Flat cards - Question on creator credit mark. Your Opinion wanted.

[mcmxmas]

Question about the creator signature and Zazzle code? Where is this option on this product? Opinion: if there’s not one built into the template, would you add a creator signature on the back side? I’d like to keep my brand on the product but a non folding card brings up this as an issue. I don’t want it to discourage sales.

https://www.zazzle.com/pd/spp/pt-zazzle_flatcard?style=4x9.25&cornerstyle=normal&media=128ptsemi&pri...

[Cat]

Personally, I avoid that sort of thing at all cost - I only allow the Zazzle attribution code on postcards and folded cards where it's not going to interfere with the design. But it might depend on the sort of things you're designing. I mostly do weddings, and even if the design doesn't use both sides of the card, people usually don't want a brand mark or signature on their formal invitations & wedding correspondence. For something that's more of a greeting card, it might be different. As always, just my opinion and YMMV.

BTW, you might want to check out this page to be sure that you're putting your designs on the correct products. I think the generic "card" is considered a "product of last resort" when your design just doesn't "fit" with any of the more specific paper products. Putting Your Designs on the Correct Paper Products – Zazzle Help Center 

[mcmxmas]

Hi Cat, Thanks for your reply. I have been struggling with the Zazzle options for substrates on greeting cards. What I really need is a #10 business size folded card. I have a 20 year deep collection of Retro Christmas Cards that I would like to publish on Zazzle but they will not accommodate me with the correct size for these images. I ALWAYS use a proper folded card for my Christmas Cards. The one flat card that I have published was just a test.  It seems counter intuitive to not include my brand name on a series of illustrations that I have developed for over 20 years. I can put a signature on the art on the front but really I am looking for. folded version so that I can put my info; logo, web name, image title, artist and © on the back.  I have searched Zazzle and asked the "powers that be", but no such other than the one I have so far. Any ideas for me?🤶

Cheers, Diane

[Cat]

Gosh, I don't know. It's hard when you're trying to accommodate existing designs on Zazzle's products - I sorta gave up on trying to do that years ago because my thousands of pre-Zazzle existing designs were all done for a web-platform (like web platform back in the day when bandwidth was at a premium) so they weren't high enough resolution to use for print applications. So, I basically started over from scratch for my Zazzle stuff.

But in terms of making it work on Zazzle's products, firstly, I'd definitely put them on holiday cards so that they have a chance of being seen in the marketplace. Maybe you could find a way to make them work on the 5x7 folded cards - hard to say without looking at the artwork, but maybe you could either crop the design (let it flow off the edge on a full bleed) or frame it inside of a decorative background of some sort. For the flat cards, maybe you could create some sort of a sectioned-off approach on the back where you leave room for a message in some sort of a frame at the top with your attribution section below?

Both the flat and folded holiday cards have Zazzle's attribution QR on the back, and you can always add your own signature or whatever in addition:

Create your own Flat Holiday Card | Zazzle
Create your own Folded Holiday Card | Zazzle

But you know, I'm not really the right person to ask because selling stuff for the sake of the artwork is really not my strong suit. I'm mostly in the business of using my art to decorate stuff that people want/need already, so I don't have much experience in that department. Maybe others who have more experience than I do in that realm will pipe in. 

Anyhow, best of luck to you!

[mcmxmas]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it with me! I need to expand my brand Retro Christmas Card Co. to be synonymous with my own name. That way the signature on the art will be enough. Cheers, Diane

[shoshannahscrib]

I am not sure if this helps answer your question but.... before Zazzle added their automatic code to the back I used to add my own name/@ to designs of postcards and cards on the back side. Well guess what? Zazzle changed the design and automatically added their QR code and now many of my old (and popular) designs now have my signature on the back with a QR code smack on top of it. Looks a mess. No way to edit without creating a new product, but of course I dont want to do that since they already have traction. I dont add my name to anything anymore. 🙃 I guess I would suggest adding your signature to the artwork if you need it there. 

[Sandra-]

Hi @shoshannahscrib to remove the QR code Zazzle added so it no longer sits on top of yours, you can click Edit details - Change options - then check the box to remove the Zazzle logo under Logo and Independent Creator Mark without having to recreate your product. 

[ColsCreations]

Sidenote: I know it's just pennies, but the $0.06 (postcards) and $0.12 (flatcards) it costs the customer to not have the "Logo and Independent Creator Mark" on it is treated as a 5% User Option so one can tell from the Royalty History whether the customer did or didn't remove it.

[Sandra-]

@ColsCreations interesting thanks! 

[shoshannahscrib]

WOW! Thanks so much! I thought we could only remove that on products we are purchasing and not items for sale? Maybe they changed it. I will try it. Thanks for the tip!

[Sandra-]

You’re welcome.