A few days ago I wrote about how I need to begin thinking about the holiday cards I’m going to send this year. The World Wide Web has made things so much easier for people like me who prefer a custom design of some sort over just picking up a couple of boxes of cards at the store. (Not judging: nothing wrong with doing it that way, either!)
Just like magic, I received an email from the folks at Minted, asking me to check out their website and 2013 holiday card collection (Disclosure: and write about it in exchange for a credit towards the purchase of my holiday cards!). I had heard of Minted previously but never took the time to go have a look, so I hopped on over there and was immediately drawn in.
As it turns out, Minted crowdsources their products by providing a community of designers who might not otherwise get their products to market, with a place to sell them. From their “About Us” page:
Minted crowd-sources design and art from a global community of independent designers, then sell their best designs as fine products such as stationery, wall art, and décor for the home, holidays, and occasions. Minted was an early pioneer of crowdsourcing product design and has held open art and graphic design challenges monthly since 2008. All designers and artists are welcome to enter our open challenges. Designers collaborate on our community platform and provide peer critiques that improve both designers and designs over time. Consumers and designers curate Minted’s product assortment by voting on the entries to each challenge, ensuring that the best designers and designs are surfaced and represented on Minted. Minted produces and sells the winning designs, paying the designer a commission on every sale.
There’s really something for everybody on the Minted site, from the person who just has a fabulous picture of their kids and wants some artfully designed words on top of it to something completely custom like this Vintage “Year in Review” library card, one of my favorites:
They have flat cards, postcards, cards in different shapes, and even card-books.
Here’s what happens when you order, by the way:
1. Minted designers review your order. They will make sure there are no typos, problems with your photo, and will make sure your requests are included in the design.
2. One of Minted’s professional designers will adjust everything to make sure your card looks great. Once your proof is done, a digital copy will be emailed to you for approval.
3. If your card isn’t perfect or you want any revisions to your proof, let them know.
4. Once you are happy with your proof, you send Minted your approval via email or phone and your order is sent to the printer. They will never send an order to print without approval.
So other than making the choice from so many awesome designs (I MEAN, YIKES! AND WOW!), the whole process is pretty painless! And fun, even!
Minted is having a Black Friday sale, so if you can get your act together by Friday you can save 20% on orders $150 and up. I don’t anticipate being on the ball like that in light of the fact that Hanukkah begins tonight and I have yet to decorate, but I’m definitely going to be carrying my camera and pointing it in my kids’ direction all weekend so I can head back over to Minted next week and make some decisions! Thanks to the folks at Minted for introducing me to, uh, Minted!
Disclosure: As mentioned above, I will be receiving a Minted credit in exchange for writing this post. I grabbed the two pictures in this post from the Minted site, with their blessing.
One Comment
Momo
That’s cute how you still send cards. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Though, I have to say, if I did send them these Minted cards are awfully awesome.