Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing a three-part blog series on moderation where we will go over the approvals part of the moderation process – the way thortful moderators do. We will split the blogs into the following parts:
Part 1: Initial checks – 10 musts we immediately check before considering the design for the catalogue
Part 2: Design and visual checks – design concepts and printing requirements that we carefully consider to ensure the card looks good
Part 3: Impact and sentiment checks – evaluating the purpose, meaning and impact of what the design is trying to communicate and whether it will resonate with customers
1.) Bleed allowance
The ‘bleed’ is the area extending beyond the design’s edges that could be trimmed off in the process of printing and cutting the card down to size. So when designing, think about what parts of your design you’d like to either overflow the edge of the card or the elements that you’d definitely want to remain on the card. Those elements should be placed in what is referred to as the ‘safe zone’. The bleed area is usually 3-5mm from the edge of your design. So, anything in that area has a risk of being trimmed off, which could compromise the design or readability of your card.
2.) Colours and textures
All of our cards are printed flat on matte paper which means glitter effects and textures that look very impressive on screen, might not look as good in print. We don’t use any special spot colours, glitter or foiling in our printing. Some customers may not realise this and may be disappointed to see the card in person.
3.) RGB or CMYK
RGB colours are used for digital screens, and CMYK inks are used in printed material. Your design program can switch between the two. Some of our designers design in RGB, even though the designs are printed – this is okay, it’s just important to recognise some RGB colours naturally look a lot duller when printed in CMYK.
Check out this blog post on how colours print to learn more about what colours to avoid.
4.) Spelling and grammar
This one is pretty self explanatory. All the copy on the design should have the correct spelling and grammar.
- These are the most common spelling and grammar mistakes we see:
- You’re (contraction: you are) vs your (possessive)
- Their (possessive) vs there (adverb of place) vs they’re (contraction: they are)
- Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day – these should all have apostrophes
- It’s (contraction: it is) vs its (possessive)
- Plurals – you don’t add an apostrophe before the ‘s’ to make a noun plural
- Words with double consonants (e.g. beginning, commitment…)
- Celebrity names – Google is your friend!
Tip: check your apostrophes, too.
5.) Political bias
We appreciate content that references the behaviour of a specific politician or a political initiative, event or news story, but only through the lens of ‘banter’ without referencing the parties themselves. We don’t accept designs that attack ideology or parties, British or otherwise, and we don’t accept designs that we consider to have cruel intentions or reference very human or sensitive matters.
6.) Derogatory
We do not accept content that is derogatory or prejudiced towards any group based on creed, colour, sexuality, disability, or religion amongst others. We enjoy being bold and provocative, but we always listen to feedback from customers and the public, welcoming new perspectives on designs or concepts we hadn’t considered. Therefore, we reserve the right to change our stance on designs that tread this fine line.
7.) Pornography
Some cards might not make it to the mantelpiece, and that’s okay. Naughty illustrations are completely fine, but we do not accept nude content that is photographic, vulgar, or hyper-realistic.
8.) Covid
While a little outdated now, we accept content that references the pandemic but we don’t accept designs with the word Covid or coronavirus (this may change in the future).
9.) Copycat and IP
This one is a biggy for us. We do not accept content that is not original. This is a bold statement and it isn’t very easy for us to enforce, but we do our best. Originality is something we constantly debate internally. However, it’s on you, the Creator, to know whether you own the rights to the material you’re using in your designs.
The following are some questions we ask ourselves all the time that unfortunately have no one simple answer:
- How much inspiration can you draw from other work before something is considered a copy? What is significant? Is it the text? Format? Composition? Colour? Sentiment?
- How can we determine if someone drew inspiration from an original design as opposed to having a similar idea organically? This one is difficult considering we are often inspired by relatable moments, our surroundings, or the media.
- Is the original design being copied actually the original itself? Especially when you’re using common phrases, sayings, quotes or recognisable figures it’s tricky to determine whether you’re the only one who should claim it; because you were the first to upload it to thortful, doesn’t mean you own the concept.
- We’re all about originality; If you find inspiration from something that’s already been uploaded, what are you adding to it that differentiates it? Is that enough?
We use reverse image search using a variety of tools and we know our catalogue very well, so we like to think we’re good at monitoring this. However, we do admit that some designs may slip through the cracks, so please don’t hesitate to email us if you believe someone has copied your design/s. We encourage you to keep proofs of your designs that have dates that show when you first created them – this makes it really easy for us to evaluate originality when we’re considering cases brought forth.
10.) Theme saturation
Also a large one for us; have you checked that others didn’t have that same idea before you? The greeting card industry is full of clichés (or timeless concepts) and we will always expect to get designs that feature them: “we make a great pear,” otters holding hands… We have a lot of these already and are not likely to approve new designs unless they bring something significantly new to the catalogue or unless there are performance issues with the existing designs in the catalogue.
When you have an idea for a new design, we always suggest trying to find the card you’re imagining by looking it up on thortful first. If you can find something very similar already, your design is less likely to make it into the catalogue.
See you in part two, Moderation 101: Part 2 – Design and visual checks.
Team thortful
