Pingg studio getting started

From Help.pingg.com

Getting Started

Congratulations on joining us and welcome to the pingg Design Community! You should now see the "pingg Studio" tab on the upper right-hand side of the page when you're logged into your pingg account. Click on this tab to go to the pingg Studio at any time, where you can create and manage your profile and designs via the links on the left-hand side of the pingg Studio page.

The first thing you should do before creating a design is create your profile. This makes it easy for you to share your work with others. To begin creating your profile, click "Profile" on the left-hand side of the pingg Studio home page. At a minimum you must add a photo, name, a bio intro, and select the artist type that best describes what you do.

Profile Photo Specs

Please make sure your profile photo is a .jpg that is, ideally, 200 x 200 pixels. If the photo is larger, that's okay--we'll size it down to fit. However, if it is considerably smaller than 200 x 200 we'll have to increase the size, which will likely result in a poor quality image.

Website URL and Website Text

If you want your website URL to appear beneath your name on your profile page, enter the URL in the "Website URL" field. If you enter only the website URL and no website text, then the actual URL will appear beneath your name. However, if you enter text in the "Website Text" field, e.g., "this is my website", then "this is my website" will appear beneath your name and it will be an active link to your website. To see your profile, click the "Your Profile Page" link on the left-hand side beneath the "Designer Resources" heading.

Bio Introduction and Extended Bio

You have two sections for bio info: "Bio Introduction" and "Extended Bio." While the "Bio Introduction" is the only required section, if you have info in both sections they will both be displayed on your profile page, so think of the "Extended Bio" section as a continuation of what you've entered in the "Bio Introduction" section. If you plan on entering bio info in both of these sections, do not repeat what is in the "Bio Introduction" in the "Extended Bio." The "Bio Introduction" section is limited to 250 characters, and the "Extended Bio" section is limited to 2500 characters.

Add a link and/or email address within your bio

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>

Once you've created a profile, go ahead and start creating a design. . .

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

Creating a design from start to finish requires the following steps:

Selecting a stencil
Uploading your artwork
Editing the foreground and background
Naming, tagging & activating your design

To begin creating a design:

Click the "pingg Studio" tab located on the upper right-hand side of the page
Click the "Designs" link on the left-hand side of the pingg Studio page
Click the "create new design" button

Selecting a Stencil

Stencils are your starting point and the basic structure you will use to build your invite/ecard. After clicking the "create new design" button you will see a variety of square and rectangular stencils for you to choose from. Some stencils are very basic and have space for your artwork only. Other stencils offer a choice of overlays (i.e., a layer that frames your artwork or a text field, similar to a matte over-top a framed photo or painting), as well as one or more areas for users to add their own images (image ports) and text. For example, the stencil below has an overlay (the teal-colored area), two text fields (one above, one below), one image port (on the right) for user to add their own images, and one space (on the left) for your artwork:

Here is the same stencil, but completed and ready to be used. Note the artwork in the space on the left, the placeholder image on the right, the two text fields which have been left-justified and the fonts, whose color and size have been edited from the original:

This is just to give you an idea of what you can do with stencils. As noted above, you can move image ports and text fields, but you cannot add or remove them, so choose a stencil that has all the elements you need. Once you've chosen a stencil, it's time to upload your artwork.

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

After selecting a stencil, you'll see the "upload" button on the right-hand side of the resulting page. If you already have your artwork ready to go (e.g., a digital photograph, etc.) simply click the "upload" button and choose the .jpg file you wish to use. 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

Also, please note:

Resolution: use the highest resolution .jpg you can, saved with an RGB color space (not CMYK). Your finished product may be used for Postal pinggs (i.e., a printed, hard copy), so the higher the resolution the better. We recommend using a .jpg that is at least 1200 x 1200, although smaller .jpgs may work, depending on the stencil you have chosen.

Bleed: if your artwork is touching one or more edges of the stencil, the design tool will automatically factor in a bleed area, thus cutting off a small portion of your image around the edge. It is not possible to print an image so that it is flush with the edge of the card, so the printer will print a larger area than is needed and trim the card down to size so the image is flush with the edge.

Creating your artwork in Photoshop

If you're handy with Photoshop, you can create and prepare your artwork with the perfect dimensions using our Square and/or Rectangular templates.

After you have downloaded the templates:

Open the desired template in Photoshop
Confirm the template has the following settings:
- Width & Height: 1875 x 1875 for square; 2175 x 1575 for rectangular
- Resolution: 300 ppi
- Color: sRGB
Select the "Your artwork here" layer and place your artwork on that layer
Hide the bleed and text areas (if any)
Save the image as a .jpg

After Step 5, you can upload your artwork as explained above.

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

Once you have uploaded your artwork you can start editing the background and foreground elements of your design. To edit background elements click the "Edit Background" button located above your design; to edit foreground elements, click the "Edit Foreground" button, also above your design.

Edit Background

To edit the following background elements, first click the "Edit Background" button directly above your design.

Artwork

If you have selected a stencil without an overlay, the artwork you uploaded will initially fill the entire stencil. If you have selected a stencil with an overlay, your artwork will initially be framed by the overlay.

Here is an example of uploaded artwork on a stencil without an overlay:

And here is an example of the same artwork on a stencil with an overlay:

Regardless of stencil type you have chosen, after you've uploaded your artwork you will see your background editing options to the right of the stencil. To change the overall size of your artwork, click-and-drag the lower right-hand corner of your artwork. To change the position of your artwork on the stencil, click the "done" button on the right-hand side and simply drag-and-drop your artwork anywhere on the stencil.

Overlay

As described earlier, an overlay is a layer that frames your artwork or a text field, similar to a matte over-top a framed photo or painting. If you have chosen a stencil with an overlay, you will also see a selection of overlays to choose from on the right-hand side; just click the arrows to see the available overlay options. To change the overall color of the overlay, click the "overlay" color-picker icon and adjust the color. You will see the overlay color change as you adjust the color with the color-picker.

Background color

To change the background color, click the "background" color-picker icon to the right of the stencil and adjust the color. You will see the background color change as you adjust the color with the color-picker.

Edit Foreground

To edit the following foreground elements, first click the "Edit Foreground" button directly above your design.

Text areas

Text areas are where users will enter their own, unique text. Text areas are indicated by the placeholder text within them, i.e., "Your Title Here", etc. You can change the size and location of text areas, but you cannot add or remove them from a stencil. Also, if you have more than one text area, they cannot overlap. To change the size of a text area, click-and-drag the lower right-hand corner. To move it, click anywhere else on the text area and drag it to a new location on the stencil.

Font options

To pick the font options you wish to make available for use on your design, first click inside a text area. You will see all the available fonts displayed to the right of your design. You can make up to 10 fonts available to users. To add a font option to your design, click the corresponding font button. A selected font button is outlined in blue. To remove a font option, click it again; the blue outline should disappear, indicating that it is not currently selected.

Once you have chosen your fonts you can select any one of your choices as the default font when a user selects your design. Click the "default" button above the font options and you will see all the fonts you have chosen for your design. To make any one of your chosen fonts the default, click the desired font button.

To change the alignment and font size, click the "Properties" button above the font options. To align the text to the left, center, or right inside the text area, click the corresponding "alignment" icon. To prevent users from changing the alignment, check off the "Fixed Alignment checkbox. To change the default font size, click the "+" or "-" icons to increase or decrease the size. Your changes will be reflected on your design as you edit.

To change the font color and add font color choices for users, first click the "Colors" button. To set the default font color, click the first color-picker icon and set the color. To add font color options, click the "+" icon and set the color in the same way. To remove options click the "-" icon. To allow users to set their own font colors, check off the "Show Color Wheel" box.

User images

User image areas, or image ports, are spaces on your design where users will insert their own images. Like text areas, you can change the size of an image port by clicking and dragging the bottom right-hand corner; to move an image port, click anywhere else on the image port and drag-and-drop it to another location on your stencil. To change the placeholder image in the image port, click inside the image port and you will a variety of placeholder image options to the right of your design. Click the arrow icons to scroll through the options; to choose a placeholder image simply click on it. To edit or crop the placeholder image, click the "edit/crop" button; use the slider to zoom in & out on the placeholder image. To move the placeholder image within the image port, click on it and drag it.

To save your work, click the "Save" button located on the upper right-hand side of the page. Now, you're almost done. All you have left to do is Name, Tag and Activate your design.

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

Naming & Tagging

You're in the home stretch now--all you have left to do is name and tag your design, then activate it so it can be used. After saving your design, you will see the "design details" page for your design. Choose a name for your design and enter it in the "Design Name" field on the right-hand side. You can name your design anything you like, but the name you choose for your design should be related in some way to the design itself. For example: if your design prominently features the Eiffel Tower, naming it "Cheese Sandwich" or "Little Red Riding Hood" would be strange and conceptually unrelated. A name like "Eiffel Tower" or even "Paris" would be more suitable.

You should also tag your design with words that are conceptually related to the design itself. For example: if your design has the words "Happy Birthday" as part of the design, you would add the tags "happy birthday", "birthday", etc. But don't stop there--think of all the elements that are in your design--images and colors. If your design is predominantly red, add "red" as a tag. If it has a cake as part of the design, add the tag "cake".

Tags help us categorize and keep track of the designs you create, and we strongly recommend you add them to your design details. To add tags, first enter a keyword in the "tag search" field to find the available tags. For example, if you enter the keyword "birthday" and click "search", you will see a variety of tags to choose from: "boy birthday", "girl birthday", "birthday cake", etc. To add a tag to your details, simply click on the tag in the "Available Tags" section. You can add up to 25 tags to your design, and you'll see any tags that you have added in the "Tags on this design" section, directly below the "Available Tags."

When you're finished naming and tagging your work, click the "save changes" button on the lower right-hand side of the page. Now, it's time to activate and promote your design.

Activating your design

After clicking the "save changes" button, you will be redirected back to the "designs" page where you'll see two sections: "active designs" and "inactive designs." You'll find your newly created design in the "inactive designs" section. To activate your design, drag-and-drop it in the "active designs" section. Once your design is active, it can be used by anyone. With that in mind, you're going to want to tell your friends about your great new design on pingg. . .

Promoting your designs

Not only do we give you a place to create great art, but we also supply you with the tools to get the word out. Click the "promotional material" link on the left-hand side under the "studio management" heading. On this page you can post your custom URL (which links directly to your profile page) to Facebook or Twitter via the corresponding icons. Or, copy/paste the custom URL to send it to friends & family in any medium you choose.

If you have your own website, you can also place a pingg button or banner that will link directly to your profile page and designs. Simply choose from one of the six banner/button options and copy the resulting code beneath the banners and paste that into your site.

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

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Pingg studio getting started

From Help.pingg.com

Getting Started

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