@b5zywicki Thanks a lot for your nice words!
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Wow. Now my day is filled with music.
Just received an invitation for the premium designer program.
I am feeling very honoured and will do my very best to keep on facing nice watches.
Thank you all for your wonderful support!!!
I hope, that others will follow, we have a lot of very good designers here that should be promoted, too!
Greetings,
Phantasico aka GAUSS
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You worked hard, you deserve it, you have got it
Congratulations for your fabulous success! You deserve it every bit!
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Congrats my friend Iām so happy and excited for you!
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Thank you, @syntaxracing.
For sure you will be next!
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Congrats!
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Thank you!!!
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Thank you @GAUSS, I hope so but that is yet to be foretold. I obviously have their attention, I just need to pull the kinda numbers you do. Iām about to roll out some new stuff so weāll see how it goes! 
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Youāve got my vote!!
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Itās about time! Congratulations! 
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Many compliments, Phantasico!
Just a few thoughts, since I need to understand, so pardon in advance for exposing my point of view. I think itās useful for everyone here. I deeply respect your work, Iām in no way against you and, besides, weāre in the same age range. Sixties guys ruleā¦ 
So, you basically had to give away 84 (eightyfour!) free watch faces, and had to apply for Premium Designer two times before being accepted. We know the second time took a couple of weeks, but how much time passed from your first to your second application? And how many watch faces have you created during this time?
Iām asking because Iāve applied in February and Iāve been promised a lot of times - via email - that I would be in the infamous ānext batchā of Premium Designers. But it never happened. And weāre nearing July.
So, maybe my three watch faces are awfully bad. More than 5000 people downloaded them, they all must be stupid or color blind but, anyway, Iām ok with that. I donāt need others approval to do something i donāt do for a living. Itās kind of a hobby, after all. Just passion.
But I do care for sincerity. And trust. And i donāt like to be mocked. Iām quite sure Iām not the only one here which is having or has had the same experience. Care to share anybody? Iām grateful that Facer.io gives the developers the opportunity to sell their work, of course. And I also agree that they have all the rights to filter the content to their liking. Thatās an understatement.
But the way itās happening is not the right way of doing it. Why not just tell the truth?
Dear developer, after thorough review, we decided that your work does not qualify for this community.
You cannot re-apply until three months have passed. Practice your skills, learn Photoshop, visit modern art museums, go to an ophthalmologist. Whatever.
But to keep people giving away - for free - their creativity and passion - during months - while giving them back just vague promises is not fair.
Besides, the whole āPremium Designerā application/approval process is fairly opaque. Why canāt we see the number of syncs of other authors just to check that everyone is treated correctly?
I wish you all the luck you deserve, Phantasico. But Iām in no way inclined to give away for free not even a pixel more of my work until things change.
Thanks for your best wishes.
I can understand your way of thinking and i know how disappointed and frustrated you must be in the moment. I was in the same position the last months. The worst problem for me was to get no answer at all.
Well, i personally have no problem with giving away 84 watch faces for free. For me, itĀ“s not about the money. I simply love to be creative in all ways, i started drafting when i was 6 and never ended this process and widened the range of my possibilities continously,
Facing means, at first, a lot of fun and inner peace for me and gives me a platform to make users worldwide a little happier.I donĀ“t count the hours i was working on these unique pieces and i never will.
Besides this, itĀ“s a wonderful community in here with awesome people that help each other where and how they can.
ItĀ“s a honour for me to be now a part of the premium designers, potentually earning money with some watch faces could be a nice side effect, but nothing more.
I think facer wants to check if potential candidates are, besides their watches and their success, long term Creators, teamplayers and active in the community.
And i think, this is a right decision. You canĀ“t easily go in with only 5 watchfaces and think they waited only for you. ItĀ“s a process.
I am totally with you that they should do it more transparent and that they should write some more, but thatĀ“s their decision.
You should go on, Throw the frustration overboard and get your fun in facing. If this isnĀ“t your way, stop it and do something different. You donĀ“t have any influence on what the facer_officials decide.
Greetings,
Phantasico aka Gauss.
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Phantasico,
I prefer an agnostic approach. I understand. respect and appreciate your motivations, but they are as valid as anybody elseās. Someone just loves to express creativity, someone else to be creative and earn some money.
I donāt think this is the point.
The point, imho, is how the āpremium designerā program is managed, independently from the expectations of any given developer. The lack of transparency and consistency.
I insist: why canāt we see the number of syncs of other developers? I cannot find a ānon suspiciousā reason. Can you? Can anybody?
And I think this matters because, after all, the work of hundreds of developers - whatever the reason why they did it - is what contributed to the success of Facer. And Facer shouldnāt forget it.
Besides, I have an additional issue. And I think Iām not the only one. I develop watch faces for both Wear OS and Tizen OS native platform and respective market.
When I publish here a watch face that I have already published on Google Play or on Galaxy Apps, I cannot give it away for free and fully featured. It wouldnāt be fair with the people which purchased it elsewhere.
So, what I publish here, is limited and somehow mutilated, with respect to the original work. And even if i would publish the full featured version, I couldnāt because, as you know, themed watch faces are a āpremium designer onlyā feature.
Best regards.
@veertualia.team
First and foremost I can only speak my perspective/opinions and not for facer but Iām inclined to agree with @GAUSS.
One thing you have to remember is facer gives anyone the ability to use their platform to make their own custom faces absolutely free. This means anyone can come in and make a few designs that could be really good and/or really lucky to make the minimum requirements in a short amount of time. Think of it like a job. You have a lot of people working in the entry position and when itās time for a promotion they look at it from all angles to make sure youāre the best candidate for the job. Itās not much different here Iām sure. Soon as you go premium and start selling faces you become a business partner with facer. They want to make sure that youāre going to be in it for the long haul not just you had some fun and now your done with it. Iām sure they are also looking for people that are going to be an active and helpful part of the community, someone that understand the platform and helps push the boundaries. Making sure their dedicated and truly wants to help elevate facer to the next level. They donāt want to be just a decent face company, they want to be the best and in that they need to make sure that the people they invite to priemium are the right people for the job.
Keep in mind with all of this Iām saying that Iām not speaking against your faces, skill, or knowledge. I looked at your designs and agree that you have some good work but they canāt see all of these qualities in that short amount of time.
I want to become priemium so that I have access to all the goodies that they have, itās not about the money despite that is a nice added bonus. Iām just thankful that facer has given me an opportunity to do something I love and share it with the world. I love watches, technology, my artwork, my fans, facer, and this amazing community and Iām just glad to be a part of it. I know Iāll be priemium someday, hopefully sooner than later, but when that happens I want to be known. I want a, āitās about time Orakix, we would love to have you part of the team!ā Versus a, āIām not sure, should we take a gamble on this person we donāt really know?ā
This is one reason why I donāt mind giving my faces out for free. That and because free means that more people can enjoy them, the more people I can make happy with my artwork the better. Even if Iām not making a profit.
~Orakix
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BINGO! Same here.
One of my recent reviewers messaged me the other day to say, "thank you for having them for freeā¦ " That just made my day and inspired me to create more free designsā¦
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Great work @GAUSS !! Well earned. Itās a shame you had to push so hard, but Iām glad you made it! I was considering applying a second time as wellā¦I have over 100,000 syncs now and feel that I more than exceed the application criteria @Facer_Official laid outā¦Iām getting a little sad that I never heard back!
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I think it is very different. You are not in an entry position fighting for a promotion while being paid for your job. You are actually still applying for that job. And when applying for a job, you donāt have to work for free while they think about hiring you for weeks. Or months.
Let me be very clear, I think itās important. I also think this is a fair community. People are nice and respectful. And I understand everybodyās reasons. But I have mines. And are as valid as anybody elseās.
I donāt work for free. Not if somebody else is earning money with my work. Sure, Facer is a free app. Apart from the detail that it contains ads and offers in-app purchases. Meaning somebody is earning money, here, with more than 1 million installations. And this is possible exclusively thanks to your free watch faces. No free contributed designers work, no Facer. No deal. Letās try not to forget this fact.
And while itās true that Facer gives anyone the ability to use their platform to make their own custom faces for free - which is not completely true since you are still paying by contributing your work - from my point of view, since I do not need a platform as this one or Watchmaker to create my stand alone watch faces, the only added value, here, is visibility.
And iām willing to pay, for this visibility. In fact, thatās what happens on other stores all the time.They help people find your creations and keep a certain percentage of any purchase in exchange. You can still publish a free watch face, if you want, and earn nothing. But itās your choice.
Besides, as I said, I cannot give away for free the same watch faces I sell elsewhere. Even if I could create them as complete as they are on Wear OS and Tizen OS, that is. Which I canāt since, as I already said, non premium designers have limited possibilities.
Am I the only one here selling watch faces on Google Play or Galaxy Apps and facing this problem? @Mellin @eradicator09 @syntaxracing @GAUSS @linlay ? Do you? Do anybody else?
And still no one tells me why we canāt see other authors number of syncs. Any explanations @Facer_Official, @Facer-Staff? I can find none.
Well then I see your point but I guess it comes down to, if you want to live in facers house then you have to play by their rules. Itās obvious that my intentions of helping you feel better about the situation were unsuccessful but Iām not going to argue about it. I wish you the best of luck with your venture and Iām just going to continue to be grateful for what i have.
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