Pingg studio FAQ

From Help.pingg.com

pingg Studio FAQ

Below is a list of frequently asked questions regarding the pingg Studio. If you can't find the answer to your question below, please don't hesitate to send us a note.

For detailed information on creating designs in the pingg Studio, please see our Getting Started and Design Tips sections.

Q: Why should I join the pingg Design Community?
A: Well for one, we're a small team, but a budding one at that. And we want you to grow with us. But you can also . . .

• Put your art to work in a new useable medium. These days artists can place their work on nearly everything. Everything that's tangible, that is. By joining the pingg Design Community you can offer your family, friends and fans online invitations, announcements & ecards designed by you. Pretty cool.

• Tap into a new viral audience. One event has an average of 50 guests. That's 50 people seeing your artwork, from one singular event. Imagine the possibilities.

• Extend brand awareness. Put your artwork, business and brand in front of 1000s of people.

• Promote Yourself. You're more than a one-person show and have other products you design/sell. Tell people about them. On your Profile page, showcase your invitation & ecard designs AND link out to your personal website(s).

• AND. . .earn some extra cash along the way via pingg's Designer Rewards Program

Q: Will I be included on the homepage under the title Featured Designers? If not, how do I gain this exposure?
We rotate our designers here. Once your collection was complete we would most likely rotate you through on a regular basis. Tagging is also on an important way to get exposure - having your design 'findable' on pingg as people search is another good way to gain exposure.

Q: Who owns the work that I submit & upload to pingg?
A: You, silly! Your work is exactly that, yours. You retain full ownership of your designs. You can remove, edit or add at anytime. For complete info, please see our Terms & Conditions.

Q: Why doesn't my design show up when I search for it using a tag that I've added to the design?
A: When you join the pingg Design Community, any designs you create and activate are added to the pingg gallery. You can find your designs by searching your name as it is entered on your profile, but a tag search will not return any results. You can also distribute your custom URL, which links directly to your profile page and will display all of your active designs. You'll find the custom URL and other promotional material by first clicking the "pingg Studio" tab, followed by clicking the "Promotional Material" link on the left-hand side of the page.

We review designs added to the pingg gallery frequently. Any designs our design team feels meet our editorial standards we add to the Designer Series. Once a design is added to the Designer Series, it is then searchable by tags/keyword. In addition to that, we also Spotlight designers in the Designer Series, Feature them in links on the left-hand side of the gallery homepage, and award Top Designer and Staff Pick awards.

Q: How do my designs get sorted into specific collections?
A: Everything you see on the pingg site outside of your own personal collection is curated into collections by the pingg team. This being the case, you may see a delay in relevant designs being added to certain categories. With more than 15,000 designs on pingg, we try to be as fair as possible when curating designs while being aware of the balance between free designs and premium designs.

Q: How do I put a link and/or email address in my bio?
A: To turn any text within your bio into a link, simply enclose the text you want to turn into a link in square parentheses, immediately followed by the actual URL you want the text to link to enclosed in regular parentheses. For example:

• [This](http://www.pingg.com) links the word "This" to pingg.com, and users will not see the actual URL in your bio.

In the bio users see, it will look like this:

• This links the word "This" to pingg.com, and users will not see the actual URL in your bio.

To add a clickable email address within your bio, simply enclose the email address with angle brackets. For example:

• You can reach me at <example@example.com>

Q: How long will my designs be on pingg.com?
A: For as long as you like. You can add to and remove designs from your collection or edit existing designs as often as you'd like.

Q: How many designs do I need to create a collection?
A: A collection usually consists of - and looks best with - at least 4 designs.

Q: Can I make money with my designs on pingg?
A: Well, in fact, yes you can. Check out pingg's Designer Rewards Program for complete info.

Q: Are my designs protected from people downloading and printing them?
A: Yes. While we do ask for a hi-res file, it is not available for download from pingg.com. We use the hi-res file to print Postal pinggs when a user chooses to send the old-fashioned way (i.e., USPS first class mail).

Q: What are the specifications for uploading artwork?
A: Your artwork should meet the following specifications:

• It must be a .jpg
• it should conform to an aspect ratio of less than 3:1 or 1:3 (i.e. it must be less than 3 times high as it is wide, or vice-versa)
• The file cannot be larger than 4mb
• The file must be saved with an sRGB color space, and not CMYK; CMYK images will not work

Q: Why is my image being cropped automatically? What is bleed and how does it affect my design?
A: The best answer for these questions can be found in this blog post from Dara, one of our most excellent staff designers.

Q: Who can use my invites?
A: Once you have activated your design anyone can use it. For complete info on activating and promoting your designs, please see the getting started section here.

Q: Why are there so many types of stencils?
A: No two stencils are the same. Each stencil has a unique combination of elements (text areas, overlays, image ports, etc.). Since you can't add or remove elements from a stencil, you should choose the stencil that best meets your needs. For example: if you want your design to have two text areas and two image ports, select the stencil with those exact elements. For more on stencils, please see the getting started here.

Q: How do I delete my designs?
A: Deleting a design is permanent, so before you delete a design just make sure that's what you really want to do. Also, you cannot delete an active design, so before deleting a design you must drag-and-drop it into the "inactive" section on your "designs" page.

To delete a design:

1. Log into your pingg account
2. Click on the "pingg studio" tab located on the upper right-hand side of the page
3. Click the "designs" link on the left-hand side of the page
4. Click the "edit" link beneath the inactive design you wish to delete (a design must be "inactive" before you can delete it)
5. Click the "delete this design" link located to the left of the "save changes" button

Q: I can't make my artwork area bigger!
A: You might have run out of image to show, try clicking the edit/crop button then zooming in first.

Q: What does overflowing text mean?
A: Text areas must be large enough for users to enter a useful amount of text. If you cannot read the placeholder text in the text area, then the text area is too small, the font is too big, or both. Try reducing the font size or making the text area larger. For more on editing fonts and text areas, please see the getting started section here.

Q: Can I have overlapping text areas?
A: No. Text areas can be right beside each other, or stacked atop one another, but they can't overlap.

Q: Where can I find out about how my designs are doing?
A: To see detailed information about your designs and how often they are being used:

1. Log into your pingg account
2. Click the "pingg studio" tab located on the upper right-hand side of the page
3. Click the ""Useage Report" link on the left-hand side, under the "studio management" heading

After Step 3 above you'll see a detailed usage report for your designs in the "usage report" section. Just below that you'll see the "design popularity" section which displays your designs in descending order from most- to least-popular moving from left to right, i.e., the most popular design is always first in the list.

Q: What does crediting my artwork mean?
A: Crediting your artwork means adding your name, website, symbol, logo, etc. to the design so that it's identified as yours and yours only. It's a good idea to put your name / website or email in one corner of your artwork so the credit will always be a part of your work and users will more closely associate you with your design. However, be careful the credit doesn't overwhelm the design. To get an idea of how prominent your credit should be, take a look at designs in our gallery and see what other designers do; a little goes a long way.

If you have any questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact us

See also: Program Description, Getting Started, pingg Plus Designer FAQ, Design Tips, Studio Help TOC, User Help