*Update #2 (Sept 22, 2017): The makers of Nuvango have launched a website called notion.ca - a website where you can upload your art on products to purchase on demand. They do not seem to have an artist shop option, but this may be good for artists who go to art shows, or sell their art products themselves through their personal shop. See the new notion.ca here. If Notion decides to open up artist shops, I'll definitely post about it here.
*UPDATE (Sept 27, 2015): Nuvango is closing artist shops October 2015. For information on how to sell designs on the new Nuvango platform, you will have to inquire through Nuvango's contact page or through their social media. No information has been given on whether they will be accepting new artists or not at this point in time. I will update this blog post if there are any changes!*
So I decided at the beginning of the new year I would experiment with a variety of different print on demand sites to see which ones I like and why. A few days ago I joined one that I hadn't heard of before, Nuvango! You can view my gallery here! If you ever heard of GelaSkins, Nuvango is made by the same people. It is basically GelaSkins turned into a print on demand website, aimed more at artists than the previous GelaSkins brand was. They are a relatively new POD site, but they have garnered quite a bit of attention from artists so far, so there is no lack of art on their website. You can choose to put your products on Fine Art Prints, Stretched Canvases, Greeting Cards, iPhone cases & skins for just about any device. They will be adding Pillows and Tshirts to the collection on Feb 10.
Here are some key things you should know about Nuvango when you are setting up shop.
1. Artists Ownership
The first thing that I look for when joining a new POD website is if I keep the rights to my images, and if they want exclusivity or not. At Nuvango, you keep the rights to all of your images, and you can choose to remove them from your gallery at any time. The only rights that Nuvango has to your images at this time is the right to print and distribute them on items that you choose, and to use your images on products for promotions. Nuvango doesn't have exclusive rights to your artwork, so you can sell on Nuvango while continuing to sell your designs on other websites.
2. Royalty & Wholesale
Unlike Redbubble and Zazzle, you don't get to set your own royalty rates at Nuvango. Your royalty is set at 20% by default for all products. Nuvango also has a wholesale option, that you can opt in or out of for products. Royalty rate for wholesale purchases is 12%. Not setting your own royalty rate is both good and bad at the same time, bad if you like to set your royalties per product, but good for marketplace viewing, because every product from its line is the same price. There is a 30 day processing time for payments to clear, but after that you can withdraw your earnings at any time.
3. Putting up a collection
On Nuvango starting a collection is very easy, and comparable to redbubble in the sense that there is little customization. When you add your artwork, it must be saved in RGB colour format, atleast 2000 px in size and saved as a JPG or PNG (and of course, you must have rights to use the image you are uploading). You can't change the position of your image on individual products, but you can customize the "sweet spot", the focal point of your image, ensuring that what you want on your products will actually be there. When your artwork is added, you are asked which products you would like to opt in to sell. When you select these products they automatically change the wholesale settings as well, so if you would not like to opt in to wholesale you will have to change those back yourself.
The gallery profiles in Nuvango are beautifully laid out, and the product previews are gorgeous! You can add up to 30 pieces of art in your gallery, making sure people put up their best work rather than everything. You can replace art in your gallery at any time.
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| Here is what my gallery looks like on my phone. Easy to browse, looks very simple and nice. (and yes my phone is almost dead!) |
** Just a note on iPad and Phone cases: when you sell a case, it comes with a matching wallpaper to set on your phone. Just a warning for people who don't want their art being given out in a digital format.
4. Searching art on Nuvango
Nuvango's marketplace is curated into different galleries of artwork that is chosen by Nuvango. This makes for very beautiful galleries, however I am yet to find a way to search for "newest" (unless I am missing something huge) so there is little chance of someone stumbling across your work unless they are searching for specific keywords. So if you are going to successfully sell on Nuvango, you will have to rely heavily on marketing yourself and work on making great keywords that people will search for. As far as I can tell, there is no limit on keywords, so describe your product to the fullest in keywords. The people who get featured on nuvango are those who have the most "likes" on their products and therefore are more popular. So getting to know the nuvango artist community over social media streams will be useful for you.
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| A screenshot of the Gallery/ Shop page on Nuvango. You can browse popular artwork and curations. |
My Thoughts on Nuvango
These are the big points that I really looked into when creating my Nuvango gallery. The things I like the most are the way your gallery looks, it really is professional and beautiful. I like the product previews a lot, they are very clean. I really don't mind the royalty rate being set at a default 20% and I like that there is an option for wholesale.
The only issue I have with Nuvango is the marketplace. The galleries are curated beautifully, but if customers don't know what they are looking for, they are going to stay in those galleries rather than search the marketplace. When you do use the search function and search for a keyword, there is no way to further limit your search by things like popular or newest (or by product) so there is a very big chance that your design will be lost in the marketplace forever. There is a chance that when someone looks at an item yours will show up under "related artwork", but I find that the related artwork isn't really related, and they are again usually the most popular items.
In all, I think Nuvango is a great place for artists who already have a huge following, but it will be tough going for artists who are new. For artists just starting out who have very little social media exposure, redbubble and zazzle seem to be a better place to start with.
I will keep you updated on how my shop is doing throughout the year, and compare it to Redbubble and Zazzle at the end of each month!
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| Here is what a phone case in Nuvango looks like on preview! They look so pretty. |
