freebie is brought to you by Affinity Grove. Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for a week, so don’t miss out!

 

 

This product comes with a complete commercial license.

 

1 Comment
from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Nuts and Bolts: Different Variations.

June 5, 2020
tags:
by

nuts-and-bolts-head

Nuts & Bolts – Different Variations

 

GCU encourages card designs in variations to address differences like age, gender, hair color, skin color. These would go in the same functional category and be identified with appropriate metadata (card title, keywords, artist notes) to note the unique or different element of the card and help shoppers find exactly what they are searching for.

 

A card design redesigned with a meaningful variance (meaningful to shoppers to purchase one over the over) is permitted in the image re-use policy, and is permitted in up to 3 different variations.  See here on Leveraging Designs.

 

Here are some great examples:
Sandra Rose Designs
Thank you for your attention, submissions, creativity and be well!

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Wanted New Cards: Children’s Day.

June 4, 2020
tags:
by

wanted new cards head

Wanted Cards – Children’s Day

 

Please consider creating new designs for the following category which can be considered Children’s Day or International Children’s Day.
 

 

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 Forum – 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.

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards

Freebie Wednesday: Hello Cello.

June 3, 2020
tags:
by

Freebie Wednesday:

 

Hello Cello (by R. Studio) is a modern handwritten font with amazing heart-shaped swashes. Fall in love with its authentic feel and use it to create gorgeous wedding invitations, beautiful stationary art, eye-catching social media posts, and cute greeting cards. 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.

 

Leave a comment
from → Fonts, FREEBIES

Dash of Inspiration: Big Stock ONLY Design Challenge June 2020

June 1, 2020
tags: , , , ,
by

DashInspirationBanner_2015

Let’s have a little fun with more play on words for our Stock Card Challenge this month! Let your imagination run wild and formulate a solid idea!

………………………………………

Theme: Formula

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 includes ‘formula’ 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: Tuesday, June 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 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: JUNE 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:

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