|
MicrostockGroup Sponsors
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - Lee@Canva
1
« on: May 05, 2015, 03:21 »
Felicidades Ron!
2
« on: April 30, 2015, 05:05 »
Personally I think Canva has been an amazing start up and has been a boon for contributors (and designers). Well done to Lee and everyone at Canva.
Thanks. We're happy with progress, but still just getting started. Lots to do yet. 
3
« on: April 30, 2015, 03:33 »
Personally I am a little disappointed with the return for subs, but then a again I continue to upload to IStock who dumps my work onto Thinkstock and pays me considerably less, so I can see the reasoning. It is worth noting that a lot of people have seen a drop in the volume of sales even at SS, so compensation at this RPD may not be sustainable for the contributor for too much longer. It would be great to see Canva doing something different, like offering a decent percentage of subs income rather than a flat cent fee as mentioned.
Lee, you've been great on the forum at keeping us all in the loop and responding to concerns. Please don't let this degenerate into an argument when a contributor raises their concerns. Jo Ann has been a long standing champion of contributor rights and is always fair and balanced in her comments. I can't think of anyone else who's done as much reporting and investigating on things that impact the industry, including bloggers that actually make a return for all their hard work. I don't think she deserves to be spoken to in quite such a dismissive way.
I'm very aware of Jo Ann's history and role in this forum. I'm simply trying to help her and some others see that just because Canva is a new business doesn't mean we're naive and uninformed like many other startups in this space. We put together a collection of over 1 million images before we even launched. We've gained over two million users in under two years. We're paying out 100 contributors per month in under two years. I'm not sure what some people need to see to be convinced that we know what we're doing.
4
« on: April 30, 2015, 01:29 »
...Jo-Ann, you still seem to think we're making rash or uninformed decisions. All of the contributors I briefed on this change were totally fine with it...
I didn't say anything about rash or uninformed in this post or any other, so I 'm not sure what your message is about i "still seem to think".
I posted my reaction to the e-mail I received. My reaction based on my experiences.
What's actually going on - in my case anyway - is that I feel Canva, as a new agency, is in a phase of its development where contributor input can make a difference.
Later on, it won't matter at all/as much what contributors say. I think your business model has a lot of potential and to the extent I can, I'd like to influence the contributor end of things by giving input while that's still possible.
Once you're big and successful, we can happily ignore each other
I hope Canva realizes that introducing subscriptions for RF licenses really changes the game as far as Canva and contributors are concerned. This is not just a small detail.
5
« on: April 30, 2015, 00:29 »
I thought I'd start a new thread on this, as I think it's a subject that's important.
For those involved with Canva, presumably you've all seen the announcement email giving details of new RF licencing, subscription services, on-demand sales etc.
Personally I'm very pleased with the progress at Canva, and I suspect they'll continue to grow. According to Lee's email they are adding about 300,000 new potential paying customers every month, which is quite some growth rate.
I hope that over the next few months we'll start to see on-demand sales. At $3.50 a sale, those will be worth having and could make a huge difference to the money earning potential.
I have a doubt about the new RF subscription, which might cannibalize the current multiple sales, but Canva seems to have done everything right so far so presumably they've got this one thought through.
It's not clear whether RF sales can be 'taken away' for use in other projects, or whether all sales remain just for use in the Canva platform. Perhaps Lee can clarify this point.
Thanks for the confidence and acknowledgement, David! On cannibalisation, the subscriptions are aimed at pro users (those who consistently spend a lot) and big businesses (who also spend a lot). Both the cheaper subscription and more expensive 'teams' subscription come with extra (new) features as an added incentive. We expect the more expensive subscriptions to cannibalise some of the existing credit sales, but we currently have FAR fewer big business customers than individual users. The subscriptions are designed to attract more of the big-spending businesses through the ease of billing and extra team functionality. So the cannibalisation will be minimal and the extra appeal to the big business market will be big. That's the plan. No, regardless of which license is purchased, the customer can never download the original file. They can only use it in Canva. A OTU license allows them to include it in one design. The RF licenses allows them to put it in multiple designs (and also has a higher reproduction limit). We currently don't have any intention to ever let the customers download the original files. I can't promise it'll never happen, but keeping it the way it is now is baked into the vision. Good question! Canva's approach from the start has been refreshing - they've quickly acknowledged and fixed the few minor problems that surfaced and have been easy to work with.
let's hope we see them rise to the top tier!
Thanks.
6
« on: April 30, 2015, 00:12 »
Got the email about the new licenses and all. Question about this part :
"We're also including subscription packages. The cheaper ones will provide the same OTU licenses we currently provide, though the bigger ones will provide the new RF license. Royalties for both types of subscriptions are the same 35 cents we're currently paying. "
Why isn't the new RF license paying higher than the OTU? I don't think people want yet another SS paying pennies for full rights.
We're not pretending that this is not giving away more rights for the same royalty. Obviously that's what it is. We need a subscription product and we elected to increase the rights rather than decrease the royalty. It's very much in line with what other agencies - where we all contribute - provide. We don't expect subscriptions to become our primary product like they are at SS and many others. Our primary product is still a One Time Use license at 35 cents royalty - WAY less rights than any other agency is providing. Half the subscriptions are for OTU licenses too. I have a similar concern to the one Sean mentioned - RF subscription and micro-RM (your OTU) for the same 35 cents a use.
I'm sure there'll be a "make it up in volume" argument, but that doesn't wash because (a) no one but SS really has the volume and (b) SS pays me 38 cents per RF subscription and I'm not all that thrilled to see someone undercutting that. I know there are other sites that pay 35 cents per subscription (Dreamstime for example) and I'm not happy about that either. So far I haven't been unhappy enough to leave the site, but as their credit sales slim down and subscriptions increase, it makes the site a whole lot less attractive.
I started uploading to Canva because it seemed it was something other than one of the many startups copying one of the existing agencies and thinking they could gain a foothold. I was OK with the 35 cents a sale because of the RM nature of it - one time use and the buyer doesn't get my image (monitoring compliance with mass market rights managed is a non starter).
I hope Canva realizes that introducing subscriptions for RF licenses really changes the game as far as Canva and contributors are concerned. This is not just a small detail.
Jo-Ann, you still seem to think we're making rash or uninformed decisions. All of the contributors I briefed on this change were totally fine with it. They realise the new RF subscription is no worse than most of the other places they distribute, and our OTU license - still our primary product and half of our subscription packages - is better royalty per rights than anyone else in the market. They were also grateful that our subscriptions didn't provide lower royalties as they've become accustomed to. They're also happy with our royalty level and growth, and the fact we have the easiest submission in the industry. And that we're not just, as you say, replicating the business model of everyone else in the industry. If you don't feel that way, we will respect that. Different things have different importance to different people. We have no lock-in policy. And I've given you months notice of this change. We don't want you to leave, but nobody is forcing you to stay. That may sound a little harsh, but you don't seem to have any confidence in our management abilities despite all that we've built. We value all our contributors, but we're most keen to work with those who value what we've done and where we're going - thankfully the vast majority. This is not just a small detail.
I completely agree. Just waiting for Lee to clarify and explain why they're doing this when they are by all accounts, already successful and gaining every day. Why is this necessary?
Why is this necessary? Because we're not content to coast with what we have so far. If that's what you were hoping for, expect to be continually disappointed for a very long time.  There's a huge vision for Canva and only a tiny portion of it currently exists. Why not 35% commission on subscriptions instead of 35 cents? What is the reason contributors should not also get 35% on subscriptions?
Because the royalty would be lower. Most microstock subscriptions work out at close to break-even if the subscriber downloads their full allocation. By setting a per-download royalty, the contributor gets a consistent royalty (no risk) and the agency profits only from the un-used portion of download allocations. Some agencies try to split the profits based on the quantity of downloads. Veer does this. It doesn't always work out well for the contributor. I was able to configure and connect using FTP...
when I connect it says "unsecured ftp connection...
I dont really know much about FTP ...but I was wondering if there is a way to make the FTP connection secure? Im using cyberduck it has options for SFTP and FTP SSL, but it didn't seem to work for me.
Don't use Cyberduck. It's the ONLY application that doesn't play well with our FTP system. There's a lot of free alternatives available, and most of the contributors I've already warned off Cyberduck have told me afterwards that they were glad they'd switched to a better FTP application. Just Google: free FTP mac
7
« on: April 28, 2015, 18:55 »
They're in now, Dirkr.
8
« on: April 27, 2015, 21:42 »
Lee, I see by my stats that I've exceeded the payout threshold again. However, I've yet to see an e-mail letting me know I'll be getting a payment next month. Is this a new policy as the last time I hit payout I got an e-mail almost immediately after passing $100 (payout ended up quite a bit higher than that as the $100 mark was in the middle of the month)?
That was a manual email that I sent you because you didn't have your payout details in the system. There's no automated emails for contributors at this time, other than those PayPal and Skrill send when you receive your payment. Now that your payment details are in, you'll just automatically receive your payment around the 5th of next month with no notifications other than those from PayPal or Skrill.
9
« on: April 25, 2015, 23:03 »
Thanks Lee, whats your policy on similars?
The minus is not from me
Like everyone else, we don't like similars. And like with everyone else, it's not in your interests to upload a loose edit (lots of similars). "Photos need to be well shot with commercially usable content and current styling."
What that tells people? We know all agencies want that. Not any exceptional info here. I don't see any detail helping. I tried twice showing you different work and still don't understand what are your needs. Even if I'd change my style in future (it's natural like trends come and go), I don't know what you preffer to be presented for your needs.
It's difficult to launch into too much detail given the variety of imagery we like. We're slightly more tolerant on technical issues than other agencies, and substantially less tolerant on visually weak imagery. A useful exercise, if you're confused about what we're seeking, is this: bring up your own portfolio sorted by popularity, and 9 others from the same agency. Include 4 or 5 of the best selling portfolios and 4 or 5 ones you think are weak. Flip through them while sitting back from your screen. Notice the differences. Notice what's common about the top selling ones. They'll have differences between them in style, but there'll be commonalities in clarity (of message, not focus), impact, usability, commercial appeal. When you can notice the differences between yours and the top-selling ones, then you know what you need to work on. I hope that helps. If I've rejected you, please feel free to reply back to me and ask for details. A lot of people already do that and I think it's a smart way to deal with the rejection.
I recommend you don't invest too much time trying to understand us yet. We're still small and still changing rapidly.
What?! Lol
Yeah. Some people don't bother with the minutia of how Canva operates because they're busy producing content and focusing on how to improve their quality. Just saying that that seems like a wiser option at this time. I still hope images with text can be put in a collection rather than removed as looking at my sales, the Canva buyers love them.
They may be among the best sellers of your portfolio, but that doesn't mean they "love" them. It's all relative, remember.
10
« on: April 25, 2015, 22:23 »
Our designers program is detailed here: http:www.canva.com/designers
It's very different to our image contributors program. We work with a very small number of designers in that program.
11
« on: April 24, 2015, 03:05 »
This will answer most of your questions: https://support.canva.com/hc/en-us/articles/203705754The first line there covers the reason most images are rejected. We're still rolling out our new higher-quality standards to reviewers so they'll continue to be inconsistent for a while. I recommend you don't invest too much time trying to understand us yet. We're still small and still changing rapidly.
12
« on: April 24, 2015, 02:15 »
Hi Lee,
thanks for accepting me. I understand that the vector upload is not ready yet...
I'm also interested in the layout designer program and I think I am going to apply for that, I am still learning how the design tool works. I am taking the tutorials first.
I was just trying to find where the layouts from the designer program go, so where do buyers find these ready made layouts?
Are these layouts the ones showing up in the Stream on the site ... or the layouts will show up always in the design tool along with backgrounds, text and image?
And how much is the commission if someone is using your layout?
Thanks
Email me a link to your portfolio of document designs and I'll get it in front of the right people. When you choose a document type in Canva (the horizontal list of different design types at the top of the home page), you go to a new design (in the editor) where you see the layouts in the left sidebar. Those layouts are either made by Canva and are free, or are made by layout contributors and are paid. Layout royalties are the same as for image contributors: 35%. If your layouts include images from other contributors, that contributor earns their usual royalty, but you earn an extra 10% commission on those images. You can also include your own images in layouts in which case you earn the usual royalty.
13
« on: April 23, 2015, 00:57 »
Hey Lee, is there any incentive if I refer a designer or 3?
Love and appreciation.
duly noted.
edit: how about a beer if/when I make it to the office while traveling?
I'll buy *at least* one beer for any contributor who comes to the office.
14
« on: April 22, 2015, 21:03 »
Hey Lee, is there any incentive if I refer a designer or 3?
Love and appreciation.
15
« on: April 21, 2015, 19:16 »
Still doesn't work. I tried my account password and tried changing to a new account password. Still comes up with username OK, need password. I'm using FireFTP but never had problems with it before.
I replied to your email. Let me know if you didn't get it sorted out.
16
« on: April 21, 2015, 17:43 »
How long does it take to get approved to be a canva contributor?
I applied to be an illustrator...
What is the difference between a stock image contributor and a canva layout designer?
Monica
You'll get a response within 24 hours. Let me know if you don't. A stock image contributor contributes stock images (photos, vectors, 3D renders, etc). A layout designer designs Canva layouts. Both earn royalties when Canva customers purchase licenses to their work. There's more info on the designer program here: http:www.canva.com/designers
17
« on: April 19, 2015, 19:43 »
I still can't connect, it says user name OK, need password. I haven't changed any settings since it last worked.
The old system used the password I gave you. The new system uses the password you set on your Canva account. If you need to reset your password you can do so here: https://www.canva.com/login
18
« on: April 18, 2015, 21:43 »
Hi all
would also appreciate some feedback: i applied and got a rejection impressively fast...
I sent this link, a site where all my photos are online:
https://www.colourbox.com/supplier/anne-ms-358
I have a lot of people images, maybe that is not what Canva wants? Also thinking, maybe it would had been better to send link to shutterstock, where i have a lot less images, but maybe a 'better' selection:
http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?gallery_id=469564
Feedback greatly appreciated!
Your work is quite good. What we'd like to see from our own perspective is more photos of people interacting with each other or things, in place of so many portraits looking at camera. Also more people in an environment that relates to the theme of the image, and fewer people on a plain / flat background. Those are the primary reasons we didn't take you on at Canva. They're also why the response was quick - they're the sort of things one can tell from looking at the first screen of your portfolio when sorted by popularity. I hope that helps. Feel free to email me again if you have other questions.
19
« on: April 18, 2015, 21:25 »
It's faster. MUCH faster. I've had quite a few people comment positively about the speed. The old one was really slow, so it's not actually saying much. But it's on AWS with a big instance, and will soon be distributed to a few parts of the globe. If you have any issues with speed, please let me know.
20
« on: April 17, 2015, 20:57 »
I was able to connect and upload a batch, I hope in time for this weekend's ingestion.
You made it! Once I had my correct user name (not my display name lol) it worked like a charm ... quicker than the old one and better than any of the other FTP sites I use. Well done Canva team
Thank you Lee for the help
I'm glad you got it working and that you think it's better. It's just a distributed system on AWS, so not overly difficult to do. In fact I don't think we've turned on the distribution yet, so it'll get even faster once we do.
21
« on: April 17, 2015, 14:59 »
This is maybe the only agency that really gets me excited.
In my opinion communication is a major factor when dealing with contributors and I really appreciate everything that you guys are doing in that department. Keep up the good work, Lee!
I sent a few files a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately the connection dropped so I currently have no idea how many of them have actually made it. I hope that they will show up in my portfolio soon so I can upload the rest of them next week before I leave on holiday.
P.S. Congrats on the 2 000 000 members milestone.
Thanks for this. We know communication is key. We can still improve, but I'm glad we're getting at least some of it right. Well, I can't connect using the new configuration. Anybody else having problems?
It's working well and we have a lot of people uploading right now. Please check your username, your brandname and your password. The few people who've had issues today all had these details wrong. The email I sent announcing the new FTP system has details on how you can confirm each of them. If you still have trouble, email me and I'll look into your account for you. Do we need to change the FTP server? Can't connect using the old details.
The old server has been decommissioned. You can throw away all your old details. It's never coming back. 
22
« on: April 16, 2015, 20:24 »
The new FTP server is up and running now. For the next little while we're only going to be submitting images on the weekends, but we have ample reviewing resources so we expect all files to be reviewed and online before the end of the week.
If you have photos you'd like to upload, now is a great time to do so.
Thanks to all for bearing with us while our old FTP server was in poor shape. It took over 3 million files in its short career, but has now been put out to pasture.
Some contributors still have some files that weren't submitted, as you can seen in the last few forum posts above. These were supposed to have all gone through by two weeks ago, but doing it all at once as we did overloaded the servers and some submissions timed out. Over the next few weeks I'll be periodically submitting all contributor brands again, but if you know you have unsubmitted files, please feel free to email me directly and I'll put you at the top of the list.
We'll have a contributor newsletter going out next week with a few updates. We also have some very big news planned for release in May, so stay tuned.
23
« on: April 16, 2015, 19:13 »
Where do you see the photos that are pending review?
All files that have been submitted are in the Your Portfolio page. If they're not there, they haven't been submitted yet. Lee I sent you an email .... but my FTP is broken and I am not sure why, I used the information from the email sent and nothing happens .... 
The old FTP server is down. The new one goes live in less than an hour. Please try again shortly. I'll get to your email asap - I'm a little behind today.
24
« on: April 15, 2015, 13:40 »
Does this mean the old waiting batches should have been reviewed by now? I have some that I uploaded a few months ago, and they still don't appear anywhere... Can you have a look Lee? Thanks!
They're coming through too.
25
« on: April 15, 2015, 12:13 »
Photos have been going though within a day, but we're temporarily switching to a weekly submission cycle while we sort out the last link in the submission pipeline. So from now, they'll all go through on the weekends.
I have a batch that I submitted at the end of March and they haven't shown up in my portfolio, not even as in review. Will these show up at some point or should I just upload again?
I've just put them through, Jo Ann.
|
Sponsors
Microstock Poll Results
Sponsors
|
Show Posts
