I think that our own personal url should be on the cards. I don't really care about the artist profile image. As many have said, how else will the buyer find us again? It's good advertising.

Hi everybody!
 
I read all the chats going on in the forum that reach my email but I rarely react to them. I suppose that’s the reason I am still a novice…  
 
I mostly appreciate the input about the functionality of the site, the support of the technical team, and the artist’s remarkable generosity of time and ideas to help their peers.  
 
However, this subject clicked some fiber of me that prompted my intervention. It must be for some reason - it has reached my core. It had to do with the dignity of one’s work, creativity, and time. I do mean the span of life it takes to produce a card. That’s the most precious thing one has, <the time> (life = time).
 
Both, the devaluation of the artist’s contribution in the card price and the non public recognition of the artist’s individuality erase the claiming of <a site for connecting artists and card buyers> and transform it in something else…
 
Either a rare claim of some client(s?) on a specific logo or a bite to check the waters … I don’t know. Still, I do not see a reason to discard the logos which give the artist an individual presence in the site and in the millions of cards on offer.
 
I do think that many of the logos are misplaced in the cards owing to some problem we can not fix in or from our sites. When I place it in the box , it is nicely aligned, but when it goes to the card it is anesthetically placed. This has been voiced sometime ago by various artists and I, among them, have asked that to be fixed and I am still waiting.  It is especially bad in the vertical cards.
 
Thanks for listening,  
Artcor7

Like Tom, I don't necessarily have a problem with allowing the customer an option when it comes to BOC credits. Perhaps instead of doing away with BOC credits altogether (like many artists, we no longer add copyright info to the front of the card) the customer can choose a "text only" option.
 
Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl

Hi Mindy & all,
 
I agree with the other artists that say our names, logos, photos, etc., should NOT be removed. As someone said, we work hard at getting our artwork, or photos as perfect as we can get them & are very proud of our work & want customers & recipients of our greeting cards to know who produced it, or took the beautiful photo!! What a let down it would be if a customer had the option of removing our store info.
 
NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!  
 
Zazzle has an option on the back of the card to check a spot to lock the text, if you do not want it removed from the card, because the buyer HAS the option of removing your BOC info, if you don't lock the text in, but of course we cannot write on the backs of our cards on GCU, but I like that feature!!
 
Priscilla

Hi,
 
I'm chiming in.
 
For many artists a signature and/or a logo becomes a trademark or symbol of their art. For the business person it is the same.  GCU is unique in its motto "connecting artists & card buyers" which provides a outlet for creative design by individual artist who are in the business of designing cards.  We are not paid a salary but are independent artists selling our designs through GCU.  Many here have other outlets for sales and their signature name/logo becomes interconnected in all their sales and marketing efforts.
 
To remove artist recognition from the product would change the whole dynamic of the site and the niche it fills as an outlet for independent design.  GCU appears to be a rapidly growing and profitable business.
 
That said, I do believe there is room for improvement in logo designs and the layout on the back of the card.  It seems to me that the picture that is asked for under artist profile is confusing in that the implication is that it should be a picture of the artist, Quote: "? The image of yourself will display with your profile as well as used in credits that will be displayed on the back of your card."  There is a difference between an artist's profile image and a card credit (logo).  Perhaps, we all, myself included, need to rethink how we would like our card credit to appear.  Should it be graphic text logo with or without a picture or design?  However, I do believe that should be left up to each individual artist.  As Doreen says in her post, we could all help each other with creating more professional looking logos.  
 
The back of the card lacks balance.  The FSC logo in upper left hand corner and the artist credit in the lower left is not pleasing to the eye.  Perhaps a redesign of the back would be appropriate.  I have seen some good input on this in the forums from Tom and others.  The customer, who is concerned about the card back, might be more likely to accept a more artistically designed layout on the back of card.
 
Chime!
Kati

Since I reopened a store on GCU, I noticed the FSC logo in the top left corner on the back of the cards.  Tried searching the forum for info on it, not much luck.  Visited FSC.org and now I'm better educated.
 
Apparently I wasn't around during the initial conversations re's the addition of the FSC logo, so I'd like to ask, why is it there?  Are card buyers generally concerned with "FSC" and they'll buy GCU's cards more, if the logo is there?  I apologize in advance for not quite "getting it..." Hopefully, someone will kindly explain it to me.
 
I'd prefer to see that logo gone altogether, before allowing any buyer to remove individual artist logos and information.

There we go it's as calm as I can manage hopefully this is more suitable to my Goth look, which is more me being a Goth lover  
 
Hope it prints good. The Hubby was well miffed at the idea of us not having our logo's on the back I must say, he says it would be like throwing our identity away, he scouled at me *laughs*