Mockups/Product Views that Discourage Screenshots

[alissag]

Discussions about unscrupulous folks who are using screenshots of invitations and other flat products and then printing items elsewhere for cheaper got me thinking that one way to discourage this beyond watermarks, might be to make the product views or mockups in such a way that it discourages this sort of behavior, similar to what is done with t-shirts or other non-flat items. With invitations this could be something along the lines of angling the product just enough so that it can't be screenshotted in a flat state, adding some shadows or adding some sort of small overlay such as a thumb holding the card or some foliage that overlaps a corner. I realize that determined thieves could still find workarounds for such effects, but it would at least make it more challenging to steal the artwork.

[Emma]

Hi @alissag , 

Many thanks for the suggestion here. Passing this to our Team now for review ✍️

- Emma 🌻

[alissag]

Thank you, Emma!

[Fiorenzo]

I don't like thumbs on my cards, nor do I like angled views that distort the content, except on in situ or alternate imagery.

If I wanted to steal a design, I would make a screenshot within the designer view anyway - way better image quality, sharp, in original, vibrant colors without any sort of artificial overlays, and you can zoom in to get a larger image. A simple way to get what you want.

I didn't check how the watermarks are implemented yet - if they are combined with the composite design preview (same image), there is already a solution given to those who fear design theft or DIY printing. 

Not intended to be a criticism. I understand your concerns but as a digital artist or designer, you have to live with compromises. I have a similar dilemma with my artworks on my website: if I want to show them in a crispy way on all devices, I need to publish them in a pretty large resolution, which results in an image size that is large enough to download and to put at least on smaller products. On socials, I use smaller-medium sizes from 600 to 1200 pixels to get acceptable results on normal displays with some sharpness loss on larger and retina devices, but even at these lower resolutions, the images are good enough to get perfectly printed on products up to 6" in size. There is no optimal way, only compromises.

[LMGildersleeve]

I like your suggestion Alissa! 💯

[De]

It was stated to make our storefronts look as shopper friendly & inviting as possible.   Many owners use mock up photos from the site for this purpose.  How would this affect their ability to accomplish those goals?  If those changes are made, any suggestions for alternatives?  

[shellifitz]

Yes De, it would make it much harder on us to create our own mockups and I am not so sure it would really deter theives all that much.  

[Fiorenzo]

As someone who has been creating and selling digital imagery since the mid-90s, I can say that image theft is a matter of fact no matter how you try to prevent it. And I have learned that the best way to deal with it is to simply take it as an integral part of your job and stop providing yourself sleepless nights. Any attempt to make it harder for thieves will hurt you as a designer as well in many different ways, including potential sales losses, if not done wisely and properly.

I've recently seen the news about being able to disable previews depicting persons on shirts. This could be a good solution to implement generally on all products, so designers can choose by themselves which previews they want to allow and which ones they prefer not to show.

Last but not least, it's highly annoying that customers can't buy single copies of the new foil cards. One more purely "political" restriction that does more harm than good by excluding these cards for practically all major personalized occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, mother and father's days, etc. I'm pretty certain, this is not a technical choice but is more addressing the complaints of customers being able to buy single cards. P.S. This "rant" is less off-topic than some may think, btw. It goes in the same direction.

[CrazyMermaid]

I am concerned that some of these restrictions will make our work less appealing to customers. We can't see the entire picture and we really don't know how widespread screenshot thievery is. 

[shellifitz]

I am not so worried about the occasional  screen shot but rather the website scrapers.  Just today I found a whole bunch of my product images on a site with no links back to my pods. At first I thought they were an affiliate but there were no linkbacks. Then I noticed every image address led back to Pinterest. Plus they were from multiple sites that I design for including Zazzle.  I sent a take down notice and alerted Pinterest also.   I won’t post the site here since this is not a private forum. 

[igiftcenter]

I've been here for over 10 years. Image theft has been discussed a zillion times and it will always be a concern for digital graphic marketers and designers. So after more than 10 years of experience here I can tell you the best strategy for dealing with this: 

Stop thinking about it and keep on designing and selling. Don't let the worry of image theft distract you from being the most successful designer you can be. The best way to stay ahead of this:

keep creating fresh new graphics and keep your product mix filled with fresh new ideas Zazzle can feed off that appeal to the masses, or your specific niche. 

As always I wish you all continued success