If you’ve been keeping up with the Spoonflower community, you know that in April we launched our brand new Monthly Design Challenges and our weekly contests got a little makeover.
How it works: To “enter,” you are no longer required to post designs on social media with our specific hashtag. You’ll simply upload your design to Spoonflower, make it “public” and add in that week’s specific tag. Each week will have its own special tag, which is how participating designs will be found on Spoonflower.
We still encourage sharing your designs on social media, as this will help you gain exposure and feedback for your designs. However, the key difference is that this is no longer a requirement. We heard your feedback that it was difficult to find the designs submitted by your fellow designers across all social platforms, so we’re hoping this new format helps with that, and also brings more favorites and comments back to your designs on Spoonflower, helping your design’s chances of getting sold (woot!).
Will there be voting? There will still not be voting happening on the site, however — we will now be emailing our entire community each week with a link to view all of the weekly prompt submissions, driving more traffic to your designs. We’ll also continue to re-share as many entries as we can via our social media platforms.
How do you choose the themes? Themes are primarily chosen by keywords being searched for on our site and also by seasonality. By designing around trending topics, your designs are more likely to be successful in the Marketplace which puts you that much closer to getting that sweet bonus at the end of the month! So without further ado, here are July’s themes:
- August 29th – Sept. 4th: Black Cats Vs. Ravens — Spoonflower Tag: sept2016catsvsravens : Once upon a midnight dreary, grab your paints and make it eerie. This week we’re asking you to channel your inner Edgar Allen Poe, who brought a supernatural magic to both of these dark, mysterious animals in his poems.
- Sept. 5th – Sept. 11th: Monster Mash — Spoonflower Tag: sept2016monstermash : Zombies, mummies, werewolves, vampires… perhaps not inherently evil, just misunderstood? Let us see your take on the aberrant creatures that keep us up at night, peeking behind shower curtains and under beds.
- Sept. 12th – Sept 18th: Sugar Skulls — Spoonflower Tag: sept2016sugarskulls : Día de Muertos (Mexico’s Day of the Dead) kicks off on October 31st and rages on until November 2nd. Traditionally, southern and central Mexicans would celebrate & honor the deceased with sugar skulls (or calaveras) made of brightly colored sweets and flowers. How will you design yours?
- Sept. 19th – Sept 25th: Autumn Harvest — Spoonflower Tag: sept2016autumnharvest. Oh my gourd… Thanksgiving is right around the corner so create a design worthy of donning the finest tablescape! Pumpkins, squash, corn, seasonal flowers in shades of yellow and burnt orange–with what will you fill your theoretical cornucopia?
- August 1st – August 7th: ABCs, 123s — Spoonflower Tag: Aug2016ABC123. Letters and numbers, the building blocks of our world. Let your creativity fly as you design with letters of the alphabet and/or digits to your hearts content.
- We have a winner! Plum Print has chosen Fairytale Folk Alphabet — Sherbet Night by Ceciliamok for this week’s winner. Cecilia will receive a pack of Plum Print Notecards featuring her winning design.
- August 8th – August 15: Your Favorite Subject — Spoonflower Tag: Aug2016FavoriteSubject. English, Math, Social Studies, Recess? How will your design reflect your favorite subject from your school days? The winner of this week will receive a Plum Print pillow featuring the winning design.
- We have a winner! Plum Print has chosen So Many Colorful Books by RobyRiker for this week’s winner. Elishka will receive a Plum Print pillow featuring her winning design.
- August 16th – August 21st: Crayons — Spoonflower Tag: Aug2016Crayons. Life is like a box of crayons, so color your world! Create a design with color and fun! Plum Print will select a winner to receive a shower curtain printed with their design.
- We have a winner! Plum Print has chosen Rainbow Crayon Waves by Weavingmajor for this week’s winner. Kelly will receive a Plum Print shower curtain featuring her winning design.
- August 22nd – August 28th: Apples — Spoonflower Tag: Aug2016Apples. An apple for your teacher. We’re all supposed to have one a day. Get creative with this healthy treat. Prize: A Plum Print Book of the winner’s favorite designs (up to 30 different designs)