First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
Well, the weather outside is frightful and the MOO warehouse staff are getting ready for the Holiday rush. Our trusty elves are enjoying their last silent night before a few weeks of rigorous stocking stuffing. Soon your MOO orders will be walking in the air and climbing down your chimney.
You'll need to make sure you get your orders placed before our cut off dates, as we would not want you to have a blue Christmas. We thought you may want to see some of our packers at work in the MOO grotto, so here are some festive snap shots from our Rhode Island office...
If you're worried about your cards getting stolen by frosty the snowman, then we are offering a London, UK collection special. If you want to collect your order, simply send us your order number via the contact form, quoting your order number and "COLLECTION" in the subject line. We'll then flag your order for collection and give you instructions on how/where to collect your order. This is for a limited time only (until the 16th December), so be sure to get your order in ASAP.
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Freelance life can be tough. Long gaps between commissions. Accounts departments who just can't seem to find your invoice. Not to mention the ever-present need to get your work seen by the people who count.
Jonny Wan, a freelance illustrator from Sheffield, knows all about that. A graduate of the Manchester School of Art, he's constantly striving to ensure his unique illustrative style (think abstracted facial expressions, patterns, symmetry and hand-drawn lettering) snags the attention of creative directors everywhere – and he does so via Business Cards and Postcards from MOO.
MOO first caught his eye at his university degree show, where he noticed that all the students' cutest promo materials were produced by the same company – MOO! Then we tempted him with a free Business Card sample, giving him a chance to try our ordering software ("simple, logical and gives the user complete control") and evaluate our print quality and finishing ("very pleasing"). Duly hooked, Jonny ordered a set of Postcards and some Business Cards featuring a range of his work, and is preparing to send them off to art directors as we speak.
As an illustrator, working in a visual medium, presentation is very important to Jonny. "I like to make little promotional packs of my postcards and business cards", he says. "I send them out packaged in self-seal clear bags. It's good to put real thought into how the art director receives your promo materials – it's boring to just whack some cards in an envelope."
Like many creative types, Jonny's happiest when he's working, even between commissions. An example of this is his self-initiated "Can't Afford It" project. Whenever he wants an item of clothing he can't afford, he draws it instead! Eventually to be self-published as a book, working like this helps him improve his work rate, hone his Photoshop and Illustrator skills, and keep his unique style fresh and ever-evolving.
No matter how his style develops, MOO's short print runs means that his promotional materials are always in step with his latest work. "As an illustrator, your style is always changing and improving. The last thing you want is to end up with a thousand cards of the same design. You need to keep existing and future clients up to date with your freshest, latest work, because essentially they will hire you based on what they see on your promo material. It's no good for an art director to commission you only to find that your illustrative style has changed or moved on." He laughs. "After all, you wouldn't be happy buying a Jay-Z CD to find a Metallica disc inside, right?"
When designing his cards, Jonny also took advantage of a new feature that allows users to upload images for both the front and the back of the Business Cards. "Anything that gives you more options allows room for creative control – and it's that kind of flexibility that keeps me coming back to MOO. The ability to upload images for both sides of the Business Cards enables you to make the cards completely unique."
"A business card is usually the first point of contact between a new client and an illustrator, so it's important your card jumps out at people while being straight and upfront with your contact details. The fact that the cards can be individual rather than generic also gives a sense of professionalism – people can be impressed that you've put the effort into designing your own cards. A little effort can go a long way."
Jonny's constantly thinking of new ways to promote his work using MOO products. "I love the Stickers – I can see them being a very unique selling point. They're a little different and unexpected, which is beneficial in an industry where everyone strives to promote themselves in a unique way."
MiniCards appeal to him for the same reason. "MiniCards are great because they get straight to the point and don't take up a lot of space. Art directors get bombarded with samples every morning. They open their mail and have to make snap decisions about what to keep and what to chuck."
"They're more likely to pin a MiniCard onto their noticeboard than, say, a leaflet, because they know it won't take up a lot of space. And if your work's on their noticeboard, they're more likely to bear you in mind when it comes to commissioning. And that's what it's all about!"
Thanks for talking to us Jonny! We look forward to seeing more of your work soon.
Like Jonny's work? He's available for commissions so get in touch, and say hello from us too.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
After giving you the story behind Perch's MiniCards, we thought we should catch up with photographer, Simon Warren. Also featured on our MiniCards page, he's been taking advantage of the latest features and comparing them with the larger Business Cards he's been using (and loving) for a while. Here's what he had to say:
Simon Warren is one of the UK's top location photographers. He's been using MOO's Business Cards to showcase his outstanding graphic images: bold exteriors, sleek interiors, arresting construction shots and more.
Though happy with the size and scope of the Business Cards, he's recently been experimenting with MiniCards, with positive results.
A hardcore Business Card fan, Simon was initially worried by the slimmed-down dimensions of the MiniCards (about half the size of a full-size business card.)
"At first, I was concerned that the cards would be simply too small to showcase my photos effectively", he explains. "But actually, this can work very well. The cards show snippets of images – almost abstract – giving a hint of information, but (quite literally) not the full picture."
Rather than being a hindrance, this fits well with other design aspects of his brand. "My website works in exactly the same way – visitors are shown an interesting or intriguing section of an image, which they click to see in full. It’s a simple but effective way to get people involved and interacting with my work."
He also likes the impact the MiniCards can have when shown together. "Once you have a whole bunch of cards spread out on the table, the viewer is able to get a better impression of your work than a single image can provide, so that's how I like to show them. Then I let the viewer choose whichever one they want. The fact that they've been involved in the choice often helps them remember your work better than if you simply thrust a card into their hand.
"I often refer to my MOO Business Cards as my ‘mini-portfolio’. My MiniCards are now my mini-mini portfolio!" he laughs. "Sometimes when you're carrying a full set of business cards around in a holder, it can be a little clunky. At a very basic level, they're physically easier to carry around with you. As a photographer, you carry so much equipment with you - that's a big plus."
Simon's also pleased with his MiniCard holder. "It swings open sideways and then you push the cards out with your thumb. It's unusual and I think people like that.
"At networking events so many people are handing out conventional business cards in conventional holders. Sometimes that's what you want, but other times it's good to stand out a little. MiniCards can help you do just that."
Thanks for chatting with us Simon!
Find out more about Simon's work, or check out his portfolio.
As you are probably aware, Royal Mail have scheduled further strikes this week. Please note this only affects "Standard" delivery to UK addresses, not Express.
Local delivery services and the sorting office at Royal Mail HQ will be closed this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We want to make sure that your order doesn't get caught in the backlog and we have some alternatives for you to think about when placing your order.
Express
At checkout, you can choose our Express service. This is a guaranteed, signed for service, which is totally unaffected by the strikes. UK Express starts at £10 and is definitely value for money. You will be able to track the delivery online and the service is 1-3 days guaranteed (once shipped).
Collection
During the strike action, we are offering a special collection service. If you are based locally to our Clerkenwell warehouse in London, please send us your order number via the contact form, quoting COLLECTION in the subject line. We'll then flag your order for collection and give you instructions on how/where to collect your order. This is for a limited time only, so be sure to get your order in ASAP!
In the meantime, fingers crossed for a speedy resolution to these disputes.
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
As you know, we've updated the features on MiniCards. You can upload an image for the front and the back - and there are some other neat features too. On the MiniCards page, you'll find some images of real cards. Ones our customers have made - like these, from Perch:
We contacted Perch after seeing their cards at dConstruct, a conference in Brighton. We liked them so much, we wondered what they'd do with the new features we had planned for MiniCards. The cards above are the ones they made, and this is the story behind them.
Perch is a "really little" content management system. (Their words, not ours!) It's designed to be simple, straightforward, and easy to get running, so that even internet novices can edit content on a small website with no muss and no fuss. The really little CMS also has a really neat little price and, confesses Drew McLellan, Director and Senior Developer at edgeofmyseat, the company behind Perch, a slimmed-down marketing budget to match.
Despite this, Perch have been using their MiniCards to do mighty things. Things that might have carried a hefty price tag with another printer. Prior to launch, Perch produced a batch of MOO MiniCards with a special 20% discount code on the back – a time-tested, traditional way to promote a product, which gave people a reason to hold onto the card until the company went live.
After launch, they began to look at new ways to market themselves, by sponsoring conferences, and speaking about Perch at events. In order to test the effectiveness of such activities, they needed a way to track where their site visitors had heard about the product - and this is where the mighty MiniCard things started happening.
Rather than the general discount card they'd used previously, Perch ordered some new MiniCards, with unique discount codes on the front where the photo normally goes. They wrote some software to generate the codes, and output an XML file that they then "mail merged" into their images using the Data-Driven Graphics tool in Adobe Fireworks. This created 100 unique images for each batch of MiniCards, which they then uploaded as part of each order.
"The ability to have 100 unique cards in a run of 100 has been fantastic for us", says Drew. "Doing it any other way would have been a nightmare. Firstly it would have been difficult just to find someone able to do it, and you can bet it would have been expensive - probably too expensive to be worth doing! Now when someone uses a discount code, we can tell which event they picked up the card at by tracking the code back through our systems."
Perch also find MOO's short print runs to be very handy, because each batch they order is a small commitment both financially, and in terms of strategy. Fresh illustration work, a small tweak to the logo – all can be incorporated into the MiniCards next time a batch is produced. "The fact that we order 100 cards at a time means it's no hassle to make that sort of change", says Drew, "and it's great to order up some new cards knowing that the wastage from the old cards is really minimal. We've probably got about £5-worth of unused old design cards sitting around, which is nothing. If we were printing traditionally at volume then you're tied in and can't stay nimble."
"MOO's generally our first port of call when we need something printed", says Drew. "We've been really pleased with the quality and the ability to click a few things on a web page and have something physical that you've created turn up at your door is awesome."
Thanks to Drew for taking the time to talk to us - and thanks to Anne-Marie for writing this up. Find out more about Perch and what it can do for you, or make some MiniCards of your own.
