Regarding the website hack, yes I can do that. There are a few options:
Option 1: we can import it with the snippet provided by spreadshirt:
Then I can write more javascript code to hide unwelcome products.
Option 2: I (or we) can set up a page on the Inkscape website on which we
list specific products manually, which then link through to spreadshirt
items (which bypasses the need for the spreadshirt auto generated gallery).
Perhaps a combination of the above would be okay too. We make a featured
item page with direct links, and a link at the bottom to "view all
designs". That link would provide access to the full spreadshirt shop,
while allowing us to control what visitors see first.
-C
On Sat, 14 Apr 2018, 17:46 C R, <cajhne@...400...> wrote:
The shirts category is much worse than the mug for extraneous auto
added
products. It's not just about color. Here you can see I've removed all
product categories except for the basic mens tee and basic womens tee.
https://shop.spreadshirt.com/inkscape-shop/
This produces 16(!) variations just for TWO shirts. Obviously this is not
going to work for anything more than one or two designs total, and the
designs must work on light and dark shirts.
Zazzle, as an example has none of these really unfortunate problems.
There's no good reason for forcing you to have a whole category worth of
shirts, just to have one. It's a real mess... the worst I've seen.
Anyway, I can solve that problem by working within those restrictions -
One or two universal designs should be okay. We can replace these designs
as part of outreach or fundraising campaigns too, but we must not have more
than two total at any one time.
-C
-C
On Sat, 14 Apr 2018, 17:11 C R, <cajhne@...400...> wrote:
> Questions are fine, but I don't presently have time to answer all
> concerns. I'm a professional product designer, and can definitely come up
> with some nice universal solutions. Shirts and mugs do not need to conform
> strictly to the branding guidelines, and yes, the purpose of offering
> merchandise is to make money for the project, as well as spread awareness
> about Inkscape. It's also nice for community building.
>
> More soon.
> -C
>
> On Sat, 14 Apr 2018, 16:36 Mihaela, <mihaela.jurkovic@...400...> wrote:
>
>> I see the case about the red mug, there's no way to remove it, it is
>> added when you tick the product type "Mug". They're adding it
because it
>> provides mugs in colors, in contrast to the default product of that type
>> that only offers white mugs. But there are only 3 products added, white
>> mug, dual-color mug and color mug. Maybe with the new feature of limiting
>> product colors that wouldn't be a problem?
>>
>>
https://developer.spreadshirt.net/display/API/Product+Model
>> Perhaps it is possible to restrict colors, read under Restrictions?
>> Maybe it can also control individual products too? I haven't read it all
>> since it's not my area.
>>
>> No, we don't have the logo variation that works on all backgrounds. Do
>> you want to suggest a design to be included in the official guidelines?
>>
>> I'm not sure what you mean by "rim". A thin white outset from the
icon
>> shape and letters? I once got that sort of effect when printing from eps, I
>> guess the shop adjusted for partial transparency by adding a white matte.
>> It was black letters on light-colored t-shirt and it still didn't look
>> good.
>>
>> I don't think in our case that it should be a white circle around the
>> icon or logo because it changes the negative space too much, it softens the
>> very recognizable and powerful mountain shape and restricts the area around
>> it which doesn't fit well with "freely". Maybe a white rectangle
with
>> enough padding from the edges would be a good choice? Only it would make
>> the logo a bit smaller. Or revert the logo colors to white like Ryan did on
>> the website mockup?
>>
>> I'd still only want to purchase a product with the original logo, large,
>> without modifications, on a light background.
>>
>> You suggested we might build our own shop. Is there any
>> interest/resources for this? Could you do it?
>>
>> If the designs in the shop are to be artwork created by Inkscape then it
>> means the purpose of the shop is to raise funds? Or should the artwork all
>> be re-branded Inkscape logo? If not, I haven't seen anything mentioned that
>> designs would be "watermarked" with Inkscape logo, so the intended
audience
>> it anyone looking for an interesting design on a hoodie, and not Inkscape
>> community that wants to promote Inkscape at conferences etc?
>>
>> I'm sorry to be asking so many questions, I might have missed the
>> discussions. Is there a summary or a place where the requirements are
>> tracked?
>>
>> Most of the feedback I was working off was users wanting to wear
>> Inkscape (logo) related clothing usually at open source conferences while
>> also contributing monetarily or users wanting a piece of clothing just as a
>> belonging/identification sign while contributing monetarily.
>>
>> I've always set the bit that Inkscape gets from using the design to
>> $3.00 (following a very fluid suggestion from Bryce). It's a very small
>> contribution from financial perspective, a much larger value from the
>> merchandise comes from branding (promoting Inkscape in public and adding to
>> the sense of belonging).
>>
>> Mihaela
>> On 14.04.2018 15:22, C R wrote:
>>
>> When you add a category, spreadshirt ads all possible products in that
>> category, even ones you can't see (for example, the red mug that shows up
>> presently). Spreadshirt confirms there is no way to alter or remove these
>> phantom items. I assume this is so they can offer everything they have in
>> stock to balance out their own inventory.
>>
>> Please do read my earlier emails in this thread. It addresses a lot of
>> your questions.
>>
>> I'm curious to see how hackable the embedded version of the store is. It
>> may be possible to hide some of the offending items with some java script
>> and css. Pagination may still be an issue.
>>
>> There is no version of the logo up currently which works on black and on
>> white, so everything will need to be removed and replaced with similar
>> graphics that do.
>>
>> This is my next step.
>>
>> -C
>>
>> On Sat, 14 Apr 2018, 10:15 Mihaela, <mihaela.jurkovic@...400...> wrote:
>>
>>> Can you give an example where 5 products turn into 20? You don't have
>>> to add whole collections any more, you can add a product category, for
>>> example "Men's Hoodies", this way you end up with 2 products,
because there
>>> are two different men's hoodies among the available products, one is
more
>>> light-weight and cheaper, the other is warmer, sturdier and slightly more
>>> expensive. That's not that hard to handle, I'd expect someone wanting
to
>>> purchase it would want the option of choosing between such qualities.
>>>
>>> I asked the Spreadshirt about the colors issue, they replied they are
>>> implementing a way to limit product colors, and will post a blog post and
>>> send out an email about it when it's ready (should have been this past
week
>>> I think). This is a necessary feature in any such shop, as it would solve
>>> our problem of having mostly black logo.
>>>
>>> I think we all agree there's no obstacle to using any other service, we
>>> might have more than one shop too. But there are a lot of things to
>>> consider, choosing products and colors is only one issue. There are shops
>>> out there that get bad reviews about shipping, product quality, payment
>>> options, product prices, community options (in Spreadshirt we can allow our
>>> designs to be sold in other Spreadshirt shops, even people who've never
>>> heard of Inkscape can like our designs and learn about Inkscape that way,
>>> this is where the smart strategy about the designs and product copy come
>>> into place). Spreadshirt scored highly overall. Don't forget we need the
>>> conservancy account tied into it, so another step in the process that adds
>>> more work which is why it's important to be sure about what we decide to
>>> use.
>>>
>>> Please do try to find a better option, but you might feel equally
>>> frustrated with others too. It's not as easy task as it may seem before
you
>>> get into details...
>>>
>>> It would be good to come up with a prioritized set of requirements of
>>> what we're looking for, to make it easier to evaluate possible services.
>>>
>>> If you just throw yourself into learning about 5 different services and
>>> trying them out you may end up with 5 equally frustrating options that
>>> differ in how they're inadequate, and you won't know which one to
choose if
>>> you're not clear on what you want your end goal to be. We seemed to have
>>> gone into this with an assumption that there are printing shop services out
>>> there, with time certain services float to the top which makes it easy for
>>> us to pick the best suited one. In reality it doesn't seem that easy to
me,
>>> but YMMV.
>>>
>>> You can clear out and start over if you like, although you can keep the
>>> logo designs I uploaded, they aren't likely to change. Don't use them
in
>>> the shop until they implement the product color control to avoid "black
on
>>> black" problem.
>>>
>>> Do we have the appropriate titles and text for the designs that answer
>>> visitors questions and help with enticing them buy? We need that
>>> independent on which service is chosen. Or do we for now only rely on
>>> enthusiastic community members who already know Inkscape and want to
>>> purchase something?
>>>
>>> What do the branding guidelines say about the "black on black"
problem?
>>> If we're missing this, then we should come up with a good sensible
solution
>>> for it and include in the guidelines for everyone to follow and keep
>>> Inkscape image consistent.
>>>
>>> Are we in a rush to set up the shop? Do we expect a lot of revenue from
>>> it? I guess this ties to the overall question of what we're after.
>>>
>>> What other designs should be there in shops besides Inkscape logo?
>>>
>>> Mihaela
>>> On 13.04.2018 22:44, C R wrote:
>>>
>>> Okay, finally got time to read the writeup. Thanks for the patience
>>> everyone, been frantic at work lately.
>>> Unfortunately, I didn't find any solutions to the biggest problem:
>>> Spreadshirt automatically makes way too many variations on just a single
>>> product.
>>>
>>> The only real solution is to come up with one design, which works on
>>> all colours, and seek other platforms for selling a variety of designs.
>>>
>>> As you can see, just one design on 5 products is made into 25 products,
>>> about 20 of which no one with any sense would buy. :)
>>>
>>> So I'll work up a black logo with white rim design, load it up, and
>>> I'll keep looking for a more sane platform for handling multiple
designs.
>>>
>>> Can I clear out what's in the shop?
>>>
>>> Thanks for the help everyone.
>>>
>>> -C
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, 6 Apr 2018, 19:05 Bryce Harrington, <bryce@...961...>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, Apr 06, 2018 at 03:12:17AM -0600, brynn wrote:
>>>> > Will there be a way, with Spreadshirt, to upload our own unique
>>>> items, such
>>>> > as art work prints, jewelry made using Inkscape, calendars with
>>>> > Inkscape-made images, things like paperweights made via Inkscape
and
>>>> CNC,
>>>> > etc, etc?
>>>> >
>>>> > I think being limited only to the products which Spreadshirt (or
any
>>>> similar
>>>> > kind of shop) offers, no matter how we can hack out a unique
>>>> display, is not
>>>> > doing Inkscape justice (from a shop persepective). I think we
>>>> should look
>>>> > towards selling products what are actually made with Inkscape (and
>>>> not just
>>>> > the logo added to the shop's default products).
>>>>
>>>> It's a good point. Certainly spreadshirt doesn't have to be our
only
>>>> merchandise site. It's main advantages are that we don't need
to
>>>> maintain inventory or or large print runs, and that the money plumbing
>>>> with SFC is already in place. So, it's worth pressing ahead even if
we
>>>> use it only in a limited capacity; it's a good learning experience
for
>>>> our project if nothing else.
>>>>
>>>> > I think we should look toward running our own shop -- at least
>>>> someday.
>>>> > Yes, I realize it would take a lot of work. But couldn't we
look
>>>> towards
>>>> > doing that someday?? (especially since we have our own webspace
now)
>>>>
>>>> Etsy or even ebay might be worth looking at for more DIY products,
>>>> although I'd guess that running a store would be a project in
itself.
>>>>
>>>> Bryce
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>