Antonio Riveras » Graphic River

The programmers choice?

Antonio Riveras — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:12:33 +0000

When buying elements on the river you see alot of different categories, with items ranging from business cards to backgrounds for the web. When designing these kind of elements you have to consider who is buying it and not only design something that you think is pretty.

My thing is trying to figure what kind of graphics a programmer would want to buy…

Buttons

Buttons are very popular on Graphic River and I’m not surprised that they are. Programmers need buttons designed not only for the web, but for their applications as well. It could be an iPhone app just a button for a sig up form.

Menus

Programmers who don’t need an entire template but just a few elements designed usually buy menu graphics. Menus are extremely popular and they also serve as a starting point for the rest of the design on website.

Business Cards

For a while, business cards flourished on the river and people where designing cards like crazy. A business cards is a must have when running a business and that’s why I believe that they will always stay popular, especially for programmers who don’t have a clue about how to design business cards.

How to sell well on Graphic River

Antonio Riveras — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:27:38 +0000

Graphic River is a great market, sure. But the competition is getting tight, more and more creative artists are starting to upload outstanding work for all you programmers out there. Selling is a competition and it’s important for you to know just how to gain first place, and sell well on Graphic River.

Look at what’s popular

Take a look around the gallery and see what’s popular and selling the most. Pick something you’re familiar with, don’t try to exceed in something you don’t have a clue about.

Can you do it differently?

When you’ve finished your search and seen what’s popular, try and look at it and think – ”How can I do it differently?”. There is absolutely no point in doing the same thing, it won’t sell and it won’t be approved either.

Make a good impression with a good presentation

Presentations is key and will determine how well your item sells. I’ve seen hundreds of ”not-so-good” items sell in huge amounts just because the presentation is done well.

Make sure that you show a close view of your item, but also the entire item. A good example is something like this:

Here I’ve tried to showcase the best features of my item and at the same time show the entire package. This items has sold 15 times since April 18:th. Pretty OK if you ask me…

Provide a solid description

The only this left now is the items description. Try to cover as much as possible without writing an entire essay. A smart way of desicribing is putting up a list of what’s included in the package. This gives your buyer a good and easy view of what’s he/she is buying. Simple as that…

Buying Web Elements

Antonio Riveras — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:40:42 +0000

If you could buy graphics for your web site, not entire site templates…Would you? Some people might find this strange, but it’s actually a great market for those who don’t have the necessary design skills but come with an arsenal packed with programming and coding skills.

Original and editable Photoshop Files

On Graphic River you can buy web elements suchs as buttons, backgrounds, headers and menus designed in Photoshop, ready to be sliced up and inserted into your web site or web application. You get the original photoshop file when purchasing an item, so you are fully capable of editing colors and shapes if you need to make certain modifications so the item fits your project.

It’s pretty cheap too

Not only is it really easy for you to purchase an item and customizing it to fit your needs, it’s cheap too! Business cards cost $3.00 and buttons or menus can cost between $2.00 – $10.00 depending on how high of the ”level” of the item is, measured in design.

How are the prices set?

Reviewers set the prices depending on complexity, creativity and standard. They also set the price depending on how or if the items come as ”packages”. For example, one ”item” may consist of 19 buttons plus 6 menu designs.

Marketplaces of this magnitude serve as great resources for everyone who works on the web making web sites or web applications. I believe that anyone who want’s cheap photoshop graphics should become a member of Graphic River.

jQuery Headers uploaded

Antonio Riveras — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:25:50 +0000

I just got my jQuery Headers approved for sale on Graphic River. These headers come in 3 different colors and include a live demo!
You can purchase this item here for only $2.00!

Included in this package is:

.PSD file
3 different color variations of header
Valid XHTML/ CSS
jQuery Slider
Help file

Entering the Graphic River contest

Antonio Riveras — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:49:19 +0000

That’s right, I’m aiming for the big win. All I had to do was to create my own collection of 30 items and adding the link in the comments of the post. My collection is called ”Programmers Dream” and consists mainly of web elements such as menus and buttons. Some FlashDen items were added but mainly items from Graphic River.

If you’re interested in seeing my bookmarked collection don’t hesitate to check it out here.

Win $3500 on Graphic River!

Antonio Riveras — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:52:07 +0000

Today Envato opens up their biggest competition yet! An awesome chance to win $3500 to spend on the ultimate creative set-up. All you have to do is create a collection of your favourite items from the 5 different Envato marketplaces.

You do this by bookmarking the items you want and then post a link on the blog post. Simple enough, read more about it here.

XHTML/CSS on Graphic River

Antonio Riveras — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:21:28 +0000

Recently, people have been uploading graphics for the web with ”examples” or ”bonuses” consisting of XHTML/CSS files. For example, someone uploaded a tabbed menu for the web with the XHTML/CSS along with it.

Some members of Graphic River objected to this, arguing that it will become a trend or standard and the people not being able to create the code with the graphics won’t be able to sell as much as the one with the code.
You can read it here.

The author DreamWarrior makes a good point here. Nevertheless, I still believe that a marketplace should be competetive and evolve as the users help the site grow. Users who create their web items with XHTML/CSS should be able to upload it. Although they shouldn’t be ”awarded” something for it, the price should still be the same as the regular graphics without the code. Fortunately, they are…

It was decided by the directors that Graphic River would allow files with bonus XHTML /CSS files only if it wouldn’t fit in on Theme Forest. Theme Forest doesn’t deal in the small snippets and demo-sized XHTML /CSS that some files in the Graphic River library offers.

Because Graphic River’s scope is focused on graphics, XHTML / CSS files are considered bonuses or extra files that are not considered during the review and pricing process. Which basically means that XHTML/CSS is not judged when the file is reviewed.

So if you have the time, go ahead and code the XHTML for your web graphics. You might sell more, or you might get rejected. I tried to upload an XHTML/CSS item but I was rejected because the graphics were to simple. So I’ll try to make the graphics more complex and of ”higher standard” before I upload it again…

My thoughts on Graphic River

Antonio Riveras — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:11:27 +0000

I believe that Graphic River is a great place to earn som extra money. If you have enough items uploaded I believe that you can have a good passive income reaching up to $100-$200 per month.

But there are alot of items on the river, currently 747 graphics, 347 design templates and 770 vectors plus much more.

I think that you need to have at least 20-30 items uploaded before you can reach a good passive income, which is or should be the main goal for any author on the network, wether it be on Graphic River, Theme Forest, Flashden or the other marketplaces.