Hello New Greeting Cards! by RedBubble

Thanks guys!
..and you’re right… win, win and more winning for us artists! :D

Woooohooooo !!! :)) Cheers to the new cards & thanks to the team of wizards :) … this is awesome ! I’m off to check it our :) … been waiting for these :)
Thank you
~ Tina

WoHooo………….That is fantastic News Peter and The Fab Four………..XXX
I am away to order some as Well…………..WOOOOOOSH!!!!!!…………………………X

Exciting news.

Great work guys, like the visual too :-))

coool! :)

Fantastic news!

I like these changes very much. It will boost sales, which benefit us all.

THANK YOU Paul, Georg, Rick and Russell, these are great:)

Great work you wonderful team, you! Very exciting news

I just went to buy one but want a black border, am I missing something or is this feature not available now. Some work looks so much better surrounded by black.

Love the fact that the square format is in the centre.
Good job

Sounds great!

sweet!! keep up the great work!!

Yay!!! I’ve been hoping for this in a BIG way! Thank you, thank you!! XOXOXO

Why does it cost more if you buy 16+($1.89) cards compared to 8-15 cards($1.77)?

I had to come back……………GeorgF’s Eyes are AMAZING!!!!…..Teeheehee…xxx
and a Wee ?
What is the weight gsm of the card?……..x

Is there an error in the price list above? 16+ cards cost more per card than 8-15 cards.

Ok, was going to buy card of Globalphotos Dream State, when I bought one before it filled the whole card, why now does it sit in the middle, it’s doesnt look like square format??

Just asking, you can shoot me after lol

Wooo hoooo! That is great news!

So what will happen with the cards I ordered yesterday?

Debra

Yipeee!!! This is great news! Also I really dig the video… Kewlio!

I need to know the dimentions of the images that will fit these cards all the way to the edges without that awful white border. My camera at full size has an image that is 3456 X 2592 which fits the old size to the edges. What will they dimentions be for the new cards?

Yipeeeeeeeeeeee
xkc

Oh ok, thanks for that

cool

This sounds great, especially the volume discounts with the option of multiple images! But, I’m just gonna say it… I really prefer the look of glossy cards… (ducking down quickly) and I hope you’ll offer that option again in the near future. :)

@ BTR can change that !

Big thanks to the developers.

As a Olympus/Panasonic 4:3 SLR shooter I am not over the moon with those white borders (sorry…)

An example from my 4:3 camera

and one from my 3:2 camera

Greatness!

Just ordered a heap

sounds great!

Are you including the poly wrapper? and what is the weight of the envelope?,…….My images do look Great on the new format……..Well Done….x

I have no idea what a 3:2 or a 2:3 ratio means. Is a full bleed the whole thing all the way to the edges….because it is showing white edges on mine that size. I am slow at learning these new things. Help!

I have checked a bunch of my images as cards and they ALL have white edges around them. Does this mean I will have to change the size of akll the images if I want them to fit all the way to the edges of the cards?

I hope not….I have 15 pages of work.

I just went to my little letterbox and yay, new cards I ordered!! good timing for buyers booth! Thanks!

thanks – love the discounting – will make a nice difference to ordering

Yayyy =) Thank you.

sounds fantastic! thank you !

Congratulations, development team and Mr. Baxter, too, for the entertaining flash video!

That pricing structure – how does that relate to the price that an individual artist has set for a card?
And what happens to the profit margin when you offer such discounts?

I love Mr B’s videos, LOL!
Thanks RB!

Can I ask are you putting the envelopes into the fold of the card so people can see the title and other info on the back Im tired of rebagging all your cards People need to read the info for them to sell effectively..!!

other than that great work keep it up..

Loving it!!! a great jon indeed…

Ps the wite borde all around isreally nice it looks so much more artistic…
But a painter like me has no idea what size , because i have no idea what ratios are
Itwould be very nice to know

very nice! Are you planning on offereing a choice black-backing at all?

I’m very happy you been able to change stock to reduce the price of greeting cards… but I have to echo some other people about the cropping/white border thing.

I don’t know if it’s possible, but a custom crop option would be lovely – rather than people having to upload different ratios for different products… I think it would be great if people could simply use a little flash based crop tool for cards that allows you to scroll around within the image and choose the level of crop in order that it take up the entire card when printed.

Anyway… still, good news about the lower price!

ps pls forgive tpos—-typing with one hand—not easy =)

Great sizes but you can’t pick black or white ground anymore?? will this choice be back??

I just bought some. Can’t wait to see them in person!

I agree with Paul Mc Clintock! A special tool to adjust the photo to the card size would be great. It will be alot of work to change all the images now on my pages to have them fit the card. I personally would not buy a card anywhere that had a white border on it…especially if it had a black background.

Thank you, Paul, Georg, Rick and Russell, the unsung behind-the-scenes team!

You might have to shoot me…but what happened to the old BUY/PREVIEW area? The new red choices for the customers to choose their items from looks like someone in grade school did it. The old images to choose from looked much more professional. Sorry!

Thanks for the great news….Tom

Thank you all for your awesome work and time. Congratulations and I hope they will be a smash!

Does this mean that for an artwork like mine…

…I should make the background transparent to match the white border? Like on a tee?

@ paul (and ginnie)
“I don’t know if it’s possible, but a custom crop option would be lovely – rather than people having to upload different ratios for different products… I think it would be great if people could simply use a little flash based crop tool for cards that allows you to scroll around within the image and choose the level of crop in order that it take up the entire card when printed.”

paul i suggested this too a few weeks back! and the verdict from redbubble was that the IT behind such a technology is a bit indepth and that they are trying to keep everything as simple as possible. fair call on rb’s part, but i 100% agree with you, and others, that the white border just doesn’t cut it. and for us illustrators it’s going to mean a few hours (or more) resizing and reuploading all our work, as i definitely don’t want the white border.

however having said that my hat goes off to RB as it really isn’t easy to please everyone, and they’ve had to go with majority on this…and unfortunately for us illustrators – photographers with those exact SLR ratios outnumber us hehe. im still looking forward to the discounts!

I WAS getting $1.50aud a card AND I had the option of black borders, which, with square artwork like mine works better. NOW I get less than 90 cents aud a card, I DON’T get a choice of border colour and I CAN’T individually increase the markup on my card percentage without altering everything else! So how do I , as the artist, win on this deal?

Well, I can’t see as I will be better off – I will give it a month, but if I have lost sales and money into the bargain I will be pulling the card option from every artwork I have here on RB – I appreciate what you are attempting to do but it is not benefiting me at all. xoxox

@fullcirclemandalas: perhaps create a separate product just for cards and give it a different markup. Not ideal, I know – but it would be a workaround.

I’ve removed the “card” option from all our horizontal views. They just look too bad. The veritcals are acceptable. Now searching for other options.

Not a fan of the border. Really bummed. Not going to go through an resize all my work. Wish there was an option to make it full bleed or a custom crop. The cards may in fact look better in person, but it looks too off for me to want to buy any based on the preview :-(

To save people some time, I found that all of my 8X10 and 5X7 photos have the white border. My 4X6 crops did not.

I like them!!!

PAUL…Can you tell me if the black and white option borders will be back, this is so disappointing to have this choice removed and why is it so?

@Paul – I have almost 50 works that would need to be re-uploaded just so that I could select card only markup AND they would not be suited by the white border.I would then have 16 pages of doubled images… NOT a good look and very time consuming for a buyer to have to scroll thru to just find the card only option. As I said, I will give it a month and if I am losing then the card option goes… thanks for your response, it is appreciated, but unworkable for me… xoxox

I am going to use my other account for only cards after I have resized them all of course…….LOL……It’s not really funny but I am laughing because I am so POSITIVE that this move to sell this card Format is Brilliant and will bring in more sales for me for SURE!!!!!……ALL worth the changing of the Image dimensions …….X
.
Oh and here is some Info from Rick about ratio……..x

image (2592×3456) isn’t exactly 3:2.

You can work out the ratio by dividing the sides: 3456/2592=1.33

That formula for an exact 3:2 ratio image will always come out at 1.5.

Your image is actually a 4:3 ratio (4/3=1.33).

Thinking of removing card/purchase option from some of mine until I have the chance to redo and upload. But very happy about the idea of new cards, different size and paper. Looking forward to ordering a batch soon!

I like what you have done here, but we do not have a choice in borders I think I would like to have the choice to choose from border colors, and also I would think that we would have a choice to have the border or not on our cards, just a thought as I looked through the cards

I think it is essential to have a black border option it solves the different aspect ratio problems and looks better IMHO :-)

Well they are different aren’t they!
I’m really looking forward to seeing if it helps me in the sales department. Can’t tell in the first few hours, we’ll have to give it time :))
Great job guys, Thanks very much, really appreciate all you’re doing.

I’m really excited about the new card options & pricing – definitely good for sales. But, I have to agree with others that the white border does not work for most of my images. If it had an option for black it might look better. Resizing is possible in some cases but not all.

I also have a question. The card preview shows a blurred image. Is this just the software (I hope)?? It is not blurred when viewing full-sized image. Appreciate all the hard work these changes entail and that there has to be compromise for some. Where else would we even have a forum to discuss it, except on fabulous RB!

In general, a ratio of 2:3 means that the amount of the first quantity is (two thirds) of the amount of the second quantity.

In other words, your 4 × 6 images work, because 4 divided by 2 =2 and 6 divided by 2 =3 ..2:3

An 8 × 10 crop would not work but an 8 × 12 will because 8 divided by 4 equals 2 and 12 divided by 4 equals 3 and there again is your 2:3 ratio.

Thank you so much super team, thanks a bunch!!!

Great news!
Congrats and thanks to the development team and Mr. Baxter…:) !

Love the discounts…I am worried I am going to miss the old cards….I thought both old AND new were going to be avaiable. The heavy weight cards with the black BG and wrapped to the back of the card looked so professional. Rats! ….sorry!

I’m sure the lower price will stimulate sells, online at least, sight unseen, But I worry the quality of the new cards will not be welcome in the higher end establishments I have been taking them to for resale. And, will my customers be pleased with the product, and buy again, or go away?

Almost all the cards I have ordered have been with black borders, even if there was no border on the front, I always choose black because I like the back of the card to be black,

I will have to pay attention to the buyer’s booth pictures, and to see what people think…maybe they can change my mind….

I hate to say it, but, I liked the old product preview icons better also…..but, I love you guys so much, really! You all work so hard to try and make it profitable and efficient for all of us, and I really do appreciate it! :)

Would love the return of the black borders, most cards I have bought in the past looked wonderful with that option. Like the bulk discount..

Say I chose 20 cards but I wanted 4 separate images do I receive the bulk price for the 20 , or do all the cards have to be the same ??

I’ve found that I’ll need to resize ones I took with my old camera if I don’t want borders. I’ll definitely do that with a couple, because I don’t think they suit white borders. However I am quite pleased to buy one of my images that I had avoided buying as a card, because the white strips didn’t look right. The border all around is much better for that particular image. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re like.

BUGGER!!! I just ordered cards a couple of days ago!!! I shoulda waited :))

I am mathematically challenged and i still have NO idea what size to make my cards, to keep them from having borders =(

There is one thing =( Since, when people buy bulk amounts of cards, they can choose any design from all kinds of diefferent artists, that means that the individual artist won;t earn hardly anything at all if he or she sells just one card at a big discount =(

Although new to RB, I am excited that we have a technical team that are willing to help increase sells, and assist with new ideas. Often, a new idea is the best. However, given the experience as an artist, black borders are beautiful, professional, and ARTISTIC choices for many buyers. Not disrespect to anyone, but this option would be a plus for buyers! I enjoy contrast in artwork and this option, however, it is worked out would benefits sales! RB, keep the great ideas, and team motivated. Thank you for allowing us to voice our opinion so openly. Love & Beauty, ArtistJD

Great job guys! Glad to see these are in now :D I’m off to beat my husband into letting me buy some!! :D

great stuff guys!!

Okay This is for everyone who is wondering what the size needs to be to get full coverage of the cards and also beable to get the different sizes for the others as well !!

resize them to this: Print size 24.00 X 15.94 inchs
Resolution 200.000
Pixels 4800 X 3188
I hope this helps out everyone that is trying to get this figured out ! Its going to be a pain to have to go back through all your images one by one if you want your cards to be like this , but I am hoping in the end the new changes will be for the best !

Thanks for all the hard work ya’ll have done Red Bubble !!! I so very much appreciate everything !! =D Like with other changes we will get this one figured out as well. I am going to hold off on any opinions as far as the new cards goes until I see one for myself ..

Change is progress and I am sure the new cards will sell well, but I do have a couple of reservations.

My main one is that I really don’t like cards with borders and have carefully cropped the majority of my art work on RB to fit on a card without borders. I now find that all my cards will have to have white borders and I feel quite devastated!.

Secondly if we DO have to have borders, could we PLEASE at least have a choice of black or white? (of have them all on black?)

Thanks.

So…. no square format…..?

Now I have to just forget cards, my works are all in square format and they look awful in new versions.. not mention that there is no black background option any more.
I am very disappointed.

Aloha kakou, this is awesome news Peter, thank you so much :)))

I cannot believe how the discounting structure is forced upon us. It should be an option for all sellers. Who are the sellers here?

yay! :)

Many RBers do work that is very dark and sombre, and only suited to the black border.
The white one … it’s kinda like wrapping up a coffin in a big frilly pink bow.

I love the discounts, and hate the borders, black or white!!!!! I have tons of images that need resizing, and a slow, slow dial up…thats po-dunk arkansas for ya…….a whole years worth of work just down the drain….out of all due respect you all do a wonderful job, and I really appriciate the team…..Paul, Georg, Rick and Russell everyone :)) for all you do………but I am devastated as well……

I LOVE this new development, especially great for buying to resell at exhibitions etc and hopefully will bump sales overall.
I am really disappointed with how my art looks with the white border now, seems like I’m not alone. Resizing will be a huge undertaking so I think ultimately a resizing tool would be fantastic, or a compromise would be to bring back black borders.

I do hate to put a downer on what is really great progress and much appreciated too, but its bothering me as I know right now it will put me off buying other peoples cards too- the look is all important to the artist, not just the savings.

Are you ready for the huge surge in demand!

I liked the old product preview icons better also….i have to agree with Ginny York …………

ie

You might have to shoot me…but what happened to the old BUY/PREVIEW area? The new red choices for the customers to choose their items from looks like someone in grade school did it. The old images to choose from looked much more professional. Sorry!

Before……

Happy :))

After…..

Boo Hoo :(((

Ugh, sorry but it’s not working for me at all. I’ve just gone through all of my prints in greeting card format and they look HORRIBLE. I can get over the letterbox display since my images are odd crops but the white borders look shocking. Please give a black background option ASAP. It makes no sense to have just the white background option for the cards and having a choice of background colours for the other products. I know there’s a fine line between quality and expense but I wouldn’t care about paying a dollar more for artwork that’s displayed at it’s best – with BLACK borders. I’ve gotten a couple of emails from people to whom I’ve sent images of the new layout to and they’ve said they would buy my cards but the white looks bad and does my work no favours and they wouldn’t spend their money on it.

I will need to redo some of my cards

BEFORE….and we all show, and are asked to show our end products on each page………..this card shows on my page


yet when you click over to buy this is what is offered to our customer
AFTER
!
http://ih0.redbubble.net/work.4628261.3.papergc...!

Hey I am not techie here, but can’t we have the bulk prices and keep the old format/size/ratio?? ……………….. aspect ratio as most digital SLR??? not all of us… use/have or can afford DSLR’s
I am heartbroken

Painstaking hours, and hours of work gone in seconds

So sorry, I love that you guys are trying, but I Really dislike the white borders, & wish the black option was still availabe (for all orders, not just those over 20). I had a bunch of cards in my ‘trolley’ that I was about to order, but I don’t like them anymore. :( They look a bit ‘amateur’ now.
I do like the bulk order option however!

I love the idea of the bulk ordering but I the white borders really don’t work for me either, I much preferred the full bleed that most of my images were set at :(

Is is possible to keep the old size card and just change the paper (material) it is made from??? That way…everyones work would fit the card size and we wouldn’t all have to change and resize all of out work. I don’t think too many customers care about the card size. With different material…you could still give discounts.

To Carla Jensen….With a smaller size image …sometimes resizing to a larger one makes the image pixelated. It would be nice if it didn’t.

Excellent … way to go guys … thank you :)

wow thats great!! Thanks RB to the changes being made this year!!!!!

How about 3 sizes? The 2 new ones for all the SLR users and the old size as a 3rd option for all of us who have the smaller cameras? :)) My camera size fits the old size card directly as shot from the camera. I’m sure others do too from all the comments here.
Most of my sales here on RB have been cards…and they have all been ones that had no borders except one.
I’m probably grasping at straws here…but it can’t hurt to ask about it. I hope. :))

I’m I right in thinking that everyone complaining here about the aspect ration and white border is in the minority then ? If so, there’s nothing for it but to resize all our work, my cards do look really bad like this. I take it the majority of artists on RB are Photographers then?

Of course I welcome this change in product but I feel like my art is now cast into some sort of minority bracket. The cards I like to buy are mostly by non-photographers too and a quick skim through my favourites shows this horrid white border too- so unless we all work like crazy to resize stuff, I’m not sure I’ll be buying much cards- which kind of bursts the bubble of my initial excitement

Just a thought – given that rb is introducing a choice of card size anyway … would it be possible for one to be 2:3 and the other 4:3 (or whatever the old ratio was) to avoid the hassles of resizing mentioned above.. and maybe a third square option? Buyers could then choose their preference…

cheers and thanks for the bulk discounts!!
:))))

Hi! Could you use a hug?
(((RedBubble)))

;)

Love the discounts and size options!
Just went through my images and most of them don’t look very good with the border, but I’ll just start making more that do. And some of the ones I especially like I’ll try to adjust to fill the new card “frame.”

I’m looking forward to the postcards, too. I plan to design one as a giant business card/announcement to people when I finally get my Bubblesite organized.

Thank you soooooooo much!

Keep up the great work you guys! Mmmmmwah!

Well said @AnitaInverarity. Being a photographer myself, without other forms of art on Redbubble, I see your point. It seems like the arguement for this change is to keep photographers happy whose work is a certain aspect ratio.

But maybe a look at RB statistics could either back up this reasoning or show that it’s the wrong way to go. Shouldn’t it be easy to show they type of work that is being sold most often as cards? And how they’re being sold (i.e. bulk, color of backing, etc)? Maybe if we were provided a better, more researched reasoning behind the change, people would quiet down faster.

All I know is that I’m frustrated that issues that were brought up in the previous RB annoucement (when they introduced the upcoming changes to cards) were never addressed and seem to not even been taken into consideration. As a member, that upsets me as I’m sure it upsets many other people.

Great idea – well done on the multi-buy discounts

The loss of black borders is a real disappointment. I certainly hope square format cards will be possible in the future.

I hate the new card size, it now means I have to alter all my cards, what is the new pixal size for the cards .. no one seems to know .. when RB decide to alter them wouldnt it have been wise to tell everyone just what size now to make the cards .. good idea on block buying though

I just to want to let you know i dont like the new card size :(( I dont want to buy this not even with discount…sorry i do appreciate the work you do but this is realy a no no for me.

well done

great !

really nice!

uhhumm..first i wrote great, but the white borders don’t look great….
have to resize all my images :((((

You know what…………..all my images worked just fine STRAIGHT out of my camera before……..I DO NOT CROP…………I didnt have to resize them!!! Are you telling me that the DSLR’ers were having to resize theirs images for cards?
You know I can take a files to walmart have any size of image i want printed, and I do not have to resize it to keep from having ungodly white borders on my simple 6 X 4 prints,
My files are 2816 X 2112 anywhere from 3 mb to 4mb and for the life of me I cannot understand how that cannot totally cover a 4X6 0r a 5X7.5 card, and I must have a poster size 9 0r 10 mb file just to have a decent card!
Again I must state we are not all SLR users, and can’t afford them……..and should we lesser people be chastised because of it………….When I first joined this site……we were asked for large files for posters, wall art, matted est……… and told not to resize our files for them your techies would know it, and catch it, and now your telling us that we with the LESSER CAMERAS that we have to resize for a SIMPLE 4 X 6 card?? I JUST DO NOT GET IT!!!!!!!!!
please forgive me for my ignorance of all the tech stuff, and for seeming to be mean…….but I have invested a year, 1/2’s work here on RB, and now I gotta redo it all????
I have dial up, and it has been a vexing process just to have uploaded what I have, and has taken me many hours, and hours……and truthfully I do not appreciate the thought of having to rework, what I have already worked………JUST BECAUSE I HAVE NO SLR, and thats whats best for those who do………just because I have no SLR ratio!!!!!!!
I have read every comment on here, and I have read every responce too, and I keep seeing the same answers its all asbout SLR!, and their ratio!!!!!!!!!
Truthfully……………I could give a care about SLR, and how much it benifits those who can afford them or use them…………….My files fit the format before, and there were no problems, and although my work didnt come from a SLR, the format work….I did what was right, to have the best looking product I could produce with my Canon PowerShot S3 IS.
Now my cards look sooooooo unproffesional, kindergarden, unattractive…………never in my life have I walked in any place to buy a greeting card, and found all the cards from halmark, american greeting………. with ugly white borders, its not professional!!!!!!
So as I see it my work, my time, and all the hours spent here have all been for naught, rendered not important, because of DSLR ratio!!
I know I have not sold as much here as those true artist with SLR, but i have sold enough to make RB money, and I have yet to see that $100.00 paycheck, I am close, but now I feel I will never make it.
I was sooooooooo excited to see the bulk offers, and discounts, and thought that might just give me that extra edge, and help my sales a lot, and then the carpet was YANKED right out from under me!!!!!!!!
All I ask is just do right by all of us that have invested a lot of time here, and make our cards look good again without having to resize our whole gallery…………..is that too much to ask from a NON SLR USER!
IN ALL DUE RESPECT!
HUGS AND MUCH LOVE, and forgive my screaming, and I hope I speak for all those out there who know has years worth of work……gone bad

On Zazzle you have a little tool to crop your photograph to best fit the size of the card, thus eliminating the border – maybe that could be incorporated here.

It would also be good to have a square card as an additional choice.

Thanks for responding. :)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!!!!!!

really appreciate all the hard work you guys do but not so sure this wiil work for me I’m in the same boat as Bluerose square format just doesn’t work for me on the cards will probably have to take the card option of these. never mind

Sorry RedBubble, not a great change for me personally and I shall not be buying cards or even allowing people to purchase cards from me that have a “white border” around them. it just doesn’t seem very professional this way :((
I have “never” seen a card in my high street stores with any “white Border” around them and probably never will, except here on RedBubble now :(
So, from now on, we have to take the “perfect” shot without any cropping to get the “perfect” card layout. Now always possible :((
Pricing changes are OK I guess, BUT not the layout….the white borders look awful. Sorry RedBubble. Not for me personally :(((

Christine and Bluerose. How did the square format work before? Anything I’ve done that wasn’t the same proportions as the card had a nasty white stripe down each side, a border all round is surely preferable, even if it isn’t ideal.

I think maybe the card format and pricing policy are being put before the art , Rb is an artists website . However I guess its business as well and to stay in the game you may have to do this, its a shame but I think this is a step down in terms of professionalism of product not a step up

Fascinating reactions going on here. I’ve been put off buying cards from red bubble because they looked like photographic paper stuck on card and not like the kind of cards people are used to buying and receiving. Whilst the weight compensated for this in terms of quality the silk print finish has always been a bit odd to me. Jay your cards appear to look great in the new proportions
If nothing ever changed there’d be no butterflies.

it was slightly better only because it went straight to the edges and having the option of the black background gave it a border top and bottom only it wasn’t 100% but much better than now, does that make sense? Ive been looking at some other artists who have the Sq crop and they don’t offer the card option at all .

I see how your work is on the cards I think it looks ok DExIGN

Im not fond of the white borders !

Ive just been having a play with moo cards and found I am able to get my sq crops to work on there cards only because of the cropping tool they are not square cards but I can get the image to work, similar to the mini moo cards which I have used for some time now

I printed my own with a white border (impossible to print to the edge on my printer) and I sold all but two designs with demand outstripping my supply! So much depends on the quality of the stock – which I’ve yet to see obviously! A square card option would be good especially as the thumbnails are all square.

On your reply to Jenny Bryce….

“I’ll take your feedback on board about black background in preference to white – an option like this would probably have to be set by the artist (not the buyer) to keep things as simple as possible.”

If you are saying what I think you are saying, this sounds like a great solution to the white/black border hysteria…allow the artist to select the border color when setting up selling options. The artist will know better what border color will best showcase their work.

On all my future work, if I do not want a white border on my card, I could load up a new art work with a black or other color border I created in editing software to get around the white border thing. Of course, I would not want my mounted prints, matted prints, etc. to have double bordes so….I would have to use a second account for all my cards, which
I am considering by the way, or have duplicate artworks on my profile…which means I would have 600 artworks loaded instead of 300…this would effect comments, and features, and might drive my watchlisters to insanity as they think…“wait just a dog gone minute, didn’t I just see and comment on that same picture a couple of minutes ago”…LOL…quite the conundrum…

Moo cards are a standard A6 size – which requires photographs to be cropped for 4:3 and 3:2 ratios.

If you set up a document in the right proportions and position the square image to create your own border in black or white or whatever colour complements the image, and save it as a jpeg to upload, it will look better. Maybe add the title and your signature in the border and a limited edition print no. that will all make it look more professional

OK too much reading for me to go through. Some of my work suits the white border…what size does it need to be to make a 5×7 card WITH a border?

setting up a second account may be a way around this just for cards

Like this!

Cards on their own site makes sense.

@DExIGN – I like that idea, it does look more professional, however, how would you ensure someone doesn’t come on and order several of those and they all are “1/50”? Just a thought. You’d have to re-upload the image with every single sale to ensure the progression of number of print out of 50.

I think I would have to get clever and trim off the excess border on top and bottom. I’m still not a fan. I don’t think I will be. I am looking into other sites to see how they work. I know on Imagekind, artists/photographers can decided whether or not to offer their customers the ability to crop the work how they like when they purchase it as a card. It’s getting a bit tiring hearing that this change is for the “majority” of the photographers when there are plenty of other artists on here who deserve consideration.

Why, instead of offering 2 sizes of cards that would both add borders to images not uploaded in the correct size… why couldn’t the second size be a size that would allow the other aspect ratio to be full bleed? Then.. maybe down the road, see about offering square cards? Would that be so difficult to do? I just don’t see Redbubble retaining members or inspiring confidence in its members if it we have to jump through hoops to change our work to fit the new requirements.

There should have been a compromise looked into when this was proposed in the last journal entry, instead of just ignoring members’ complaints.

Yes good point well made! I hadn’t dreamed of anyone buying more than 1 card, once in a blue moon! You’re obviously far more successful than me! And with the bulk discounts those sales could come thick and fast. Just title, date and signature will still help!

I agree, it would have been a good idea to continue with the old ones and give everyone the choice, but I know I’d buy the cheaper ones.

RB could offer a centred full bleed crop as an option for Bubblers to set as their default. But it’s all alot easier said than done I guess.

You know what…………..all my images worked just fine STRAIGHT out of my camera before……..I DO NOT CROP…………I didnt have to resize them!!! Are you telling me that the DSLR’ers were having to resize theirs images for cards???
You know I can take a files to walmart have any size of image i want printed, and I do not have to resize it to keep from having ungodly white borders on my simple 6 X 4 prints,

The issue is one of Aspect Ratio See
2816 X 2112 pixels is a aspect ratio of 1.33 a 4×6 print has a aspect ratio of 1.5. It is a case of printing with white borders or cropping some of the image. Wal-mart crops some of the image on 4×6 prints.

Most of my work is either shot in 3:2 fomat, or cropped to that. Of those that are not 3:2, e.g. square crops, some images actually look better with white borders all round, instead of on two sides; some don’t suit it at all. I don’t think I’ll change anything. It might encourage a buyer to buy an extra large framed print, if the card doesn’t look right! Live in hope! I like the new cards, but roll on black borders as well.

BTW, great work guys. :))

Common aspect ratios in still photography include 4:3 (1.33) used by most digital point-and-shoot cameras, Four Thirds system cameras and medium format 645 cameras; 3:2 (1.5) used by 35mm film, APS-C (“classic” mode) and most DSLRs; 1.81:1 (close to 16:9) used by APS-H high definition mode and some Panasonic multi‐aspect Four Thirds and compact cameras; 3:1 used by APS‐P panoramic mode; and 1:1 (square) in a variety of cameras.

Common print sizes in the U.S. (in inches) include 4×6 (1.5), 5×7 (1.4), 4×5 and 8×10 (1.25), and 11×14 (1.27); large format cameras typically use one of these aspect ratios. Medium-format cameras typically have format designated by nominal sizes in centimeters (6×6, 6×7, 6×9, 6×4.5), but these numbers should not be interpreted as exact in computing aspect ratios.

Source

I have work in all the above aspect ratios. The only thing that I ask is that the aspect ratio of the cards remain constant and I will work within whatever it is.

victoria demore! well said – “why couldn’t the second size be a size that would allow the other aspect ratio to be full bleed?”….. you’re right. the more i think about this and the more i look at my cards with that awful uneven white border (might look slightly better if the while border was at least the same the entire way around) and the more i comprehend the amount of work i must now do to eliminate this issue the more i feel this was not a good move by RB :( i hate to say it cos i know the guys work hard on these new developments for us, but i dont think the benefit of the discounts outweight the issues that have now arisen for so many artists on here…

Will the aspect ratio of the upcoming postcards also be 1:1.5?

just re-uploaded my first image…aaah… 1 down 1 million to go hehe.
but no white border – things are looking up!

RB told me to make my cards 2000×3000 pixal size, isnt this a little on the large size for a card and does this size work for a print as well !!!!

@DExIGN – Yes, correct, that one does look just fine. Perfect fit don’t you think?
BUT, this one below does NOT (and I do like the church image over the car image better personally. Now, all ruined as a card) :-

The card that you have shown of mine did not need any cropping on my behalf at all as it was as intended, but the preview that I have shown above had a white sign on the wall to the right that I did not like and had to do a small crop myself. Hence now, having the horrid the white border.
There are not very many of mine that I have had to crop, BUT from now on I have to be extra careful and perfect in the choice of shots that I take, thanks (not by choice) to RedBubble.

Rather than just go ahead with this (after all, it’s all about the members. No sale, no payments to RedBubble, so to speak) it would have been nice for the members to go through a voting system of some kind to see just how popular it would have been (with previews on how they would look before hand)

And, I still stand by that quote – If nothing ever changed there’d be no butterflies.
Turning a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly works just fine for me. Nature taking it’s course.
Turning a picture that fits (with a tiny crop by the RedBubble team) on a card originally and changing it into a picture just slapped onto a white background with a white border is just plain ugly. Do you see my point?
This is not “nature” taking it’s course. This is RedBubble fixing something that was even broken in the first place, so to speak :((

The shape of the new cards is thinner and longer depending on which way you turn the card. If you specifically upload pictures to RB just for a card…that will throw off the shape of the prints.
I don’t see why we can’t have the new cards for those that like them and the old size also, but just in the different card material. You could still give discounts on them…and make everyone happy.
I think for now….when I get enough time….I will leave the card option open for the customer if they go into the BUY/PREVIEW to check it out and happen to want one with that white border…..but just take it off my page as a display since I really don’t like how it looks…and I think it makes the pages very unprofessional looking.
With the 3 options…the customer could choose a card with a border or without one and the artist could display the ones they like best.
Everyone would be happy.

You’re right Jay. It isn’t ideal. To me the even border around your shot does look alot better than most 4:3 formats do now. As I’ve mentioned already the best thing would be to allow bubblers the option for RB to automatically crop to the new proportions in the way they used to.

It’s obviously a whole load of work to change our formats and displays but overall I believe the changes will lead to more sales and income for all. That’s the butterfly I’m chasing!

Sorry…I don’t like the borders, but appreciate your hard work.

i look at my cards with that awful uneven white border (might look slightly better if the while border was at least the same the entire way around)

You CAN NOT have the same border the entire way around IF the aspect ratio of the image is different from the card. There are only two choices when the card and the image has different aspect ratios. 1 Crop off part of the image. 2 Borders like we have now.

I find it so maddening, I put a lot of time and hard work into creating my cards, I made them all to the size that RB wanted them which was 1320×920, now I have this cheap looking white border round them and its not even, the top/bottom been different size than the sides, I also found that if you make them print size the image still will not work on a card, just what is RB playing at. I have a digital 12mp camera and even the photos off this do not fit the new card size.
I refuse to go out and buy a SLR camera just to please RB .. Dont they ever listen to us .. the artists that make them money .. lets face it without us there would be no RedBubble
Why make us suffer, if the size doesnt work for the SLR camera let them suffer .. no offense to them .. or have different card sizes .. or keep the old sizes which worked. I would have thought that RB would have thought this through more before just springing it on us .. maybe discused it with everyone .. cos this is causing a lot of angry people.
Does anyone know the new pixel size for the cards .. I would love to know

2250 × 1500 pixels will give you a file that will print 5 x7.5 at 300 DPI

Black borders look better than white always :(

add my name to the list of unhappy artists whose main card work is not photography … the white borders do not enhance my work at all … and the new format makes the hundreds of cards I designed quite useless … I am quite frustrated and very very upset …
.
I’ve tried the 2:3 ratio for cards … 2250×1500px at 300dpi (and larger proportionate sizes) and when I check the card preview for a vertical card the image seems to get trimmed at the folded edge and at the top .. here is one example
.

.
is this the way the cards will be trimmed? does this show the end resulting card? or is this just a quick virtual showing … I prefer a preview to be as close to the real thing … seems this preview handles the image placement strangely .. one would assume the image is centered on the card and then the raw edges are trimmed .. not the folded edge .. what’s up with this? it just about makes designing for my cards useless …
.
there is much more I’d want to say but as upset as I am I know I could not say it politely and that would be counterproductive …. just add my name to the others who are experiencing the same frustrations …
.
sadly I don’t expect much to change .. seems that since there are supposedly more photographers here on RB the rest of us are getting the hard road with this supposed changes to the card format ..
.
and btw when you first were talking about changing the card format to square cards many of us thought you were talking about physically square cards …

Question: Is there any possibility of RB changing the WEBPAGE background to something other than white? Make it gray or beige, maybe? I am resizing all my stuff, but I find the white frame actually looks pretty good on some photos, however, they look totally blah on a white page. This used to be true for white tee shirts, but your new option helps with the tees. White can be nice, but white on white isn’t making anyone happy.

Wow! The variety of needs and wants on RB is large, indeed. My admiration to the people whom work under these conditions and to the Artists who are “speaking” their needs.
Living life has taught me that variety & movement is the “Spice of Life”. I, myself, have no doubt that RB’s hard work and listening to us Artists will bring about a solution that meets “most” Artist’s needs. Pleasing most everyone just may take a bit of time. It’s been my experience that change is good as long as it’s done with an open mind. This is the beginning of some needed changes and as I am reading RB’s reply comments, I think the people working on changes and replying are listening to needs and seem open to keep “tweaking” the way cards are printed and sold—this is how businesses keep improving. New beginnings can be difficult and they can also lead to much more successful changes that entail along the way. Stagnation never leads to improved anything. I, for one, am willing to give RB’s hard working, behind the scenes, people a leeway of time to mull over the many comments and different needs of the Artist’s doing business with RB. Lastly, I think that most all of the comments
made by Artists can only be helpful, as this will enable RB to know what the needs and wants are, and only then begin looking for more solutions. So, Thank You everyone! I think this process is good and will, ultimately, lead to Artists, consumers and RB having more of their needs met, it will, undoubtedly, take some time—change can be painful and it also enables new “breaths” of life to emerge that would might have otherwise stayed hidden :)
In hopes of not offending anyone, above are my thoughts on this subject,
Samariah

Excellent work as always, well done.

Great!!! I have actually ordered some stuff last week, I believe it has now been shipped off with the Postie, so will they be the new ones or the old ones? :))

Just a query if I may. Is there anything printed on the back of the card?

hm… talking is silver, silent is gold (like we say)…
I can’t find any answers about square format and black background.
Thanks

Is the quantity discount not applied through our actual Bubblesite? I notice it shows on the profile page of the artist, but if I send someone to my beta site, it doesn’t show a breakdown.

I just found out about the new card layout today; and most. perhaps all my images get the uneven white borders…

I saw Paul McClintock’s suggestion about the flash based crop tool. I agree that may be too complicated, but I don’t think it should be too hard for people to use a feature that incorporates a “shrink to fit” vs. “full bleed” option; sort of like that “page scaling” option I get when I print a pdf… It may still not solve every problem (e.g you cannot choose the area where to crop) but I do think it would be a great improvement… just a thought.

I so agree with ccwri. If I want a border on my greeting cards, I’d put it there myself.

I do agree with Mui-Ling Teh. The first 310 of my images were uploaded proportioned at the same ratio they came out of the camera. This worked fine with the old card style as it automatically printed as a bleed. No so the new cards.
Bob <><

Thanks for responding. I’ve ordered a batch of 4″ × 6″ cards, and look forward to seeing the new product. :)

in reply to Rb to my comment further up I’m sure the product is terrific as all product are on RB. I’m not , and did not query the quality of the product though I may have have inadvertently implied this my comment, an neither am I questioning the professionalism of RB. If you look at my comment in the context of my other comments and others comments its the look of the shot on the card, I’m mainly concerned with the sq crop as are a lot of others which previously worked for me with the old cards and black background. However I still have shots which perfectly well with the new format and will be leaving the card option for those

The guy on the right. Is that mini Me?

cool

The cards look great, love the matt finish, well done everyone at redbubble.

Hooray wonderful discounts and nice to have a couple of size options. Thrilled to see 4:3 ratio printing without the white border again. Thank you Paul, Georg, Rick, Russell and everyone else at RB.

yep this looks like its going to work better for a lot of people including myself, I now have more images that work with a full bleed. Well done guys.

YAY!!! I’m jumping up and down with excitement :D :D :D
I’m SO glad I don’t have to change my images to get rid of the borders :D :D :D I can deal with the slight cropping as it’s barely visible…………. WOOHOO!!!
One question, I placed a order on cards on February 21 2010 GMT and they are in manufacturing right now. The images is in 4:3. Do you know if they will be in this “new way” printing “full bleed” or will they have the borders???
Thank You for all the hard work you guys do!!!
BIG hugs, Eva :D

Aiy! I just went in and took a look at some of my images as greeting cards. Sorry. Not going to work for me, and I’m not going to change my aspect ratio.

I like the IDEA of these cards, but I sell cards of my images (hand-mounted) elsewhere. I think I’ll just stick with that!

RedBubble rocks in so many ways, but I’m afraid this just isn’t one of them.

I AM looking forward to seeing how the postcards work out, though!

Better luck next time!

I am starting to get it together now. With the help of BackStage at RB
This is what I wrote to Rick with the results of the experiments I have been conducting.

Thank you Rick!
Real good explanations (even for us simple minds!). After a little experimenting I notice that I am o.k. with the new size. I am used to cropping to 3:2 anyway for my paper prints (that is 10×15cm in Germany). So that most of my images bleed as desired.
Some images are just fine with the borders though. It would be nice if you could choose between white and black!
Tiny little problem is when I have an image with a repeating pattern. There seems to be just a smidge missing on the open side (botton for landscape and right side for portait format). Which means that I have to slide my cropping mask just a little off center to compensate. Or is there a more simple trick for getting these images exactly centered on the card?
As for mounted prints etc. I continue to use 4:3 or even square. So I just make different sets for different purposes.
BackStage at RD is very helpful. Thanks again, Eve

Just bought 16 6 × 4 cards and it is not 74p each inc VAT but 74p plus VAT. Need to change the details on the list

thanks for the links to Rick’s posting with more explanation … I was quite frustrated with the card preview and more … much better now (big smile) … thank you (smile) … although I’ve already removed and deleted all the cards I had posted lol … oh well lol … it’s ok … cleaned up my gallery a bit (grin)

Oh, darn!!! Oh, well… they’ll be fab anyway ;) :D

Absolutely, ‘Hats off’…gentlemen.

Great idea with the cheaper option, and the discount for bulk. Much better economically for those bubblers who want to order their own as well.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the borders either and I’m just wondering why you changed the aspect when you changed to cheaper printing? Could we have kept the aspect as it was and and just changed to cheaper printing or was it a package deal?
The new ratio explanation that it’s because most cameras are 3:2, seems to me that it only benefits the ‘snapshot’ amatuer. A lot of high selling photographers crop their images to enchance them after the fact and paper/canvas artists don’t have a set size either.
I also like the idea of the self cropping option, I hope you’re able to implement this but in the meantime, I have a lot of changes to make so my cards look better.

Back again, okay it seems that most of my images in the card preview don’t have the white border they had a few days ago. Now that’s spooky! Maybe it was a glitch when I last looked because they were definitely white bordered, the ones I looked at.
Now I’m happy! Most are as they were before the change.

Also, I’m looing forward to buying postcards from some favourite bubblers, so I’m looking forward to when that happens. Great idea.

There can be a plus side to the borders. Some people mat and frame the cards and hang them as a wall grouping. The borders can help this, in enables them to mat the artwork without loosing part of the edges of the work.

Either way guys……I think that the step you made is an outstanding leap! There is no way of pleasing EVERYONE! Know that you are making leaps and bounds heading in the right direction. Kudos to those involved!

One of my smallest images now looks better in card format than it ever has. Well chuffed, and looking forward to receiving the cards I’ve ordered. Thanks very much, all. =)

Strange, but the ones that didn’t have borders (that I uploaded say last year) now do (since RB’s change to borders weeks ago) and the same aspect ratio ones that are newly loaded don’t (this is since the change promised last week after ccwri’s journal). I’m confused.

Im quite new to this site and am adding my work lil by lil… so seeing this new info about the greeting cards sounds super great so far!! :D)

I’m afraid I’m I’m quite upset with the quality change but agree the bulk orders and pricing are better. I was in the middle of two orders for a client and they will now get two types of card stock!!! How did I miss this info? Please offer the thicker card stock aswell……

And now for my TwoCents:
I was lucky my client bought the card today. I had ordered and purchased about 50 cards, not knowing that the paper was half the GSM and apparently not the quality they had purchased previously from my collection. Had to do some fancy-selling to convince them to pay-up. They did … and then noticed the envelope are TUDOR. They were visibly not impressed. Very embarrassing for me.
Yet I like the cards. The quality is still fantastic. The bigger prints are my preference, though I need a big smile and shaved face to sell them! Whilst I don’t begrudge the envelope included, I’d much prefer the plain ones that were provided previously.
Thankfully they still fit into the resealable bags I provide with each purchase to all my clients.
Despite this little setback: Redbubble, you are still my #1 photography site. Keep up the grand work.

I would like to see black cards. My work looks best on black.
Most of my cards have white borders at this time. (In RB)

Hi guys, I received my first lot of the new cards – Sorry but they are a bit crappy (dont hit me!!). They arent folded and when you fold them along the centre line, the card doesnt meet up at the edges, one side is longer than the other. All 15 of my cards were like this. The paper looks cheaper and the envelope even more so – and i agree with others comments here about the ugly borders. I dont think people who use RB have a problem with selecting background colour etc? You have to have some computer nouse to upload pics etc and make your way to the sales area – i thought it was all pretty self explanatory, yet it seems there are less options now as it was a hassle for some people? Are you catering to the RB community who know how to use the site or a one off drop in who doesnt?
I’ve sold hundreds of cards based on the awesome glossy Kodak paper the last ones were printed on – they were real quality. Gave one of the new ones to one of my clients – they didnt love it, even thought it was a gift. :(
Sorry, just my honest feedback!
Alex

Fantastic 007’s – a hand to all the hard work!:)))xx

ok, now we want cuckoo clocks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent ! Happy about the post cards, good job !

How about prices for 50? For self promotion and that long client list for Christmas self promotion?

As a newbie, I’m awaiting my first order of cards – hoping like mad that they are full bleed, as I rly don’t admire white borders; I so appreciate the discount structure and definitely like matte finish. Also I love being able to custom order just One Card … magic!

Sounds Great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just received my first batch of the, so called, new greeting cards and was surprised to find no poly bags like they used to have before. It would have been nice to know this ahead of time, so that’s why I’m posting it here in case you may not know. So, the cards were $33.05 with shipping for 16 cards and I had to buy the bags, 100 bags for $15.00, with shipping. That’s about $3.00 per card. I can get them on Zazzle for about $2.84, and they are much batter quality and they are already bagged and ready to go.

So, I’d have to say RB is no bargain on greeting cards, even with their new format, and pricing.

I am not very pleased with the results.

I put the 16 cards out on my table display and got rave reviews, and sold 6 cards, which is pretty good for me! In addition, I got very good comments on the quality and it helped draw customers to my booth, thus generating more sales. I’ll be buying lots more cards here because when I further compare price to quality RB wins!

I have recently ordered cards and am concerned after reading these comments that thay will not be the same exellent quality as the previous orders from last year ,I am pleased the price has dropped but would rather pay a bit extra for the old format. I definately do not like the white borders, I do hope you will revert to the choice of black for cards as you do give a choice in prints . I look forqward to my order and will update you here with my comments
Pauline

Hello all, I have just received my order of cards, I have mixed feelings about the quality, most of the cards look Ok,That is the ones where the picture covers all the card. The two which have been cropped have terrible white borders. I would like to see the black option back please. One of the cards which has the white border actually looked good in the old format. On the whole, although I know the price is lower, I think I would prefer to pay the extra amd get good quality cards with class. The old formay cards were absolutely beautiful so I am very dissapointed

Hi – today (22nd June 10) have just received my very large order of cards from you. I was really excited to find that they are all bagged thus removing that step when doing orders. Thank you SO much for that, as I hadn’t expected it. Can I and my customers expect it in the future? I really hope so! Thanks so much again. Elizabeth

Hi. Don’t want to be picky, but this page says (as on 22-Dec-11) that if I order 16 cards (or presumably more), I’ll get a 40% discount. Just placed an order for 48 cards, and the discount is only 30%. I saw the discount notices come up as I ordered and assumed they were following the published rates, and did not double check (ok, I know, my fault). As you are still indicating the 40% discount, does that mean I’ll get a credit note or gift certificate for the extra 10%? Looking forward to seeing them!