Oops, i did it again... (Applying for Premium Designer) ;-)

I don‘t sell watchfaces in google play or elsewhere.

I am very new to all this, just bought a smartwatch in December last year and deciced to create watchfaces for me.

Didn‘t expect they would become that famous… :wink:

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I started the same way as @GAUSS
I bought a smartwatch, that just happened to be on sale, and after spending few days looking for a face that would suit me, I thought to myself:
I’m a graphic designer, I will design my one face.

Then I found Facer and created my first face:

(similar one to this, because I updated it since)

And it just kept going…

At some point, Facer itself suggested that I become a Premium Designer, and the only reason I agreed, was to have access to all functions of Facer.

Nothing else.
I think I only ones got actually paid for it.

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To answer your question, I have no desire to sell my watch faces. I would, however, appreciate a level of distinction once it is earned to let the public know that my designs are not just internet images that I’ve slapped up here as is. Having access to more resources/functions would be great. Just as with the public tutorials, I try most of them if they are applicable to the type of faces that my followers want. If you sell your watch faces elsewhere and cannot give away the same faces, why not keep doing it elsewhere?

As to the “job” aspect, where I’m from volunteers and interns are hired before people who walk in off the street. The company knows you and your work.
I’ve done a lot of free work. It has always paid off in more ways than one.

I’m glad that we can’t see other designers’ syncs. I would probably get so discouraged that I’d stop enjoying what I’m doing. That’s why I don’t post for opinions. I do what I like and edit or delete frequently based on my own evaluation and that of no one else.

Chiming in as well. I started making faces for fun to go with my own watch I received for Father’s Day last year. Did it purely for my own interest. When some of my unique faces became popular, I was asked to be a part of the Premium program. To this day I still treat it as a fun experience and not a business opportunity.

I have zero ambition (or time) to put into learning how to code direct to market faces through Google Play or Galaxy stores. This is work I do outside of my normal day job. Any results I get from sales typically go to support my substantial Diet Coke habit and taking my girls on Daddy/Daughter dates. I stick around because it helps pass the time during lunch breaks and because we have a great community.

As to the consistency of offers from @Facer_Official, I can only speculate that the minimum sync requirement is only the starting point for them in deciding whether to partner with a new designer. I would imagine factors such as uniqueness, community involvement, submission rate, quality, social marketing, and level of non-douchyness all go into their decision.

One factor I hope they also consider is the number of active premium designers. As Syndrome put it:

If everyone is offered premium status, then that dilutes the ability for premium users to gain revenue with a relatively fixed market of actual buyers.

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I agree, not everyone should be able to sell their designs, there needs to be a reason for premium status.

On the other hand, I strongly feel that having all the tools available is an important thing also. I do this for fun as well. It’s a creative outlet for me (I used to do digital art, comics, logo design, websites, animated gifs, etc) but I really hope the decision to hold back tools is reconsidered. It’s like being told you can create anything you can think of, so long as you don’t use the color red or circles.

Now whether that means offering addition perks to premium designers to help grow the community as a whole, who knows? Other markets are catching up and in some cases pulling ahead of Facer. And from my web design experience when you have imitators and similar content you’re creating you have to continually evolve and offer something new.

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In other words: less premium designers, less competition. And more revenue for the ones allowed inside the market. Did I get that correctly? Because there’s a word for that: protectionism. :relaxed:

I’d rather prefer letting the market choose the best designs. I’m not afraid of competition.
Besides, an open market usually favors excellence. And also dilutes douchyness. :wink:

Speculating about the premium designer program is all we can do. That’s the whole point.
It’s like playing a game while guessing its rules. I don’t like it. That’s why I stopped playing.

Hi, @cth4242 to which markets are you referring to?

@Linlay, I really only referred to it like a job to get my point across that facer is going to look at the bigger picture not just the syncs like @eradicator09 explained but I agree with you whole heartedly as well.

Recently I had a user send me a direct message asking me what I thought about all this and why I keep working towards my goal and I just wanted to leave a portion of that conversation here for you guys.

I do it because, “I love Tomas, Mellin, Tron, GRR is like my watch face idol, and I appriciate GAUSS’s honesty. This is the team I want to be a part of mostly, yes facer too but mostly want to stand next to these great names.”

There’s obviously more to it then that and more great names on this platform, premium and not but after reading what these great names have said in this thread it just reiterates why I feel this way. I mean, [quote=“eradicator09, post:44, topic:24388”]
taking my girls on Daddy/Daughter dates.
[/quote]
There’s my watch face designer and dad goals right there. So i just wanted to say again that I appriciate you guys and what you do. Im glad to be here and work next to you wether I get premium or not.
@Mellin @Tomas @grayhare @GAUSS

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@syntaxracing.

You wiil become premium, i am sure (even if you don‘t love me like the others, lol)

You have the right spirit and you are a gifted designer/ facer…

I don‘t have the rights and abilities to promote you but if they are not blind you will be next on their lists.

@veertualia.team:

I can understand all you‘ ve written. And you are right in your point of view. I believe everyone here thinks the same though we all have a different motivation.

Facer is different. We are no true freelancers at all, merely extremly motivated hobbyists with a lot of knowledge.

I have a very good job and don‘t need the money. It’s totally fun for me to create this little beauties. Believe me or not, but i have an inner peace when i make my personal sorcery with Autocad or Photoshop. It‘s my personal drug to create new things.

My origin Username „Phantasico“ tells the naked truth. I must canalize all my fantasies, i already did it my whole life long with Sketches, Paintings, Cartoons, Computer Graphics, Photography, creating of virtual worlds…

I have a hunger that will never be satisfied.

We are all different, for sure…

Call me crazy and i won‘t deny it.

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I guess that was poorly written, I meant I love all of you and just gave reasons why for some of you. Lol :heart:. Also thank you for your kind words. Im glad to have your suppprt.

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@syntaxracing I was not replying to your “job” comment. I was replying to veertualia.team’s statement:

There are different reasons why users create watches here,
someone for fun, someone else for money.

I expect one, must be defined clear rules for how it works.

The facer team has set the conditions for who can become a premium designer :

but … on the example of @GAUSS, @roycaruso and several other users, we saw how the facer team behaved, no response or other reaction. Was it an oversight? Ignorance? or deliberate action?

If there are any hidden or additional criteria, they must be presented so that users can implement them.

That’s why I have to agree with @veertualia.team
Facer Team should answer and even justify why they do not want to grant premium status.
No response from them shows that they do not take us seriously.

Several statements indicate that some people like this treatment.
If someone likes work for free for others, it is commendable, but if someone expects to pay for their work, we have to respect it.

The topic of conversation is serious, I think that the facer_team should take part in this discussion and define their own opinion.

It is obvious that business is based on the work of users. Understanding the expectations of users should therefore be compulsory.

I repeat the question from @veertualia.team
why can’t we see the number of syncs of other developers?
a great idea, so that we could find out what others like to download.

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I agree on the wait list time element. It does seem a bit long. Regarding giving applicants reasons, there are two sides to that. All of us like to know what we can do to improve so that we don’t keep making the same mistakes. However, I have to evaluate applicants for a group totally unrelated to Facer. What I’ve found is that if we tell people why they were rejected and what skills they need to improve on, nine times out of 10 as they sit behind their keyboards they will retaliate with some reason why they should be reconsidered. Perhaps Facer is just trying to avoid that aspect.

I’m not a fan of seeing " what others like to download". Why? You can’t be creative if you are trying to imitate everybody else just to collect syncs or make money. I’m sure Facer appreciates originality more than clones of the most synched designs.

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@GAUSS, believe me, I understand perfectly. They say, and I agree, that if you do what you love as your job, you will never really work one day in your life. Because you will be enjoying it. :slight_smile: I am personally trying to go down that road. That’s why I cannot give away my work for free. I understand that this is not an issue for you and others. But that does not mean it’s not an issue for many others. I’m sure it is. And eventually it will emerge.

Thank you for your contribution, @rarest. I’m not keeping my breath waiting for @Facer_Official to answer, though.
They will keep it this way, as long as there will be passionate people who does not care to earn their share of money with their work. Maybe is a smart behavior. But a short sighted one, imho.

@Linlay, if you want to explore and develop your creativity, you can, no matter what users like to download.
And, somehow, I suspect the interpretation you are giving of their choice not to show the number of syncs is not the real reason.

And, by the way, talking about transparency: what are the economic terms of the premium designer program? I can’t find them anywhere. Does anybody know? Do Facer keep a share? If so, which percentage? @GAUSS @eradicator09

@veertualia.team

For sure i can understand all your reasons.

About the economics:

It‘s not me to tell about it.

The @Facer_Official can tell you if they want to.

Interesting points…I’d be hard pressed to see how myself and a few others (and @syntaxracing soon I’m sure) don’t fit the criteria…But what can we do :smiley: I like making faces, but I really hope that Facer is a bit more transparent (or provides feedback) moving forward because I know a few of us would like access to premium features (themes etc) and definitely exceed their criteria (I’m over 100,000 syncs total, a tonne have hit over 3,000 in 30 days, definitely over 20 Featured faces, I have 2 over 10,000 syncs, and one at around 30,000 syncs) :slight_smile: If I’m doing something wrong, I would like to know from @Facer_Official via email :smiley: At the moment, I’m assuming I just have to keep proving myself and my last application (a few months ago) was too early…I might follow @GAUSS and build up a few more collections and then re-apply if I don’t hear back soon :slight_smile:

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Agreed!!

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I am sure you will make it as well!

I love your watch faces, @roycaruso.

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Thanks @GAUSS ! I appreciate it :slight_smile:

Yeah @roycaruso deserves it far more than me my hats off to him. #roycarusoforpremium

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