If you’re a Creator selling customized products on Zazzle, here are some tips, tricks, and guidelines when designing templates on Zazzle.
Template Tips for Selling
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Use short and sweet text labels on text templates. Customers look at template fields that you create and the labels that are inserted there aren’t always useful. For example: some Creators leave their template name set as “Text 1.” Other Creators are very verbose in their labels. We recommend using labels that are short and sweet that describe specifically what the text template is. Avoid putting instructional details in these labels. For example: if you’re creating a text template where a customer must insert the bride’s name, just use the text label “Bride’s Name”.
Not everything should be marked as a template. Not everything on a design should be designated as a template object. For example, the word “and” probably shouldn’t be marked as a template object. Neither should decorative images like flowers or wreaths.
Template objects should, ideally, be the top most layers of the design. When designing templates, template objects (i.e. content consumers are expected to replace/edit) should ideally sit above non-template objects within a design. We have found this approach results in very mobile friendly designs and reduces issues when users accidentally select objects that aren’t intended to be customized.
Image Templates
Use frames and grids instead of vector masked images. We recently introduced grid and frame elements that you may set as template objects for your design. We highly recommend utilizing frames and grids over vector masks whenever possible to streamline the customization process for consumers.
Keep image crops tight. In addition to using frames and grids instead of vector masks, we highly recommend picking a photo that best fits closely over the dimensions of the frame to make it easier for the average consumer photo to fit inside.
Design Tips
Use the opacity feature if you need a semi-opaque image in your design. We highly recommend using the opacity feature when you need a semi-opaque image on your design. We don’t recommend using semi-transparent boxes / elements over images as this makes image selection more difficult for the customer when interacting with objects on the design canvas. If you wish to use semi-transparent images or boxes on your design, consider locking the object so it is easier for the consumer to select the object beneath it without having to engage with the layers panel.
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Discard unused layers. We recommend discarding/removing layers that are not planned to be used by consumers as optional letters, design objects, as well as semi-opaque shields. You may publish additional designs to the marketplace containing optional letters and design objects if needed.
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Lock objects that aren’t intended to be interacted with by consumers. As mentioned previously, not all objects in a design have to be marked as template objects. For objects that are not intended to be interacted with or generally ignored: consider locking or disabling the object so users can engage with the objects you intend for them to engage with.
Avoid unnecessarily grouping objects. We sometimes find designs where objects on the canvas are grouped unnecessarily. While it is possible grouping objects improves design efficiencies (e.g. moving / scaling a single large object on the canvas), it does not always result in the best consumer experiences as grouped objects have to be ungrouped in order to be modified and interacted with.
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Utilize template object settings optimally. Template objects have different properties and it is fairly common to misuse, or not use, these. As a reminder:
Make object(s) permanent and always visible. Users can move, scale, and modify objects where this toggle is enabled, but they cannot delete the object from the design
Disable all object interaction. As the name implies, when this property is enabled, users will be able to see the object on the design, but will not be able to select it or perform any meaningful action on it.
Allow editing on product page. Users will be able to modify your published design. We recommend that you always enable this feature as Zazzle is all about customization!
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Force customers to replace with their own content. Users must replace your image with their own before adding the item to cart. This property adds friction to the checkout process and could result in a lost sale. We recommend using your own judgement when setting this property and use it only when dealing with licensed content.
Leverage the background image feature for full-bleed imagery. Many times, we see that images that are intended to be printed for full-bleed are treated as a normal layer on the canvas. If the image isn’t expected to be interacted with by the customer, consider using the background image feature so that images are properly filled to the bleed and the image cropping is constrained to the bounds of the product’s designable area.
Minimize overlapping layers. It is highly recommended to minimize overlapping layers, as much as possible, so that consumers can easily (directly) select design objects on the canvas without having to hide layers or move objects around to in order to customize template objects. To this end: try to keep image crops tight, text objects on their own row (or column), and avoid overlaps to a minimum.
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Keep text boxes and images within the design area Make sure any text boxes or image placeholders stay inside the intended design area. When boxes extend far beyond the boundaries, it can confuse customers - especially on smaller screens, by making it unclear where the box begins and ends. Oversized boxes or images can also cause long text to be cut off during printing. You may need to adjust text “line spacing” to adjust the height of the text bounding box so it does not overlap other bounding boxes, as some calligraphy fonts are unnecessarily tall.
For best results, always set up templates using the safe lines and bleed lines:
Place all text and key editable elements inside the safe line.
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Extend background colors or patterns fully to the bleed line so they print edge to edge.
Read about safe and bleed lines
Utilize SVG objects if they are intended to be recolored. We often times see cases where customers want to recolor a single-color image on a design, but they cannot because the image is raster. We strongly recommend using SVG files over raster in your design, whenever possible, as SVG files can be recolored using our built in recolor feature. Additionally, SVG objects can infinitely scale and generally print better than raster images.
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Try to avoid using images containing text. We recommend avoiding images containing text as consumers often want to modify text options on these objects (like changing font color or style) but are unable to do so because the object is image-based. We recommend locking the image if you decide to use images with text and the image is not intended to be modified.
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Try to avoid using large shields with cutouts. We have come across designs where layers contain large shields with ‘cutouts’ for imagery. In these designs, image template objects sit behind the large shield which make it difficult to (a) see the bounds of the image, as well as (b) select and change the image. If a large shield is integral to the design, we suggest using the lock feature so that customers don’t accidentally click on the shield cutout when customizing their design.
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Be mindful of watermarks. The vast majority of stores on Zazzle do not have watermarks enabled. Anecdotally, we have observed watermarks on designs will negatively impact the consumer experience and ultimately conversion rate. Read more about watermarks
Try to design templates with CMYK vs RGB. Certain colors can pose challenges from screen preview to print, but the updated color palette in the design tool is proven to be reliable for printing on different Zazzle substrates. Read more about print colors guidance.
Be mindful of placeholder text length. You will want to ensure that template text fields should accommodate a variety of text lengths to avoid accidentally having text wrap or cut-off. You may want to test your own text template fields with a variety of different text lengths (for names, months, numbers) to ensure a satisfactory customer experience.