

Ask HN: Review my start-up: Customized Graphics - jbenz
http://www.customizedgraphics.com/

======
callmeed
First off, I think your concept is brilliant and there's a lot of potential.
To me, this is one of those markets that should be targeted at women/moms (see
the recent HN post on Ravelry). My wife and her friends were actually just
talking about this very need yesterday ... they were looking for ways to put
tree/bird designs on their wall.

That being said, here's where I think you can improve the execution:

1\. Make the site a bit more feminine. Not really a fan of the blue
background. Go something lighter, more neutral, maybe a little feminine. Maybe
just white like an Etsy.

2\. It's not immediately apparent that you can make and sell your own designs.
If you're going for the Cafepress angle, I think you need some more obvious
buttons/labels for that. At least make the "make" and "sell" buttons on top
stand out better.

3\. Add some more social/sharing features. Let women/moms create designs and
share them with other users. Maybe you do it already, but let people save
their favorite users, designs, etc. Again, look at Etsy for cues here.

4\. Add a religious/spiritual category right away. As a Christian, trust me–if
you have a category with bible verses and religious quotes, it would be a big
seller. It's a huge market and I have tons of friends who would buy such
graphics for their home.

5\. The home page seems a little busy. I'm not sure what's most important to
you, but I'd recommend some A/B testing to see what best improves your
conversions.

Anyway, good luck with this. I think it has potential. I already showed my
wife and she digs it.

~~~
jbenz
Thanks so much for the detailed feedback!

1\. Good advice.

2\. Thanks. Yes, we've had a lot of conversations about what the priority
should be on the home page. We decided that selling products was 1,
customization was 2, and the ability to set up storefronts was 3. We could do
a better job of balancing this out.

3\. People can certainly save their designs. You can save it as private or
public. If you save it as public, you can decide whether or not you'd like to
earn a royalty from the sales. You can also comment on each other's designs
and send fellow users messages.

4\. We have this:
[http://www.customizedgraphics.com/shop/Wall_Lettering/Quotes...](http://www.customizedgraphics.com/shop/Wall_Lettering/Quotes/Religious),
but of course it has only started filling out.

5\. Absolutely, a lot of testing is needed. Thanks again.

~~~
kdw
Why exactly _wouldn't_ I want a royalty on the sales?

------
jbenz
Greetings. I was the interactive designer (among other jobs) for Customized
Graphics. We're trying to be the Cafe Press or Zazzle for custom vinyl
products, including Giant Wall Graphics, Bumper Stickers, and Banners.

I work for a small company called eRetailing in Columbus, Ohio. Customized
Graphics is a tremendous opportunity for us. We're treating it like a start-up
within a start-up.

eRetailing has had some success in the custom apparel space, and now we're
moving on to other custom products like stickers and wall graphics. There have
been a couple questions on HN in the past about where to find custom stickers
for your business. Well, you can absolutely find them here.

We think we're special for a few reasons:

1) When we were building this site there was no one else operating as the Cafe
Press of Wall Graphics. Just recently, LTLPrints launched with a similar
model. I've seen them mentioned on here before and it looks like they have a
great product. We're looking forward to the competition!

2) Our Design Center is delightfully robust. It’s very easy to add your own
text and art and then change colors, fonts, sizes, and more. You can also
upload images, including vector art. (We think we’re the only place where you
can upload vector art to create custom products, which is important for large
graphics because vector art scales.) (See:
<http://www.customizedgraphics.com/designcenter/Wall_Graphics>)

3) We represent the next step in online customization. For example, at Café
Press and Zazzle you can shop from thousands of family-themed designs. But
none of those designs are actually customizable. But clicking on one of our
designs sends you directly to our design center, where you can edit text,
colors, and everything else. So if you find a family wall graphic you like,
it’s incredibly simple to click "Edit" and add your own family name. (See:
<http://www.customizedgraphics.com/search/all/Family>)

Thanks in advance for any feedback! Everything still needs a lot of testing
and improvement.

------
joez
Great domain name.

A few ideas:

You should run a contest for the coolest design. Winner gets cash and free
print(s). You'll get some really cool designs that way.

The rotate feature should show what degree it's at. I can just see scenarios
where this is useful. Two quick ones is if you accidentally rotate something
you have to eyeball it back to level or if you like to align multiple words at
a slant.

Directional key (up down left right) moving. Select the object and move it
with your keys.

I don't know if it's possible but implement an undo. I guess you should
evaluate the necessity of this by looking at where you lose users. If you are
losing users due to frustration on creating their design at the template page
then an undo would help.

Let people export the art. Why not? Allow people to use it for their desktop
background, avatar image... etc. It'll only generate interest.

~~~
jbenz
Contests. Yes, there will be contests, and of course we'll feature different
designs and designers on the home page. It is absolutely crucial to our
success that people be able to earn decent money from their storefronts. The
more this happens, the more word spreads. We plan on featuring our users'
designs in print ads in places like US Weekly, Martha Stewart Living, etc.
Maybe we'll make it a design contest to see who is featured in these ads.

Thanks for the rotate feedback. It's always a balance between giving users too
many features and not enough.

Moving objects with directional keys is a must. Good call.

Exporting art is an interesting idea. There's a lot more you can do with this
art beyond stickers and banners. We could even offer to export your design as
an Ecard. Lots to think about.

------
DirtyAndy
Firstly great site and great idea. But you are not (hopefully) posting here to
get your butt kissed but for some constructive criticism and ideas, so here
goes:

1\. The site is a little busy and lacks a real call to action. "Start
Designing" kind of disappears

2\. I think you need two sites. One for the business market and one for the
consumer market. These could both have the same backend etc, but probably need
seperate names / front ends. Businesses (generally) don't buy from consumer
related sites and vice versa. Your product definitely seems capable of
satisfying both markets (and I would use the current domain for the business
market)

3\. Your focus both on the site and in your comments here seem to be slightly
on the ability to design your own product. Personally I am useless at design
so this would not appeal, but I also know a number of people who are amazing
at design, but not that good with a blank canvas. I've only taken a quick look
at your site but I would perhaps focus on the excellent designs you already
have and offering customisations to them over actually having a blank canvas
(which is where I ended up when I clicked Start Designing).

But overall looks really good, good luck with it.

~~~
jbenz
Great feedback.

1\. We're always thinking about this issue. Good point.

2\. That's a really interesting idea. You're right, we are trying to satisfy
both business and consumer markets. The nice part of having one site is that
you have one domain. All the links you get from users and other sources help
your SEO a lot, and you sacrifice some of that if you're splitting your user
base. But the point is still a good one.

3\. Yes, it's important to us that "Design Your Own" means both "Design from
scratch" and "Personalize one of our cool existing designs". We try to make
personalization easy and immediate by taking you right to the design center
when you click on an item. I think we need a lot more designs that say "Your
Text Here" or "Your Logo Here".

The blank canvas is a problem. We are going to implement an overlay that says
"Add Text, Add Art, or Upload Your Image."

Thanks again!

~~~
tarouter
Great idea! Great execution! About 2 above. It may help to see how job
websites make clear distinction between job seekers and employers. How
elance.com makes clear distinction between clients and freelancers.

------
sp4rki
Hi, love the idea. Although I do like the design as a whole, I do agree that
the colors should be more "neutral". Also the site is a little on the busy
side and I think it would benefit from some more whitespace and less "this is
ALL we do!!" in the homepage.

Oh and btw, I'm on Firefox 3.5 on Leopard and you ve got some nastiness going
on on the footer. <http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/7223/picture12h.png>

~~~
jbenz
Thanks! Yeah, at Customized Graphics you can do a TON of stuff. So it's tough
to balance exactly how much to say on the front page. I think the overall
feedback seems to be: tone it down. We can probably think of a way to say what
we want and be less busy.

And snap. This is what I love about HN. Thanks so much for going to the
trouble of posting the screenshot online. You didn't have to go out of your
way, but you did because you're awesome. Cheers.

------
phreanix
The front page does seem a bit busy. The amount of copy is a tad overwhelming,
but once i slow down and start reading each one, it makes sense.

I would maybe have an easy start page (your "start designing" button could
link to it tho I find that button rather small), with leading questions like:
1\. What would you like to print? (give hints or a drop down) 2\. Choose a
design.

And so on.

A Preview page would be nice, preferably one that allows you to upload a
picture of your own room or wall.

~~~
jbenz
"Easy Start" is a cool idea. We've talked a lot about giving different
versions of the design center to different users based on their level of
"expertise". So one path would ask you specific simple questions, like you
said, and let them make one choice at a time. Maybe they would be able to
switch over to the "Advanced Design Center" where they can really move and
scale objects, add more text, etc...

I really like the "Easy Start" idea. There is something to that.

------
amohr
I love it - I have been looking for exactly this service for a while now. I
have a bunch of ideas for these types of items that have never really gotten
off the ground due to the overhead.

I opened a store front (<http://www.customizedgraphics.com/alexophile>) and
the main thing I would suggest is having more categories. Work tends to get
buried and poorly organized when there's too few categories. The use of tags
only obfuscates this slightly, especially if someone doesn't actually know
what they're looking for.

~~~
jbenz
Awesome! Our shop categories are evolving as we speak. Thanks for building a
storefront. I hope you continue to add cool designs!

------
ivyirwin
I really liked the intuitive nature of your design work space. Rarely do you
see a DIY graphic/layout space that is easy for the general end user to use. I
was trained as a designed to use Illustrator and I feel like most online tools
try to emulate the Adobe work methodology. But with your approach you have
made it easy for everyone to understand the basic tool set of move, rotate,
and scale. Well done.

~~~
jbenz
Wow, this is music to my ears. Thanks for the kind words. I've spent many
hours sweating over the design center, trying to make it robust enough to
offer a lot of options, but simple enough for the beginning user. This is a
delicate balance, as you can imagine. Right now I'm worrying that it is not
simple enough, so thanks so much for your compliment.

------
rjurney
Holy crap man, that is the most beautiful design, with the most clarity that
I've just about ever seen on the web.

Reminds me of a friend's Atlanta startup, <http://ezprints.com/> It scaled
pretty well.

------
mitko
Please add support for foreign language characters. I tried to make a design
using Cyrillic characters but they didn't came out properly.

There could be a market for your service among the many bilingual and emigrant
people in USA.

~~~
jbenz
Yes, this would be a terrific feature. We'll add it to our list. Thanks!

~~~
sharpn
On a related note, it would be useful to have more fonts. I went to try using
the font my company's logo uses and it wasn't there. Good apart from that,
though.

------
paul9290
If I am not mistaken your site's concept mirror's <http://ltlprints.com>.
Competition is always good and a form of flattery, as ltl has been around for
more then year.

Also, a site completely in flash? I am surprised the flash haters here have
not made any comments - yet. The design is awesome, but why flash - that can
be psd to xhtml(ed).

Sorry if I am not positive here, just sharing what initially jumps out. Good
luck - it looks to be a solid business/market!

~~~
paul9290
oh looking at it again the whole site is not flash. I got that impression
because on first load it took awhile to load up; felt like an old time flash
site for me. I'm using a Mac Mini Intel and my connection is 12Mbps down.

~~~
jbenz
LTLprints is a nice site, and I mentioned them in my introduction comment
above. We were not aware of LTLprints until just before we launched, but when
we did find them, the ability to sell your own designs was not yet activated.
That piece has only been in place for a couple months, I believe.So until very
recently, we thought we were the only ones who were serving as the "Cafe
Press" of Wall Graphics.

In addition, we separate ourselves with our robust design center and our
variety of products. LTLPrints looks to be essentially wall graphics, and we
offer all kinds of different stickers, including clear window stickers, bumper
stickers and vinyl banners.

~~~
suber
I really love your site, and it would appeal to women. I was just helping my
friends decorate and we were looking for something like this. I also think it
would be good for small business owners, since it can be a cheap alternative
to getting a door sign.

I like the site's design, and if I had to choose between Ltlprints and you, I
would go with you guys because your design is better, and as a design site, it
should look good.

Overall, great job! I will have to upload some designs myself.

------
kajecounterhack
Hey I love it so far -- question: do you think you guys will have laptop
stickers anytime soon?

~~~
jbenz
Skins! Yes, it was actually in the original gameplan to launch with device
skins. We'd like to add them eventually, but probably not until 2010.

~~~
kajecounterhack
Aw that's upsetting! Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until then. =]

------
timmaah
The total width and height of what you are buying is not clear at all.

~~~
jbenz
Yes, we are adding a (w) and (h) into the dimensions. Which brings up a
question. We discussed this a lot. Should it be:

a) 5 in (w) x 10 in (h)

b) 5 W x 10 H inches or

c) W: 5 in x H: 10 in ?

~~~
timmaah
Also, it might be helpful to have an easier way to enlarge/resize an image.

For example.. the Pirate Surfer image is really cool, but by default opens to
a 9.8x5.3in size for $10. What if I want this a good sized to put on my kids
wall and I'm willing to pay ~$100. To get to my $100 limit I had to drag the
resize and zoom alternately a few times to make it large enough. Perhaps some
size defaults under the image that are clickable..

Small (9x5): $10 Medium (24x15): $25 Large (48x36): $80

And clicking those would auto resize the image in the editor?

~~~
jbenz
That's a great idea, and something that I've vaguely considered. For this
particular design, the user saved it at 9.8 x 5.3 inches, so that's the
default size in the design center. I like the idea of immediate size options,
that allow you to jump between sizes. Of course, every object (piece of art,
text, whatever) is a custom size, so it would have to work based on
percentages somehow, and not a set number of inches. We're working on it.

------
zeynel1
Nice site. Is this cheaper than buying the same product from a local store?

~~~
jbenz
As of now, it definitely is. If you're buying one bumper sticker, it's about
$4.40. And if you're buying 1,000 bumper stickers, it's about $0.08 a sticker.
Most places offer price breaks, but nothing like that. At Zazzle, for example,
you can buy over 250 stickers, but the price is still $2.76 per sticker.

Our prices on Wall and Window Graphics are really great right now too. We're
still testing, so these prices might have to increase in the future.

