2024 Update
It's been 8 years since I originally set out to write a comprehensive explanation of what factors to look out for when buying a canvas print in Ireland so I’ve come back to this subject with some fresh insights for 2024.
The canvas prints market and indeed the wider online photo printing market has changed and we’ve had to change our approach to respond back to that. Some things are different in 2024 and some things are still the same. Let’s take a look:
Table of Contents
Update for 2024. As I look over what I wrote eight years ago, most of it is still pretty accurate, perhaps with one exception which is that many thousands of more people have been through the process of ordering canvas prints online - either with us or with one of our competitors. Customers are more knowledgeable and have developed buying habits and preferences themselves.
Over the past eight years, the big international players have tightened their grip on the canvas prints and online photo printing market generally. It’s harder for likes of small, independent players like The Canvas Works to compete but we have to find a way!
For me, I always come back to this point: I didn’t go through college and 10 years of a career in advertising to knock out cheap canvas prints that won’t last. Where’s the job satisfaction in that? So we focus on service, on value, on technology and above all on quality canvas prints. Thankfully, there seems to be enough of a demand out there for high quality photo on canvas prints that will last the test of time. It’s a joy to be part of transforming our customers’ memories into tangible physical prints that they can be proud to have or gift.
Here’s what I originally wrote in my introduction…..
My name is Patrick Ryan and I’m the head honcho here at The Canvas Works. We’re based in the beautiful coastal town of Kinsale, in County Cork, Ireland. And it’s from this idyllic location in West Cork - the start point of the famous Wild Atlantic Way, that we make our world-renowned canvas prints, framed prints and series of vintage style travel posters.
I’ve been turning my customers’ photos into canvas prints and framed prints for over fifteen years now. I’m self taught. Before The Canvas Works, I worked in advertising agencies for a decade and prior to that I studied Law. I’d never have guessed I’d end up in Kinsale, making high quality canvas prints for customers all over the world - from Dublin to Dubai and Belfast to Boston.
But here’s the thing. After over ten years of printing, I realised this year that I’ve never sat at my computer and written properly about the process of printing on canvas and putting down on paper all the factors that I consider are essential to making a great canvas print.
I looked around online and I found that actually, no one else had done this either. And yet, every day, thousands of customers all around the world order canvas prints with one company or another. Whilst many of those images are great and many of the companies making the prints do top notch work, I think there are some fairly fundamental knowledge gaps in the buying public when it comes to the details of ordering canvas prints.
And that’s no surprise - it’s pretty technical after all. But I felt that if I could put together a fairly comprehensive buying guide to canvas prints and outline the 10 most important things to consider before you place your order, then I might just help someone out there create a print they can be proud of - regardless of who you ask to print it.
So this is it. Read on and you’ll be armed with the most essential information you need for ordering fantastic canvas prints, framed prints and more.
New insight for 2024:
Looking back over what I wrote here, there’s something missing. Or maybe it wasn’t missing back then but has come into focus now. And that’s the fact that in this hyper digital world of social media and instant messaging, having a real life physical canvas print to hold in your hands and hang on your wall is such an antidote to the always on, digital culture in which we all live today.
It’s just not the same looking at photos through an always updating news feed or scroll. Taking a moment that matters in your life and committing it to canvas is a statement - you’re marking it out as important, significant and worthy of commemoration.
Perhaps in 2024 we need that more than ever.
Here’s what I originally wrote…..
What’s the big deal with canvas prints anyway? Why are they so popular? You have to remember that 15 or 20 years ago, this sort of technology just didn’t exist. People bought 6x4 photos from their local chemist and if they ever had a framed photo print, odds are it was sold to them by a photographer following a formal sitting.
In the 1990’s wide format digital printing arrived and all of a sudden it was possible to print professional grade photos from a PC. Meanwhile, there was a trend for contemporary interiors, open plan living and a more casual style in our homes which tended to suit the look of a photo canvas print. The final piece in the jigsaw came with advances in digital camera technology - first point and click cameras, then digital SLRs (the big professional looking cameras with interchangeable lenses) and finally the incredible power and convenience of mobile phone cameras.
Canvas prints suited digital printing so well because they could be made relatively cheaply, they were easy to ship and if made correctly, canvas prints looked beautiful in the modern, contemporary home. I also think that the tactile nature of the canvas was a lovely change from the formal nature of framed prints behind glass - it’s lovely to be able to touch the canvas and feel the weave in the print.
With the rise of e-commerce, canvas prints were the ideal product to order online and ship anywhere (size and weight permitting) and we saw an explosion in companies offering customers more and more ways to print their photos.
Today the canvas prints space is extremely competitive and odds are you’ll find a wide range of companies offering them wherever you happen to be in the world. In the UK and Europe, Photobox and Snapfish dominate, whilst in the US, Walmart, Canvas Pop and Easy Canvas Prints are just a few of the names you’ll find. You’ll also find newer players like Social Print Studio doing great work.
Here in Ireland, The Canvas Works was probably one of the very first in the canvas prints space. So, that’s the basics of the industry and how we got here. Now, what to think about for your very own canvas print masterpiece?
Updated for 2024: This is still the biggest factor in what makes a good canvas print. Basically you get out what you put in. But eight years ago there was pretty much no such thing as AI. The technology landscape has completely changed such that now there are some incredible software services that can radically improve the quality of a photo so that what was previously not worth printing on canvas can be very successfully turned into a stunning photo on canvas print. We use AI image enhancement almost every day at The Canvas Works to vastly improve low resolution customer images into high quality printable files for photos on canvas.
The other huge improvement has been the quality of cameras on smart phones.If you compare a smartphone from today with one from 8 years ago, the camera lenses and on board image processing is vastly improved. There’s just no comparison! Today a smart phone can take the kind of photo that could only be taken on an expensive digital SLR 8 years ago.
What does this mean for buying a canvas print? Well, image quality is still king but today you have to really go out of you way to provide a low resolution file for a canvas print. It usually only happens when it’s a gift and even then, the dawn of AI means the photo can normally be fixed.
Here’s what I originally wrote……
Hands down, no arguments - this is, in my considered opinion, the single most important factor in determining whether you get a great canvas print - or any other type of print for that matter. And it’s hardly rocket science right? If your image is not of sufficient resolution - it really doesn’t matter how good the canvas print company is because it just can’t be printed.
But here’s the most important point. After over ten years of printing, I can categorically say that most people (and by most, I mean a significant majority) just don’t understand resolution sufficiently well to be sure they are using an image of sufficient quality to make a good canvas print.
Is that the customer’s fault? Absolutely not. We’re talking about normal people here - mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, young and old. Pixel dimensions, file sizes, dpi? Don’t even go there. What most people see is a file that looks good on a screen - tablet, mobile or desktop - so why won’t it look good on a canvas? Sure, you can try to educate and provide help but this stuff is complicated and way beyond most normal snappers.
The good companies will have systems and policies in place to deal with this. The bad ones - and there are many - will just go ahead and print your file and then blame you afterwards for supplying a poor quality print file.
I took the decision long ago that at The Canvas Works, we would not go down that road. It’s just lazy. We’d rather refund an order than print a poor quality image. And we do that all the time. But often we don’t have to cancel the order - we can just ask a ton of questions about how the customer took the photo or how it was sent to them and then we can locate the high resolution version of the file.
That requires an effort and level of service that some of the big companies won’t or can’t provide because they are so automated. We’re still small enough to care but big enough to be able to refund an order rather than just take the money!
When it comes to image quality and resolution, it is possible to draw up some general guidelines. For example, facebook photos are generally only suitable for very small canvas prints - or bigger canvas prints if they are part of a collage. Likewise, instagram photos suit smaller canvas prints - up to 50x50cm.
And if a photo is on your phone and you can e-mail it without being asked what size you want to send it, don’t try to make a canvas print out of it because it’s just too small! The safest route with a small image is to e-mail it to the company you want to make your canvas print and ask them straight out - “Can I print this photo and what size would you suggest?”.
By doing this, you get it in writing from the company and you can hold them to it afterwards if your print quality does not match your expectations. Works every time!
Updated for 2024: To be honest, I still stand by this completely! It’s an awkward one because I’m not sure it’s my place to tell a customer that their photo isn’t great. It’s very subjective and one can never fully know the motives behind a customer wanting to print a particular photo onto canvas.
Here’s what I originally wrote….what do you think?
Okay, home truths time. Not every photo should be printed - much less so as a canvas print. Now, I totally get that this is very subjective. One person’s masterpiece is another person’s fish and chip wrapper. And it’s certainly not our place at The Canvas Works to ask this question - if the photo quality is good enough, we’ll generally print it.
That’s because very often, there are personal reasons for wanting to print a photo which, at first glance, may not appear to be worthy of a canvas print.
But leaving those special circumstances apart - it is worth asking yourself why you want to print any particular photo on canvas? Is it in focus? Is there a lot of digital noise? Is the light just too poor? Are the kids looking at the camera? Are their eyes open? Is all that snot going to look good when it’s blown up to 60x40cm?
Canvas prints at their best need a good quality photo and a well taken photo. If the resolution is good but the actual photo is not great - we’d say think about whether you should print it. After all - this is going on your wall and is capable of lasting a life time. So if you can get a better shot of the kids, then take a better photo and don’t just print the one you think is “just okay”.
Update: This is all still totally true and looking back over it, maybe I need to start being a bit more forthcoming with customers about poor composition. Especially when it comes to photos of people at tables where there’s loads of bottles and half full glasses. These photos rarely make great canvas prints but I still see them being ordered quite a bit.
I’ve separated out this factor from the point above because it’s just so crucial. So you have a high resolution image and it’s in focus and the light is good. Maybe it’s a photo of all the kids together. We know how hard that can be to get!
But unfortunately - there’s a whole table of food, plates and half empty bottles and glasses in front of them. Or half their heads are missing. Or the person on the far left is only half in the shot.
Composition is not easy to get right. The other really big mistake we see with photos of kids and animals occurs when a tall person (by tall I mean adult) photographs a little person (by little I mean child). What do they do? Very often, they stay standing and point the camera down onto the child. Result? Poor photo that is not going to make a great canvas print - or any other sort of print.
Good composition will often mean just thinking about moving your feet or your height. Kneeling down, bending over, lying down, changing your perspective. And then thinking and looking at everything that is in the frame. Why is half the telly in the photo? Is that a person’s leg or arm? Who’s in the background?
If you can think about your composition and take a moment or two to compose yourself and your photo - you may well end up with an image that is worth printing on canvas. It’s easier than you think!
6. Different Types of Canvas Print Styles
Update for 2024: Looking back on what I wrote originally in this section, it was mostly focused on the subject of collage canvas prints. Back then, this was a fairly new product but over the years, it’s become very popular and very familiar to customers.
What i still think is overlooked a little even in 2024 is the ability of shape to radically change the impact of your canvas print. Cropping to square or panoramic is in my opinion an often overlooked option and one that has great potential to stand out on your wall. Try it and see for yourself!
Here’s what I originally wrote….
Another vital factor in a great canvas print is the style of print you want to make. Let’s start at the very start - what are you options? Well, you can make a canvas print of a single image or you can group a bunch of photos together - like a collage. And that collage could be neatly orgnaised like a grid or it could be randomly organised in a custom style.
Likewise, think about the shape. There really are only four options - square, landscape, portrait or panoramic (like a letter box). Thinking carefully about your shape choice is a really easy way to go from average canvas print to awesome canvas print. If for example, it’s a close up shot of your baby or young child, then very often a square canvas print is a nice way to go. It fills the canvas and contrasts nicely with the round shape of the face.
If it’s a sunset or a seascape, panoramic shapes can be very effective and look great over a sofa. Sometimes a simple crop can turn a regular photo into something much more interesting. Be creative and think outside the box.
Collages are a great way to go for holiday photos or wedding photos and can be a clever way of compensating for photos that are a little on the low resolution side because each image is printed at a smaller size.
The bottom line is that if you think ahead of time about your photo and go for more unusual shapes or layouts, you’ll often end up with a canvas print that is admired more often.
7. Materials used to make your Photo on Canvas
Update for 2024: To be fair, almost any company out there today will be using decent materials. Maybe with the exception of the stretcher bars themselves which can vary a lot in quality. It’s not so much about the materials as much as the service, advice, support and ethos - these are the areas which can really vary from company to company.
Oh and do ask if the canvas prints are printed on gloss or matte canvas - most people prefer matte in my opinion.
Here’s my original piece…..
Okay, this is one for the company but don’t be afraid to ask or look for the information. What sort of technology are they using? Are they throwing around fancy terms like giclee? Is it printed on matt canvas or gloss canvas or somewhere in between? What sort of inks do they use? How heavy is the canvas? Is the print laminated and if so, what sort of process is employed?
At The Canvas Works, we print on a 400gsm satin canvas with a very white base. We use pigment inks over dye sub technology. Pigment inks will last longer but can be less vibrant. We laminate our prints using a HVLP spray system. Others will apply a heat sealed film to the canvas. The advantage of that approach is that the canvas is practically waterproof and very durable afterwards. The disadvantage is that it’s basically a piece of plastic on top of the canvas and it feels totally different.
Of all of these considerations, I think the sort of canvas is the one you should pay most attention to. If it’s a gloss canvas, think about how that will look on your walls under light. Many companies avoid gloss canvas for this reason so it’s worth asking the question.
Updated insights for 2024:
As far as stretcher bars for canvas prints goes, things have changed here over the past 8 years and mostly for the better. First off, what’s a stretcher bar? Simply put, it’s the wooden frame you can’t see - it’s what the canvas is stretched over.
We’ve changed our stretcher bar supplier over the past 8 years. We now source our bars from a sustainable maker in the EU. We never went down the route of buying bars from China and never will. Most of the big international players source from China because they’re the cheapest. So if you only want cheap canvas prints, you should know that’s where they come from.
Personally I prefer to pay a little more and buy within the EU where I know the product has to meet EU standards and the forests are ethically and sustainably managed.
This is another factor in a great canvas print that all too often gets overlooked. I think the reason for this is that it’s largely invisible. Out of sight, out of mind. But in reality, your canvas print will only last as long as the frame that it’s stretched over and the inks it’s printed with.
The bad news is that there are literally tons of different ways a canvas print can be stretched. And there are tons of different suppliers and manufacturers of stretcher bars. Here’s what you need to look out for:
The most common way you will see cheap canvas prints made is with bars that are underpinned on the reverse instead of joined using tongue and groove. You’ll know a tongue and groove frame because it should come with little wedges that you can hammer into the frame. This pushes the stretcher bars away from each other and has the effect of tightening the canvas print. It’s ingenious and pretty vital when you think that your canvas print could be hanging up in a room for 50 years. Over that time, it’s very likely to lose a bit of tension but if your canvas print has those wedges, you’ll be able to fix it.
We use beechwood wedges to re-tension our canvas stretcher bars. We have two profiles of high quality pine stretcher bars - one is 19mm deep and the other is 40mm deep. Both types comes with wedges - make sure your canvas prints have wedges that will allow the print to be re-tensioned over time - this is absolutely crucial!
So remember, just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about them. Build quality and materials are old fashioned rules that still matter. Put the right stuff in and you get the best stuff out.
Update for 204:
Honestly, I’m still amazed at how bad some canvas prints look when you turn them over. I know much bigger companies than us who routinely ship out canvas prints where the staples are visible on the back, there’s no tape to tidy everything up. I know it’s the back but that’s just lazy - don’t put up with it!
Here’s what I originally wrote:
There are a few other minor details that can really influence the final score of your canvas print. We call them the finishing details - and they matter.
First and foremost - look to the corners of your prints. How are they finished? If it’s lumpy and badly folded, that’s a sign of an inexperienced finisher. Are the corners folded in at the top or the sides? If you can see the folds on the side of your print - it’s ground for returning it in my opinion. A well folded canvas print should be neat and tidy with very little bulk. It should be tightly stretched.
Likewise, how are the staples inserted? Does it appear uniform and consistent? The volume players will use machines for stretching but we’re still doing each and every one by hand and I think that still gives the best finish. What about tape - are the prints neatly taped off on the reverse so the staples are not exposed to the elements? Some big companies do not offer this finish as a standard and the prints can look awful.
Finally, how is the canvas print hung? Is the bracket provided and attached? If you’re giving the canvas print as a gift, it’s nice to know that all these details have been considered by your canvas print supplier and the person getting the canvas print won’t have to do their job for them by finishing it off properly.
My thoughts in 2024:
This one is probably not so much a big deal anymore. Most companies do a decent job on this. I suppose one area where we all need to improve is our use of plastic. But most companies still use bubble wrap because there is no economical alternative. We try to re-use our plastic and cardboard wherever possible in our canvas prints packaging.
For shipping, we now use An Post and find them very reliable. The most important issue for us is that our prints arrive safely - damage in transit is very frustrating for customers and for us as we will always replace if our canvas prints are lost or damaged.
Here’s my original piece……
How your canvas print is packed and shipped is another crucial factor in our list of the top 10 things to consider when buying a canvas print. Will it arrive in one piece and who will deliver it? Can I track it? Do I need to sign for it?
As part of our competition research, we’ve just ordered a canvas print from Social Print Studio based in San Francisco. For international orders, they say it can be up to 4 weeks which seems like a very long time. We’ll see if it’s worth the wait!
Another crucial factor is packaging. Canvas prints are pretty delicate and need good packaging. Again, from our competition analysis, we know that how the prints are packed varies greatly. The last set of prints we ordered was from LALALAB in France. They arrived packed in a way that I personally would never have allowed to leave The Canvas Works.
Packaging and presentation becomes even more important when you are gifting the canvas prints so it’s vital that you chose a company who places the proper importance on finishing details like this. Indeed, one can make the point that the best canvas print in the world is valueless if it arrives damaged.
This brings me to the penultimate point in our buying guide for canvas prints - gifting. Canvas prints make wonderful gifts. Unique, personal, thoughtful - a good canvas print really does tick all the boxes for a great gift.
So you have to make sure of a few details. I’ve covered off the packaging point above, but another factor to consider is the ability to add a nice note to your gift. At The Canvas Works, we do this part pretty neatly - with a choice of custom gift tags and the ability to add a message will is also printed and placed on a nice tag. We can also gift wrap on request.
At the end of the day, a gift is a little piece of drama. Unboxing and unwrapping is a vital part of that drama and excitement. So consider all this in your deliberations over who you ask to make your canvas print.
There’s an update here but it’s another pinch point for us and one that is genuinely hard for small players like us to deal with. Eight years ago there was no such thing as same day delivery or even 1 hour delivery! Big e-commerce has all moved towards a model that is built around unbelievably fast lead times. We just can’t do this.
Here’s what I originally wrote….
So this is one area where the bigger players can have the edge. At The Canvas Works, our standard turnaround is 7-9 days. Some people may not want to wait that long and might therefore decide to order with one of the big guys who can do a 2 day turnaround.
We offer an Express service for when you need your canvas print in a real hurry and it is a popular choice at very busy times of the year like Christmas. At quieter times of the year, our free delivery service is much quicker than 7-9 days so our advice is to find a supplier who sets out all these details clearly so your expectations are managed from the outset.
As I mentioned above, there are companies that I admire who keep their international customers waiting for delivery for quite a long time. Most people are prepared to wait a week or ten days I think but anything longer than that seems a little excessive.
What’s crucial, as always is that the information is set out clearly in advance so that when you place your order for your canvas print, you have a clear expectation of when it should arrive. Good communication is essential.
So there you have it - my buying guide to ensuring you get yourself a canvas print that’s worth your hard earned money. The most important thing I can say to you is try not to believe that every canvas print is just like the next - they’re not!
Sure, the canvas print space - like many other mass produced markets is becoming commoditised but there are differences in both the products and the companies who make them.
Thanks for reading this post and I’d love to hear from you if have a view on it. If you’ve found a canvas print company you think I’d be interested in, please let me know!
And if you’ve read this far, do me a favour and share this article on your social networks.
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When it comes to buying canvas prints online, one question we get asked a lot is “Why Should I Order a Block Canvas rather than a Classic Canvas?”.
Now, in the majority of cases, the answer is really just about personal preference. A Block Canvas, as the name suggests, is mounted on a much thicker set of stretcher bars. We use two profiles for our stretcher bars: the block profile is a chunky 40mm deep, whilst the classic profile is a fairly slender 19mm.
More Robust For Large Canvs Prints
Many people simply prefer the thicker look of a block canvas as it sits on the wall. It protrudes out further from the wall - so it has more of a presence on the wall. I also think Block Canvas Prints look more robust and imposing and feel reassuringly heavy in the hand.
Great for Canvas Prints with Bleed Edges
Another reason I hear often for going with a Block Canvas Print relates to the edge style. We offer two types of edge finish - either a white edge or a bleed edge where the image extends over the sides of the canvas print. In the case of a Block Canvas print, there is double the amount of edge. So for example, where you are printing a lovely scenic image of a landscape or a seascape or even a cityscape, the extra depth of the block makes the bleed edge all that more impressive.
Professional’s Choice
The Block Canvas is often the default choice of professional photographers and those customers who are pretty serious about the photo taking and printing. There’s no doubt that it showcases an image to the very best level.
Stability at Bigger Sizes
But there’s also another important reason for picking a block canvas. When you get into the bigger sizes of canvas print, a block canvas adds a huge amount of stability to the overall frame construction. So when you want to print a really big canvas print, the block canvas is the only way to go. So much so in fact, that our top three or four biggest sizes are only available as Block Canvas prints. The two very biggest block canvas sizes also come with cross-bars support for even more stability - they are serious pieces of work!
Self Supporting
At the other end of the scale, in the smaller sizes, the nice thing about a block canvas is that it’s self supporting. So you can literally just stand it up by itself (or maybe in between some books on a shelf) and it will stay upright. That’s handy if you don’t intend hanging your canvas print on a wall. You can keep it on a bookshelf or a sideboard and at sizes like 30x20cm or 40x30cm it will sit up by itself. (You could always add a little blue tack underneath to fx it in place).
But Not on the Stairs or Landing?
Block Canvas Prints would be my first choice, regardless of size in almost all situations - perhaps with one exception: the stairs and landing. In this case, the extra protrusion off the wall can catch people out and they can end up getting knocked off the wall. So if your stairs are a little narrow, maybe a classic is the way to go.
Need Advice?
As always, we’re happy to help and advise. If you’re not sure about which option to choose, feel free to send us the photo first. Mention you’ve read this blog post and you might even get a tiny surprise!
]]>These days we’re doing as many framed prints as canvas prints on the site. I don’t really think that’s a huge surprise to be honest - framed prints have always been super popular and offer a timelessly classic finish to any wall.
Sure, canvas prints can be a little more durable, need a little less care and offer more flexibility for bigger sizes, but framed prints can add a finishing touch of style and glamour that canvas can’t match.
For 2024, here are my thoughts on what's new and what's changing for printing and framing your photos,
1. Multi Aperture Framed Prints - A New Way to Make a Framed Collage in 2024
When I originally looked at this subject, we didn't offer a framed print that could display multiple photos in individual windows or apertures. With our new site launch last year, this changed and I'm so glad we offered this new product because customers really like a framed print that works like a collage but displays each photo in its own mount. Thse type of multi apereture framed prints are very timeless, simple and elegrant. They are particularly suited to smaller collections of photos - we offer these framed prints for two, three or four photos and have had a great response so far.
2. Gallery Walls - Still Trending in 2024
Increasingly, customers aren’t just shopping for one or two framed prints. They want to create a feature gallery wall. This could be a mismatch of shapes and sizes or for a sleek contemporary look, it can be a series of the same size and shape hung together. Look out for Gallery walls combined with on-trend paint colours to create a real wow-factor.
3. Adding Text to a Photo in a Framed Print - Caption Prints
The last time I wrote about trends in framed prnits, I spoke about the trend for smaller prints as a response to increased gifting during lockdown. That's completely changed in 2024. Customers have returned to looking for statement framed prints which tend to be larger sizes to go over a sofa or a bed where an impact is needed. However, since we launched our caption prints we've seen a definite trend in this direction. In particular we've noticed this trend for framed prits that are intended to be gifted - often for newborn babies, or for anniversaries where dates are so important to the memory a framed print evokes.
That's it for now but I'll come back to this subject later in the year when we have more data for what type of framed print trends we are seeing in 2024.
]]>First things first - I know how important price is in the competitive marketing mix. For a commodified product like canvas prints, there's a band of pricing that most printers have to operate within if they are to remain competitive. It's just a fact of economic life that margins have been eroded as the big international players moved into the canvas printing market in Ireand and drove prices (and to some extent quality) down.
I've had to respond just ike everyone else by seeking out new suppliers, placing bigger orders for our canvas stretcher bars and rolls of canvas so I can get better prices and then try to pass those savings on to the customer.
But for a niche player in the canvas prints market like The Canvas Works, attempting to price match the big guys would be a questionable route to long terms success. We have to find another way to compete.
I also didn't get into this business just to knock out the cheapest canvas prints I could. I wanted to make the best canvas prints I could - for my market. I wanted to do the job right. I'm highly educated (like most Irish people) and I've got a lot of pride in what I do. I just don't think competing on price alone is compatible with being motivated by quality.
And that means having an unrelenting focus on improving quality. How can we improve the canvas prints, improve the website, improve the service - even improve the packaging? That's what drives me personally and motivates me to keep working at the business and trying to take it up a notch or two.
A great example of how we've responded to this agressive price competition can be seen in the way we approach investing in the website. Thanks to grants for West Cork LEO, we've been able to invest over €20,000 in the website and mobile apps over the past couple of years. We try very hard to make the site as easy to use as possible and this drives alot of repeat business for our canvas prints and framed prints.
We also back that up with intensely personal service. You try reaching soeone at the big international players on the phone to discuss your photo on canvas print - that is not going to happen. But we can offer that sort of service to our customers in Ireland who want great value canvas prints but also value the personal service and advice we can provide.
And of course we're also offering local employment at decent rates of pay and where possible we use local suppliers too and support our local community.
The bottom line for us? Cheap canvas prints will get us some business but the best canvas prints (or framed prints) will keep us in business. I hope!!
If you've read this article about how The Canvas Works tries to balance price with value and service for our canvas prints, please consider sharing it on your social networks so we can continue to spread the word about The Canvas Works! We appreciate it.
]]>Update: This year Father’s Day falls on Sunday 16th June, 2024 and since we have a little time to get organised, we wanted to put together a list of some of our most popular Father’s Day gift ideas to give you some really unique, thoughtful gift ideas for your Dad.
Timelines for Organising these ideas
First off, some advice about timelines and when you need to start planning these print ideas for Father's Day. The good news is that some of them take literally a few minutes to order and need next to no work on your end. For example, The Cork Not Cork / Your County Whatever print falls into this category. Pick the county your Father was born in, select the size and you are good to go.
Some of the other ideas in our Father’s Day Ultimate Gift Guide do need a little more work and planning. For example, the Framed Collage idea will need you to gather the photos together.
If you’re planning on using old photos of your Father, then give yourself a few weeks to do the legwork - especially if you need to get the photos from various sources, scan them or photograph them on your phone and then get sign off on the design.
Generally it can take about 10 days from ordering through to despatch for one of our collage prints and then you need to allow for transit. So ideally, try to finalise your Father’s Day photo gift idea by the start of June if possible. For more details on our lead times, check out our FAQ page.
Budgets for our Father’s Day Ultimate Gift Ideas
Regarding budges, we’ve tried to cover a few different bases. Our Father’s Day gift ideas start from just €50 and that includes despatch (free delivery in Ireland). Some of the other photo printing ideas are a little more expensive so it just depends on your budget. Perhaps you’re planning on joining forces with siblings to get a joint gift for your Dad - if that’s the case, then I think all of these gifts are practical gift ideas that will not break the bank.
Remember, your Father will not need or even want some huge, overly expensive gift to celebrate Father’s Day. Writing as a father myself, what really matters is time - time spent with each other on the day and just enjoying being together. Father’s Day gifts are just the icing on the cake. But I think what sets our list of ideas apart is that they’re so personal - so unique and so thoughtful. Anyone can go out and buy a nice pair of socks or a shirt but tracking down all photos and creating something really unique out of them is a Father’s Day gift that will be remembered forever!
Technical Queries - Just Ask for Help!
We totally get that organising some of these online photo print ideas - especially when you have a hard deadline like Father’s Day can be a bit stressful. But seriously, don’t worry about - just let us do the work and give you the advice you need to make your Dad a lovely gift he’ll really appreciate. We’ve been doing this stuff for years and we know how to get something sorted in double quick time that will be the icing on the cake for the day.
You can email us, chat to us on social or just give us a call. We can help you get the right format and file size and talk you through the process of digitising old photos that might only exist as physical prints. For collages, we can create some gorgeous custom layouts and then work with you on changes and amends until you’re happy to push the button.
Our Ultimate Advice - Keep it Personal for Father’s Day
If you take just one piece of advice way from this Ultimate Gift Guide for Father’s Day - it’s this: keep it simple and keep it personal. Unique gifts always hit the mark - and what’s more unique than a photo of your Dad!
Father’s Day Wooden Photo Block
Size: 60x30cm
Price: €115
This is our number one idea for a wonderful Father’s Day Gift - it’s the Ultimate Gift for Father’s Day that is bound to surprise and delight your Dad in equal measure.
Our advice would be to stick to about 6-9 photos. Any more and the layout can get a bit cramped. We’d also suggest a mix of old and new photos of Dad - maybe some of when he was a child himself, one or two of his parents and then a couple of the kids and, if there are any grandchildren, include them too. We can convert some of them to black and white to mix things up if you like.
What’s very nice about the Wood Photo Block is that it’s very different to the usual canvas or framed print and the 60x30cm panoramic shape gives it an added difference which puts this gift idea at the top of the pile for Father’s Day.
Allow about 2 weeks in total for turnaround but if you’ve left it late, talk to us and we’ll see what we can do.
Father’s Day Instagram Framed Print 2x2
30x30cm Frame
€75
We're focusing on some nice framed print gift ideas here and this idea is for a . a 2x2 instagram style framed print. This involves selecting four square shaped images in total and we print them arranged as a 2x2 square framed print. You can select any sort of images at all for this but holiday trips, close ups of Dad and maybe some of Dad with the kids/grandkids would be a nice mix. You know your Dad best - maybe he’s got some outdoor hobbies, maybe he loves to travel and you’ve got some great pictures of him relaxing. Simply combine your favourite four photos and off you go. This print can be ordered on the site or via the app in just a few minutes and will need about 7-9 days in total lead time.
Father’s Day Your County / Whatever
10X8”
€50
Was your Father lucky enough to be born in Cork? Then look no further than our famous Cork / Not Cork print - in the frame at just €50 for the 8x10” size. But fear not, we’ve designed a version for every County in the country so no matter where’s he’s from you can give him a good chuckle with his very own County print.
For each version of the Your County / Whatever print, we’ve used County Colours in the design to give your Father some extra pride and joy and the 8x10” framed print size comes with a handy strut back on the reverse so it can stand up on a book case or sideboard. The 12x16” size comes with hanging fixtures on the reverse - perfect for the downstairs toilet or hall so everyone who comes into the house can get a good laugh out of it.
Lead time for Gift idea number 3 in our Ultimate Gift Guide for Father’s Days is short - we can send this out in a few days if you’re really stuck!
20X30CM
€85
Here’s a nice idea that will be part of the new version of the website when it launches over the summer. It’s called a “Caption Print” and it’s basically a photo print with some text at the base that you can personalise with a message or a title. It might be a trip you took with your Father, or a photo of your Dad at your wedding or maybe a nice photo of Dad and the whole family. Whatever the photo, with our handy Caption tool on the site, you will be able to personalise the message and title with a Father’s Day message if you want.
In advance of this product being rolled out on the new site, we can create a bespoke Caption for you and send you the proofs by email for approval.
This will need a little extra time to organise so allow about 10-12 days in total from ordering to despatch but once again, if you’ve left it late for Father’s Day, just talk to us and we will do our best to help.
So there it is - four wonderful ideas for Father's Day that combine either online photo printing or just personalised gifts that will be a lovely surprise for your Dad on a special day that brings the whole family together. We’re here to answer any questions or queries you might have on any of these Father’s Day ideas and remember, it’s the thought that counts so just make it personal and take it from me, you can’t go wrong!
]]>However, there are some common pitfalls or mistakes that many people make in the process of ordering their canvas prints, so I thought I’d update this article about the five most common mistakes people make when putting a photo on canvas.
And in 2024, we're still seeing some customers getting mixed up with some of these mistakes when they go to order a canvas print, althought the good news is that since I wrote this blog post, at least one issue is far less common thanks to the dawn of AI. More about that later.
This list is the result of years of experience in printing photos on canvas. I set up The Canvas Works back in 2007 and have been helping customers produce great prints of their images ever since. It’s not an exhaustive list but I think if you can manage to avoid these pitfalls, you should come out with a super looking canvas print - or indeed a framed print or wood mount as these pitfalls apply to those products too.
Another important point that's as relevant today in 2024 as when i first wrote this article is that even if you do make any of these mistakes, don't panic because when we see an issue like this, we let you know before we make your canvas print and will help you fix this issue.
With that said, let's look at the first common mistake people make when ordering a canvas print....
I see this quite a bit on photo canvas print orders. It usually becomes a problem when the customer is ordering a print of people - say a wedding photo featuring the whole wedding party or a holiday shot with the family all lined up in a row across the photo.
The key point is you want to make sure there is enough space on the left and right side of the image to bleed the image over the sides - assuming you want to order a bleed finish (also known as a gallery wrap). Lots of customers crop right up to the people and don’t remember to leave enough space for the edge. It’s not so much of an issue when you prefer to keep a white edge on your canvas print but the bleed tends to be the finish of choice for most customers.
The other problem here is just aesthetics. Most images just look better if the crop is not too tight. Having some extra space around the people or whatever the subject matter is of your photo on canvas is generally a better approach than cropping right in. There are some exceptions but if you’re not too sure about how best to crop your image, I’d say err on the side of caution and don’t zoom in too much when you upload and crop your photo to make a canvas print.
The second common mistake people make in the process of ordering a photo on canvas is using the wrong source image. In this world of social media and instant messaging, we’re grabbing files off facebook like never before. In fact, many of the modern smart phones make this even easier because the images automatically get saved on your camera roll.
I see this all the time - even where a customer has the full sized, high res image, they mistakenly use the low res social media version for their canvas print. Avoid this at all costs! It might look good on a screen but that whatsapp file or facebook post image won’t make for a great quality canvas print.
Ideally, you want to ensure you are using the original JPEG from the camera that took the image. If you’re getting the file e-mailed to you from a phone, make sure the person sends it to you at the full size - also known as actual size. We very often see compressed versions of files sent by e-mail and automatically resampled down to a 900k file.
I should add that even if you do use the wrong file size - don’t panic because we will not print it without talking to you about it. That’s one of the ways we differ from the really big players in the market - because we can pick up a phone and talk to you about your image quality, 9 times out of 10, we are able to assist the customer in sourcing the right quality file for their photo on canvas.
A further update here that is very relevant in 2024 is that we recently started using a wonderful new AI tool for improving the quality of low resolution photos so they could be printed on canvas. This incredible piece of software will usually vastly improve the quality of low resolution files so they can be printed on canvas. The pace of change and innovation with AI tools like this continues to surprise, amaze and scare me!
Okay, this is getting to become less of a common mistake - because actually mobile phone cameras are improving at an exponential rate. They are capable of taking some amazing looking images. However, there are limits to what you can capture with a mobile phone photo when compared to a real SLR camera.
We generally advise the mobile phone photos can pretty comfortably get to about 75x50cm these days. We’ve printed bigger and had great results - it just depends on what the subject matter of the photo is. But I’d say you’d want to avoid ordering one of our very large canvas prints - like 150x97 or 180x97cm if you intend on using a mobile phone photo.
Now, you can get around those limitations by ordering a collage of images or selecting one of our other specialist mobile phone suitable products like our Instagram prints. These products allow you to print up to 49 of your images on one single canvas or frame - so you can get scale without losing image quality.
We’ve all heard the phrase less is more. Well, it’s never truer than when ordering a collage on canvas or a collage framed print. So the fourth common pitfall to avoid when ordering your canvas prints is using too many images.
In our experience, the optimal number of files for a really lovely looking collage on canvas or a framed collage print is between 10 and 15 images. By using fewer images, you can ensure that one or two of the photos can actually be a good size and this always makes a collage print look better than a layout that is crammed with loads and loads of smaller images.
This collage above works so well at 40x30cm because there only 7 images and there's a mix of shapes.
Now, I understand that this goal of 10-15 photos for a collage can present people with a lot of logistical and practical problems. If you take the example of the wedding collage on canvas, some couples will feel that limiting the selection to 10-15 images to cover the bride and groom and both sets of families may not be enough. It’s a judgement call and of course, sometimes we can make more images work - especially where the overall canvas print size is big - like 120x60cm or 100x70cm and larger.
But if you can be selective and ruthless with your editing, try to get the selection down to between 10 and 15 images and you will have avoided one of the major canvas print pitfalls.
I see this mistake in two contexts pretty regularly so wanted to flag it up here. The first context is the obvious one - many customers default to either a landscape shaped canvas print or a portrait shaped canvas print.
Now, that’s fine for some images and of course there will always be some photos that just need to be in those shapes. But, there’s a whole world out there of square canvas prints and best of all, panoramic canvas prints.
Mix it up! A square crop or a panoramic crop can radically transform your finished canvas print. It’s original, creative and imaginative and most people respond very enthusiastically when they see a panoramic shaped canvas print on the wall. So don’t limit your options - think about those less common shapes when you are ordering and be brave - experiment with different crops and you will get a fresher, more creative look for your canvas prints.
Okay, you can't always go this big with panoramic prints but you get the idea!
The second context I want to touch on with shape selections is the shape of individual photos in a collage print. I very often see a selection of say 10 landscape shaped prints for a collage. I appreciate that this may not be obvious to everyone, but if you use 10 identically shaped images in a collage, it’s going to be much harder to get an attractive looking layout.
When I come across this situation with a customer order, I usually take it upon myself to crop several of the images to portrait, square or panoramic. That single step alone usually guarantees a much more interesting layout for the collage - instantly transforming it from a vanilla layout to an engaging and interesting design.
So the lesson here is again - mix things up with different shapes and you will get a much nicer collage on canvas print.
You’ve avoided all these 5 common canvas print mistakes - so what should you expect?
Assuming you have avoided these 5 canvas printing pitfalls, I think you should be very confident about having a canvas print you can be proud of. But the one thing you should always expect from your canvas print company is pro-active advice and suggestions - communication is essential.
At The Canvas Works, we try very hard to ensure we keep the communication lines open with our customers. It’s one of the ways we can be different from the faceless big players who very often don’t have any human contact with their customers.
So with that in mind, if you are still unsure about your image even after avoiding these common mistakes, just get in touch with your file and we can check it out and advise you on your next steps to ensure you will be proud as punch of your new canvas print.
]]>But there was one missing link. A Shopify integration.
We used two systems in tandem: a completely manual system which involved attaching pre-printed labels to our boxes and then corresponding tracking codes into a duplicate sheet. And a second system - slightly more advanced but still tediously clunky. It was known as Auto Lynk and involved uploading a CSV file or manually entering customer details into a desktop app and printing labels via a Zebra machine.
Neither were fit for purpose. Both undermined An Post’s stated mission to be a serious player in e-commerce for the SME sector.
Sure, the big enterprise clients could probably develop their own systems for automating fulfillment but the little guys like us were left with an out of date system that added hours every week to our fulfillment processes and was wide open to human error with data entry.
We not only need our canvas prints and framed prints to arrive safely - we need them to arrive promptly and we want efficient communication throughout the transit process to keep customers informed on the estimated delivery dates.
So last November I decided to reach out to Gilles Ferrandez, An Post’s Sales Director who is leading the ecommerce modernisation roll-out. I offered my feedback on the system and expressed my hope that an API would be developed at some point soon. I was not expecting the reply I got!
Gilles not only explained that they were about to launch a replacement system with my much-hoped for API but he also offered me an early place in the roll out. To my delight, we went live with the system in late January 2021 and it is a total game changer.
It’s basically a white label system powered by Scurri - the Wexford-based company backed by Enterprise Ireland that has developed their own enterprise level fulfillment software. Scurri are on fire right now, spurred on by Covid and expanding into overseas markets and I can see why.
The new system is called eCommlink. With a little bit of set up from An Post’s side, the Shopify integration works right out of the box. You get a login to the portal, from where you can see all your live orders that have synced over from your Shopify store. The system automatically applies the correct label to each order based on rules you can define. The scan and print feature simply allows us to enter the Shopify order number and the label instantly prints via our Zebra printer.
What’s more you can log in to the portal from any PC, edit a label and hey presto it prints automatically. This is a wonderful feature where you have remote workers who can jump in, fix something and still physically print a label at the warehouse.
For merchants shipping to the UK post Brexit, An Post have built in Brexit-proof shipping labels to the service. The correct customs paperwork showing HS Tarriff codes, country of origin etc are all taken care of (you need to do a little set up at the start) thus ensuring a swift and hassle free transit through UK customs and onto your customer.
Once an order has shipped, the recipient automatically gets our Shopify powered shipping notification email AND one from An Post as well. Tracking codes are synced to Shopify and trackable from within the email. No more data entry for us! This feature has literally saved us hours of work a week and at busy times like Christmas will be an absolute life saver.
With this system, I believe An Post is really showing its commitment to the SME e-commerce sector in Ireland. Modern systems of fulfillment are absolutely essential to running a lean, efficient and busy webstore and An Post’s new system will be a huge benefit to the sector here and will drive merchant signups to An Post.
]]>Whether it’s a framed collage print, a canvas photo collage print or even a wood mount, there are certain occasions or moments in your life when a photo collage makes the perfect gift. In this post, we’re going to give you six times when gifting a collage of photos will put you to the very top of the class and win you kudos, admiration and love from a partner, family member or friend.
1. The Wedding Paper Anniversary Gift Photo Collage
This should be a go-to gift for any self-respecting husband or wife on the occasion of your Paper Anniversary. And in case you didn’t know, a Paper Anniversary is your first wedding anniversary. By now, you should have your wedding photos from your photographer and you’ve probably printed one or two images or maybe you’ve got the wedding album tucked away in a top drawer somewhere.
By the time your first wedding anniversary rolls around, you’re going to want to remember that amazing day in a high-impact, creative and imaginative way. The Wedding Anniversary Collage ticks the box. For this occasion, my personal preference is to go with a framed collage rather than canvas - not just because it’s actually printed on paper, but rather because the framing adds a certain classic, formal feel that suits the occasion.
We’d suggest no more than about 10 photos for your Wedding Anniversary Collage. That can be a challenge for some people who tend to want to cover off everyone who came, both sets of families, the wedding party etc. But trust me, less is more when it comes to your Anniversary Collage. With fewer images, each shot has more space and can be bigger in the overall collage design.
To get started on your Wedding Anniversary Collage, simply select Framed Collage, pick your size and upload your photos. That’s it - we do the rest for you, using our years of experience to come up with a design that is truly customised to you. Amends are done via e-mail and your print can ship in as little as 2-3 days on our Express service.
Recommended For: Newly Weds.
Alright, technically this doesn’t have to be Disney World obviously - but you get the idea. You’ve had an epic trip to a theme park - the kids have had an absolute ball and in between endless queues and the odd temper tantrum, everyone has had a way better time than they could possibly have imagined.
You got some great selfies on the rides, you got the pics of all the kids with Mickey Mouse, you got the shot of the little one with his favourite Lego character. The point now is that you need to create a collage of the highlights that you and all the family will look back on in years to come to remember these times.
Enter the Family Holiday Collage on Canvas. For something like this, mix it up a little by going with a Panoramic layout. Who says your print has to be a traditional rectangle? The panoramic layout works great over a sofa in the den or can go in a downstairs toilet if you’re going with a smaller size.
Recommended For: Family Momento
Road trips make a perfect subject for a creative photo collage print. If you’re lucky enough to visit us here on the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, you have the perfect content for an amazing road trip collage. But the principles are the same whether you’re touring the Pembrokeshire Coast in Wales, the vineyards of Sonoma County in California or the surfing towns and villages of Northern Spain.
With a road trip, you have a beginning, a middle and an end. So we can design your Road Trip Collage in a roughly chronological fashion, showing everyone where you went, when you went and how it went! Another creative option for a road trip collage is to go with our “Instagram” style collage which is a grid of square images. We can do up to 49 square images on a single canvas - perfect for all your insta shots!
If you decide on the Instagram style of Collage for your epic road trip print, then it gets even better because you can order online or via the app and see a real time preview of how your collage will look before you order it. You can select images directly from your instagram account too so file selection and upload is a total breeze.
Recommended For: Best Friends and Roadies Everywhere!
4. The 50th Birthday Gift Photo Collage & Signing Board
The big birthday occasions are a time for looking back as well as forward. So whether it’s a 21st, 30th, 40th or 50th Birthday, celebrate and remember in style with a Collage on Canvas. There may be a little more leg-work involved in creating a 50th Birthday Collage because odds are that some of the photos will not be digital. That means you’re going to have to digitise the photos first - by either scanning them or using an app like Google Photo Scan to turn them into digital shots.
Once you’ve got your selection of shots, we’d suggest doing a cull to about 30 or less. For a really good 50th Birthday Gift Collage, you’re going to need a spread of images from the early years, through school and college, trips abroad, girlfriends, family, pets, marriage, kids etc. Yes, you may want to consider a few embarrassing photos to add a little humour into your 50th Birthday Collage - who doesn’t have a few shots they’d rather forget but don’t go overboard - you want this to be a collage gift that actually goes up on a wall!
One optional touch for your 50th Birthday Gift Collage Print is to consider printing the collage with enough space around it for everyone to sign or write a message. This is known as a Signing Board Collage and they work incredibly well. Get a good quality black felt tip marker pen for the signing / message writing and for the finishing touch, present the collage print on an easel for easy signing.
Recommended For: Sons & Daughters of the Birthday Boy/Girl
So you’ve had a gap year or you’ve taken a year off to go travelling after University or maybe you’re just back from a two year working trip to Oz or Canada? Such a huge episode in your life deserves a proper print to look back on as the years pass. We’ve had the pleasure of creating so many wonderful, unique collages that mark a year abroad. Australia seems to be a particularly popular destination for the Year Abroad Collage!
There are no major rules here - you can upload up to 50 images for this sort of collage and whilst many of the photos will print small if you go with so many, it really depends on how many good photos you have. If you just can’t reduce it down to 30 or less, go with them all and we will find a way to make it work.
Having recently lost a much loved family pet myself, I know a bit about this subject. Monty was our beautiful Golden Retriever and when we had to say goodbye to him, I knew a collage would be a wonderful way for us all to remember him - especially our son who was only 4 at the time and didn’t understand what had happened and where Monty had gone.
There are some tips to create a collage of your cat or dog or family pet that looks as good as it can and does the memory of your much loved pet proud. Firstly, try to ensure you are using shots from different times of your pet’s life. If it’s a dog, then you want shots from throughout his life - puppyhood to ripe old age (hopefully). Second, use shots with family members as well - this is about helping everyone to cherish their time with the pet they’ve just lost. Ideally, a pet collage should also have holiday photos or shots on different occasions - like Christmas and summer holidays. You can really communicate how central your pet was in your life in this way.
When we’re designing a collage of your pet, we will try to have one central or more prominent shot and then arrange the other shots around this. You can also request extra details like the Pet’s name in text and age in years. Talk to us and we will do our best to help you design a pet collage that everyone will cherish.
Recommended For: Younger family members from Mum or Dad.
7. The Music Festival Photo Collage
Whether it’s a weekend pass or just one amazing day, music festivals can be a wonderfully creative subject matter for a collage and make a great gift for friends or loved ones. Live music has an energy that can’t be beaten and today’s modern music festivals are designed with photo opportunities in mind - from dazzling main stages, to romantic hidden corners, poetry tents, fairgrounds, food stalls etc. There is colour and drama everywhere - people have come to party and whether the sun is out or not, everyone just wants to have fun.
Music festivals bring friends together in a common experience and a collage of your great weekend together makes a perfect birthday gift weeks or months later. It reminds you of what a great time you all had and encourages you to book those early bird tickets for next year’s festival.
Recommended For: Lifelong Friends.
]]>11 years later I realised a dream this past summer when I bought this 1973 late bay VW T2. Tom loves it and the memories I know it will bring us over the years to come help me justify the expense! The photo is of us at the top of The Healy Pass on the stunning Beara Penninsula in Cork. Pure magic.
Sometimes you have to look back to see how far you've come right?? And I suppose that got me thinking about the journey we've been on and why I love to print our customers' photos.
Each one is a story, each one is a moment in a personal journey. Of course, not everyone makes me sit up and take notice. But everyone of the photos we print means something to the person who is ordering it and hopefully, the person who will receive it. It's a joy and an honour to be involved in that process and it's actually way more rewarding than I could ever have imagined.
When people ask me how I got into this business, it's a little hard to explain. I went from Law to Advertising to Photo Printing. When people ask me why I stay in this business - well, that's a lot easier to explain. I do it because I love it and take immense pride in it. And I do it because I get to spend good times with family and friends - hopefully driving around the Wild Atlantic Way in my T2!
Whatever your journey is, I hope you find the time to print some good photos to help you remember the good times!
]]>Here at The Canvas Works, we're not afraid to admit that we like the cut of Social Print Studio's jib so we are anxious to see how their canvas prints compare to our own - which we rather humbly think are some of the very best out there.
To that end, we ordered a canvas print from Social Print Studio today. Unfortunately, it takes like about a year for it to arrive so we can't tell you right away what the verdict is but we'll post a fair appraisal when it arrives, complete with photos.
In fairness to Social Print Studio, they are a super company and they almost single handedly invented the hipster print thing. To an extent, we're all trailing in their footsteps despite the fact that Social Print Studio are the new kids on the block.
Having said all that - their onsite experience, whilst good (and fast) is no better than ours and inferior in one or two key ways. Yep, they're good at whispering sweet nothings in your ear - with humorous asides and witty repartee but they won't always be able to play the "young upstart" card and may have to grow up as time goes on. As a keen Social Print Studio watcher, I'm glad they've added canvas prints to their line up and am happy to compete head to head with them.
Bring it SPS!
Full review to follow when the print arrives....
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We're going to run some special offers on that day that will run all weekend to bring our customers the very best value and deals for Black Friday 2016.
Don't forget to join our mailing list to ensure you get early notice on the best Black Friday 2016 deals. We'll also release details nearer the time on social media about the Black Friday discounts we plan to offer.
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Our top three ideas:
1. Wood Mount.
Perfect for instagram photos - especially at the 20x20cm and 30x20cm size. We first print your photo on a beautiful, archival photo paper by Permajet before carefully mounting it onto our custom-crafted ply wood panels. Each panel at the smaller sizes, comes with a free desktop holder so you can prop your wood mount up on your desk. Or you can hang it on the wall using the built-in hanging system on the reverse.
2. Framed Instagram Grids
Choose from 4, 9 or 16 instagram photos and arrange them in any order you want in the frame. Pick from a black or white, real wood contemporary frame. Your instagram photos will never look so good! Frame size is 16x16" and image area is 12x12".
3. The Classic Canvas
For an arty, classic feel - go for our famous canvas print. Instagram photos work brilliantly right up to 60x60cm. You'll just want to reach out and touch it to feel the weave of the canvas and admire this thing of beauty on your wall.
Instagram Photo Printing Experience that is second to none.
We've been printing instagram photos for years now. In fact, we were the Europe-wide partner of choice for Instacanvas - now Twenty20 when they first got into the instagram photo printing business.
Free Delivery
Don't forget - we offer free delivery in Ireland and the UK and low rates worldwide. If you want us to check over your instagram photo before making an order you can e-mail us your image first and we'll give you some advice and suggestions.
Please Share This Article!
Thanks for reading and please share this article on your own social networks so we can spread the word about or Instagram photo printing service.
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This one is particularly rewarding for us as it puts us in some wonderful company and gives us validation for the way we've gone about developing our site on Shopify. Strictly speaking, Shopify mentioned us with reference to our range of vintage style travel posters and the way we have presented them on the site.
The key objective for us in respect of this part of the site was making sure the visuals of the prints we were selling were front and centre. So often with art and photography sites, the actual image being sold is presented on a small part of the screen real estate which makes getting a proper sense of the piece quite difficult.
We decided to make our visuals really large and present them inside a real frame which can be changed to black or white. It really helps the customer to understand what they are buying and how it will look on their wall.
We've taken a similar approach on the personalised photo printing side of our site - using clear, very large hero graphics for each product section and following up with high quality images of key features of each print product. And of course, the customer gets to see their image at the end as a canvas, framed print, wood mount or poster. It works brilliantly - check it out.
Thanks so much to Shopify and thanks to you for reading. If you've reached this point, we'd really appreciate if you could share this blog on your own social networks so we can spread the word!
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Of course he and his sport has its detractors. But to be honest, I'm not interested in writing about that one way or another. What interests me from what I've seen over recent months is how loyal his fans appear to be and what further opportunities that offers Conor McGregor for leveraging his "brand value".
We've seen people go to enormous lengths to create their own pieces of Conor McGregor fan art and then have them printed on canvas as framed prints for their room, training gym, etc.
I've put this down to a couple of things he has in his favour. First, he's a winner obviously. Second, he is one smart dresser. Not necessarily my style and obviously he didn't invent the hipster look but he works it pretty well. And thirdly, he has a presence and a verbal style that reinforces his appeal with his fan base.
From what we've seen already Conor McGregor will continue to be a popular figure for fans who want an iconic image of a sporting hero on their wall. Whether you consider that a good thing or bad thing, I'll leave to you.
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The show's basic promise of renewal, re-invigoration and re-invention is at the heart of it's appeal and curiously enough, we see the same thing in-store and on our site when it comes to old photos.
Time and again, we help bring these old photos back to life and in the process, we often end up sharing a story or two about the subjects in the photo. It's one of the parts of our business I really enjoy.
In fact, I recently had the opportunity to do it for myself and my five brothers and sisters. The photo above here is about 38 years old. It was an old 7x5" taken in Leixlip, Co Kildare when we lived there. I'm the little fella in the middle with the bowl top hair cut!
I've always loved this photo. It looks like we may have been on sun holiday in Spain judging from the tans but I can assure you - it was just from playing all day outside on the street. As you can also tell from my younger brother's shoes.
I gave each of my brothers and sisters a framed print for Christmas as a surprise and their reaction was incredible and very emotional. I didn't need to do much work with the photo, cleaned up a few marks here and there and punched up the contrast - that's all. Others we have done needed much more restoration work.
Take my advice - try something similar yourself. Find some old photos from way back and let us transform them and give them a whole new lease of life. You'll be amazed at the reaction from your siblings, parents, friends - it really does stir something very close to the heart.
Our framed prints start at just €33. There may be some additional charges for restoration but they are very reasonable.
If you've read this little piece, please share it on your social networks and maybe tag a friend or family member to plant the idea. We'd really appreciate it.
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There are a lot of sites on Shopify selling photography and art but we could not find very many at all that were offering highly customisable personalised print products like our canvas prints, framed prints and wood mount prints. So it is great to get some recognition from Shopify for what we've built.
I think one possible reason there are not a lot of companies like us on Shopify is that building a bespoke service like ours on their platform does come with some complications. It's fine if you're a photographer or artist and your product is a straight forward framed print of your own work. But when your product is the customer's own photo - then it gets a little complicated.
To do this well, you have to build out a solution that overcomes a number of technical challenges:
1. Image Selection
2. Image Cropping and Editing
3. Visualisation and Saving of the product
4. Passing it back to Shopify for checkout
In effect, there is no product to buy until the customer creates it on the fly using our web app. It's then passed back to Shopify for checkout and payment.
Where we have done well (I humbly submit) is building an approach to this process that understands how customers think about their images when they come to ordering a product like this. We've got a decade of experience in dealing with customers so we have learned over the years how many of them think about their images.
I can tell you for sure, that the vast majority don't even know what an image ratio is. It amazes me when I see sites out there asking customers to think in these terms. Most people think in terms of shapes - "I want a square print" or "I want a big long print for over my sofa". You have to offer your service in a way that leads them through the process quickly and easily and leaves as much of the technical jargon out.
Visualisation is also essential. Most normal customers just don't have a huge grasp on measurements. Offering them a 60x40cm print means nothing. In store they will often hold our their hands and say "I want something this big". So if you can't show them how big their print is in a manner that they can understand (given the limitations of screens sizes and different device types) you are going to have trouble with order drop outs.
Shopify and analytics consistently tells us we have low cart abandonment rates and very high conversion rates compared to stores launched at the same time. I think it's down to features like this - as well as our superb print quality and absolutely first class customer service.
These are just some of the reasons why I think we've carved out some success on Shopify. I hope you find your success too!
If you have read this article, please consider sharing it on your social networks and help us spread the word! Thanks.
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I thought I'd write a few words about it for a couple of reasons. Primarily, it's a shameless SEO tactic but on further reflection, I got to thinking about Easter and it's somewhat fraught relationship with both Irish businesses and the wider Irish public.
Historically, Easter in Ireland was a seriously big deal for reasons that probably need little or no explanation here. But Ireland today is a very different place - multicultural, multi-ethnic and thankfully for many, increasingly secular in some respects (let's not mention our education system).
That said, our laws have not kept pace with the social changes and come Easter, we still have the bizarre situation where every pub in the country has to close on Good Friday - the traditional start of the long Easter weekend. From a tourism perspective, it's an oddity that does us no favours at all.
And from a business perspective, outside of the hospitality sector, it's a spectacularly damp start to a long weekend too. In fact, Easter for us is really a non-event. Even in our gallery in Kinsale it's quiet. It's just not a shopping type weekend. It's about rest, relaxation and religion if that's your thing. And you know what, that's great. Not every holiday has to be about commerce. This one is about things that are much more important.
Having said that, I think it would be no bad thing if Easter fell on a fixed date every year. If you take this year - a particularly important year for Ireland as we celebrate the centenary of the Rising, we have two public holidays in March and absolutely nothing in April. That's going to hurt businesses who will have nothing in the calendar in April - when there's far more chance of a bright sunny couple of days than you may have in March. One or two degrees warmer can make a big difference.
The only downside is that no one will google "When is Easter" anymore and I'll have to think of some new SEO strategies.
Happy Easter and enjoy the break!
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Given that Mother's Day is just around the corner, quite a lot of people are likely to get caught short on preparing a gift but fear not, we have some great ideas for affordable and really thoughtful Mother's Day gifts.
Our "go-to" Mother's Day gift is the classic canvas print. Prices start from just €29 for a 20x20cm canvas print - with free delivery. You can order right here:
here: http://www.thecanvasworks.ie/products/canvas-prints
Our smaller sizes, like the 20x20cm, 30x20cm and 40x30cm are perfect for mobile phone photos. Have a look over your shots from Christmas, your Mother's last birthday, a family get together or a shot from last summer. There's bound to be a few lovely moments caught on camera that would make a super thoughtful gift for Mother's Day 2016.
Looking for something a little different? How about going further back through the old photos of your Mother? Maybe an old wedding photograph? A photo of Mum from when she was a child? They're probably lying around in a rarely opened drawer or album - waiting to be renewed and reprinted.
We can scan your old photo for you or you can scan it yourself and then order via the site. These old photos very often suit a more classic treatment - how about a stylish black or white framed photo? Prices start from just €33 for a 10x8" framed print and you can order right here:
http://www.thecanvasworks.ie/products/framed-prints
We've got so many more great gift ideas at The Canvas Works for Mother's Day 2016 so use your imagination and order something unique and seriously thoughtful for your Mother this year - she deserves it!
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For the record, I'm not re-selling anything here and I'm not in any way incentivised to push Shopify. This is our own subjective experience of Shopify based on a year of use.
We've been critical of Shopify in the past and would be fearless about doing so in the future. Nevertheless, despite some issues, we can categorically say that if you are setting out on your e-commerce journey and are thinking about a hosted platform solution (and you really should be), Shopify deserves your serious consideration.
Here's how Shopify has revolutionised our business and how it can change yours too:
1. Their Passion Is Infectious.
Over the past year, I have been struck by the relentless passion and enthusiasm of Shopify for it's mission. It's infectious and it will have a DIRECT impact on the way you think about your business in ways you might not have foreseen. I've seen so many examples of this: their first-class support, by people who are incredibly well-trained and who genuinely want to help you get the best out of the platform as quickly and easily as possible. You'll see it in their blogging - bringing you wide-ranging tips and insights into e-commerce and sharing key data and metrics. You'll see it in their social media strategy with simple features like Shopify Picks, sharing what Shopify merchants all around the world are up to. They live and breathe this stuff! The net effect is that you can't help but be positively influenced by it. Whether you realise it or not, you soak up the passion and you can't help seeing and reading things about what other merchants are doing that re-invigorates you and inspires you to develop your own business.
2. Shopify Has A Vision. And That Vision Can Change Your Business Forever.
This point is connected to the first. Passion stems from having a vision; having full faith in that vision and then having a talented team that will execute on the vision. If you want to see this in action in a company, look no further than Shopify.
Their vision, it seems to me anyway, is about unifying all the disparate strands of e-commerce under one powerful, flexible and expandable platform. Because e-commerce today is not just about an online store. You may be selling in a physical store, you may be selling on Facebook, you may be getting into Pinterest, experimenting with Twitter and maybe you have a store on Esty. Shopify's vision is to give you the tools to manage your e-commerce business across all these channels. Seriously, step back and think about how clever that is. And then assume that Shopify is already thinking further down the line on how to execute this vision - it's seriously exciting. They've already brought out a Pinterest Buy Pin and announced a Facebook Buy Button. Twitter, Esty - where will they go next? Pre-Shopify, we just had a website. Post-Shopify, we no longer think in such narrow terms and that is genuinely revolutionary. Sales Channels under a single e-commerce platform looks game changing to me.
Their recently launched Mobile Buy SDK offers merchants the chance to integrate their native apps into Shopify and manage app sales as a channel within your admin. No separate systems for app and site - just one seamless experience for your customers. We've been building out our native iOS and Android app over the past year and are just about to launch it using the Mobile Buy SDK. I won't say the journey hasn't been fraught and will blog about this separately but for the moment - the point is this: we can do this on Shopify and that's awesome.
3. Shopify POS Revolutionised Our In-Store Management
In January of 2015 after 6 months with Shopify, we rolled out Shopify POS in our Kinsale store. Now I'll be honest - there are some gaps in the POS app right now. The one major omission in my opinion, is the inability of the POS system to plug into your shipping rates and options already set up on your e-commerce store. But leaving aside the improvements needed, the central idea behind Shopify POS is brilliant. In-store, I can genuinely say it's utterly changed our customer experience and radically improved our efficiency when it comes to speed of order taking and processing. Products from your e-commerce store are easy to find and add to an order, you can duplicate products and make them visible only on your POS if you wish - a very handy feature if you're running a promotion in-store but not on your site for example. The single biggest point for me though is that I can now see instantly on my Shopify home page, what our in-store sales channel is contributing to the business on a daily basis. The potential is huge in terms of reporting for how this data can be exploited and I look forward to seeing how Shopify develop POS.
4. Shopify Experts Changed How We Commission Development Work
One of the hardest, most stressful and confusing things you can do is attempt to find a reputable developer, designer or marketeer for your new or existing e-commerce business. We've been badly burned in the past here in Ireland working with a very major Dublin based agency who promised us everything - and then promptly outsourced the work to India whilst lying to our faces about doing the development work in-house. We abandoned the project half way through - and lost thousands. You really just don't know what or who you are getting involved with until you dive in to the project.
The Shopify Experts Community changes all that. You can browse a global list of experts who have genuine and comprehensive experience delivering website builds on the platform and you can then read real reviews from previous customers.
We used this community to great effect when researching who to hire for our job. We were able to get various quotes, flesh them out and get a sense from each company we spoke to about how they would handle this project.
Sure, you may still be unlucky and hire the wrong outfit but Shopify has done a lot to make hiring an expert a less intimidating and more secure experience.
5. Thanks to Shopify, We've Started Blogging And It's Working!
Okay, we're not big bloggers. Like a lot of micro businesses out there, the day to day stuff can get in the way of our writing aspirations! But my point here is that Shopify makes it a whole lot easier for us to blog than we ever experienced before. And that in turn, makes it more likely that we stick to our goals and push some new blog content regularly. This year (2016), I've made it a key goal for me personally to do a little more blogging.
Our old site was a custom build from an agency in Dublin that had zero blog integration and they weren't that much help in creating an easy to use blogging platform that linked well to our site. With Shopify - it's all there - right down to the SEO. The blog posts we've done already have been picked up by Google and refer a little traffic our way. It's all about reducing the hurdles!
6. The App Store Has Materially Improved Our UX And Put Revenue on Our Bottom Line
The shopify App Store is a genius move! Some are wonderful - some are not but it's never been so easy to add killer features to your e-commerce store that can put real dollars on your bottom line and materially improve your customer experience at the same time.
The one that stands out for us is YOTPO - a customer review app that gives visitors to your site compelling social proof about the quality of your product and service. All our customers get a request to review a certain number of days after purchase and many do. We get incredibly useful feedback on our service levels and site features along with morale-boosting praise and validation. Crucially, prospective customers see real reviews from real people and gain in confidence about the market leading service and products we try to offer.
We use quite a few other Apps from the Store across marketing, sales, customer service and accounting. We've tried apps that work and some that don't work. That's the beauty of it - if you find something is not right, just install and move along.
Prior to joining Shopify we could only dream of having this level of bolt-on functionality for our store. We spent thousands of Euro custom integrating Kashflow with our last site. If it went down or failed, it cost more money to put it right and it never fully worked as well as it should have. With Shopify? It's an app install that took a few minutes and a low monthly charge. I know which one I prefer.
7. Our Organic Rank Has Improved Since We Launched on Shopify
So we know this is fluid and we could lose page rank too but since we launched on Shopify, we have improved our organic ranking on key search terms. Shopify is fast! Their CDN must be having a positive effect on our rank. It's mobile friendly so that's another gold star for Google. Combined with the blogging and the fact that we've also been picked up on Shopify Success Stories, it's all helping to improve our visibility on Google and elsewhere.
8. Our Custom Theme is Easy to Manage and Update
Now I realise this is not unique to Shopify. And as I made clear at the start - there are other platforms out there that will offer many of the same features and functionality. But I'm comparing Shopify here to the incredibly limited site we had before when it was a fairly featureless stand alone e-commerce site built by a local web agency in Dublin.
Back then we could barely make a single change to the front end of our site without having to ask the agency to do it for us. And that came with a bill - every single time. When we joined Shopify, it was like we stepped out of the dark ages. All of a sudden, almost every part of our site was customisable and updateable in a few clicks. It's changed how we plan promotions, it's improved our ability to react to quiet periods by rolling out tactical offers and crucially - it's enhanced the experience of our customers when they visit our site. They see an up to date site from home page to checkout - just how it should be.
9. We're Mobile Ready - Right Down to Checkout!
This is a big one. Like us, you've probably seen the stats. The world is moving to mobile and e-commerce is migrating with it. If you're not planning for this right now, you're behind the curve. In 2014, Shopify released some data that showed mobile accounted for 50.3% of all e-commerce traffic on their network. It's only going one way. But with Shopify, we feel prepared. They released their responsive checkout last year and with Mobile Buy SDK, your native apps can now integrate seamlessly with your Shopify admin, allowing you to manage app sales from within your Shopify store.
10. Shopify's Growing - And Taking Us With Them!
There's no doubt about it - Shopify is a company on the move. So when you decide to hitch your wagon to a hosted e-commerce platform, you need to pick one that's going in the right direction. Everything I see from Shopify tells me this is a company with a unified, exciting vision for companies like ours. Just last week, they rolled out comments on the homepage timeline - another lovely feature that makes you feel like you're partnering with a company that is going places. For us, we've seen signs that we can capitalise on their growth and momentum and plan to ride on their coat tails whenever and however we can. And that's what I believe they genuinely want us to do. It's a two way street on Shopify and we're liking the direction of travel!
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So the obvious question to ask is whether Pay Pal is worth it? Does Paypal increase conversion rates in Irish e-commerce stores. The honest answer is that I'm not so sure in our own particular case. Globally, it does appear that having Pay Pal as an option does increase conversion rates but I couldn't find any hard statistics to back this up. The general consensus is that Paypal is not going to hurt your e-commerce conversion rates so what have you got to lose? Well, you have about 1.5% in commission to lose for starters!
But let's look again. Paypal is a seriously trusted brand with over 165 million active customer accounts. A lot of people use PayPal to pay online and if your e-commerce store is not offering PayPal are you potentially losing out on sales? Of course you are! On our store, we see PayPal transactions on a daily basis but short of asking every customer or turning off Paypal for a period of time and then measuring the sales and conversion rates, we have not way of knowing how many of those sales we'd get without PayPal.
There's another issue at play here and this goes back to the Shopify integration with PayPal. Until Shopify rolled out their new responsive checkout, they pushed PayPal as a payment option first and then offered the other payment options. I did wonder how many customers used Paypal even when they didn't actually have a PayPal account. With the new responsive checkout on Shopify, that is not the case and PayPal is the last option - not the first. So now, we can say with confidence that people selecting Pay Pal are doing it consciously - not by accident.
The bottom line for The Canvas Works? We're sticking with PayPal - yes it's expensive and for a small business like ours, the extra commission hurts but offering Pay Pal on your site is logically going to increase your conversion rates and allow you to tap into a global user base of 165 million accounts. It doesn't take much in extra sales to make up for the commission and giving your customers a wide choice of payment methods can only be a positive thing.
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We came to Kashflow from a desk-top based product from Mamut. At the time, it was a revelation - our accounts were in the cloud so we could access them from anywhere, the software was pretty intuitive and UI, whilst fairly basic, was intelligible and intuitive. The company was run by Duane Jackson - a guy with a great backstory and a very hands-on CEO and accessible by e-mail and twitter. I liked him and found him direct, honest and a breath of fresh air. We spent a decent sum of money integrating with the Kashflow API on our old, non-Shopify website so we were committed financially and got stuck into using Kashflow. Day to day it was fine, until about a year in.
Then one day I got a call from my accountant to tell me there was a major problem with the way Kashflow had been handling our VAT returns and we owed Revenue a significant sum of money. We didn't get much joy from Kashflow I have to say. Duane was okay about it - apologised and offered us a free year's subscription and an assurance that the bug was fixed but that was it. And this is a key point - their T&C's are so tightly defined, that you use the service entirely at your own risk. Even if their software turns out to have major flaws, it's not their problem.
We probably should have moved to another software provider but that would have been the API integration money down the drain as well. So I stuck with Kashflow. This year just gone, we've had another VAT related issue with Kashflow which has caused me to seriously consider taking another look at Xero. On the plus side, because we're now with Shopify, moving provider is no longer such a big deal (but still a hassle). Shopify have apps for both Kashflow and Xero on their app store - developed by Carry The One. So you can pretty much immediately switch over with a little preparation. It's another major selling point for the Shopify platform and one that is easily overlooked.
Where Kashflow seriously falls down is in it's suite of reporting tools - they are incredibly basic and need a major overhaul. In particular, their income reporting tools are clunky and lack what I would consider to be even the most basic features. For example, you can't even analyse income from two periods side by side and when you run their Income by Source Report, it will split the sources but then fail to give you a total on screen. Until recently, they did not offer Bank Feeds for reconciliations but to be fair, they have made strides in this area. Their VAT reporting is also fairly basic. Their suite of third party apps is also pretty limited. I have found their e-mail support to be pretty good but there's no chat and their online knowledge base is not very good. To be fair, they are trying to improve this.
Xero appear to me to have a much more advanced set of reporting tools, a superior app and a much more advanced bank feeds set up. They do look like the stronger proposition at the moment but really is it worth the hassle of moving? I'm not so sure and I think this is where online accounting packages are on a winner. There could well be a "moving inertia" factor - a little like bank accounts. When you've gone to the trouble of integrating your website with a cloud-based package and when you're a small business owner/manager, you could probably find about ten things to do other than sit down and work out the logistics of moving your accounts software.
The bottom line? Kashflow has lots going for it and has served us well enough, despite some gaps and one major clanger but Xero is tough competition and I think Kashflow need to up their game to compete.
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That said, a native app has some obvious attractions for The Canvas Works and we're now in the build phase for both an iOS and Android app. Why? Two key factors have encouraged us to invest in native this year. First, whilst our mobile responsive site works beautifully on tablets, it's not the full experience on mobile phones. That was down primarily to our decision to use Aviary for our photo editing and filters functionality. With Aviary, you license based on platforms - there are separate SDK's for web and mobile and their web SDK is not optimised for mobile. So our web app works perfectly on desktop and tablets but we had to turn off the cropping features on mobile because it just wouldn't work properly. We knew this would be an issue for us down the line - it just became an issue quicker than we'd anticipated. As more and more of our traffic comes from large screen "phablet" type devices, it simply was not permissible to continue without a fully-featured experience on this screen size.
The second factor that has emerged in recent times relates to app discovery. Google and Apple are making big strides in solving this problem now - but even a year ago, app discovery was the elephant in the room. What good is building a nice app if absolutely no one knows about it or can discover it? The problem still is not solved but with deep-linking in apps beginning to roll out and google now returning app install ads on web searches, it seems likely that the app discovery problem could soon be a thing of the past.
Ultimately, it rarely comes down to an either / or choice when it comes to apps vs responsive design. My guess is most companies could find a way to deploy both, were it not for the issue of cost. But it's a no-brainer to start with a responsive site first in my opinion. From an SEO and cost perspective, responsive will give you more bang for your buck initially and a faster return. When you're up and running, rolling out an app to enhance the customer experience or to address key functional requirements is a sensible second phase.
So what are our expectations for our native app? In truth, incredibly low. We're confident we can deliver a great app, but we're not at all convinced it will be a significant earner for us in the short term. We're still a tiny, Irish business with a customer-base that is largely in Ireland. We'll be happy that customers using our site on a mobile device will shortly have a fully featured experience, tailored to phablet sized screens and if it helps us pick up a little more international business, that's great but we're not holding our breath. An app does have the potential to internationalise a business more readily than a responsive site alone but there's a lot more to attracting overseas customers than simply giving them a nice app to play with. More blog posts to follow as we continue down the dual app and responsive road!
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Socks and underpants and a new razor are all very well and good, but their hardly the most personal gift ideas after all, right? Much easier to just pick up your phone or your ipad and scroll through your photos, find a great photo of Dad with the kids or Dad doing whatever it is Dad likes to do and hey-presto, you're nearly done. We've got fabulous photo gifts that start from just €28 with free delivery anywhere in Ireland or the UK.
If you want something a little different than a framed print or photo on canvas, why not look at our wood mount prints - from just €35. These beautiful photo prints are bonded directly onto custom crafted ply wood panels, complete with desktop holders at the smaller sizes. So Dad can bring it into work or have it proudly sit on his desk there.
If the father in your life is into his music, you should check out our iTunes prints - it's the gift that quite literally rocks. Up to 49 of his favourite music albums on one single canvas print. Upload the albums, arrange them in your chosen order and even see a finished preview before you order. Prices start at €78.
Great Father's Day Gifts are ready and waiting for you at The Canvas Works and remember, there's free shipping on all orders in the UK and Ireland.
]]>We've also blogged in the past about why Shopify should seriously consider Ireland as the European base and we were delighted to see that they've taken some possible early steps in this direction by coming to Galway and hiring some Gurus to be based there. When I heard the news, I believed (and still do) that the Gurus hiring will be the opening steps to a full European HQ.
However, recent developments at Shopify do make me question whether they are really serious about expanding in Europe. It appears they are concentrating heavily on rolling out key strategic updates that are US only. Moreover, these latest developments aren't even open to all merchants in the US. The two big updates recently announced are the Pinterest Buy Button and just this week, the Facebook Buy Button. Having announced them to their entire Merchant base with great fanfare, Shopify then go on to tell us that both updates are not available outside the US. In both cases, Shopfiy have put this decision back on their partners - ie Pinterest and Facebook respectively. I find that difficult to understand or accept. Where's the logic in rolling out big updates to only a portion of your installed user-base? And how many times will loyal, non-US Shopify merchants put up with being told they are effectively second class citizens on Shopfiy? After all, we're all paying the same amount for our plans, right?
It will be interesting to see how this one develops. We have yet to hear from Shopify about any plans to roll out the updates to Europe - or even a confirmation that they *want* to bring these updates to all their merchants. Europe is a huge opportunity for Shopify and I'm convinced that Ireland will be an attractive location for their eventual European HQ - just like Twitter, Facebook, Airbnb and many more. But if they are serious about growing in Europe, they need to make sure their existing European merchants, who have the potential to be their most effective sales tool, are not ignored.
]]>Setting up Shopify POS is incredibly easy. You download the app onto your ipad and log in. Hey-presto: your online store products are sitting there and ready to be selected for a sale at a press of the screen. It's frighteningly easy and intuitive to use. We decided to go with a LAN thermal printer which we sourced from Charles Mitchell at POS Hardware UK Ltd. He was very helpful and shipped the printer to Ireland on the same day we ordered. Install it on your network and the Shopify POS app picks it up immediately on your wireless network - couldn't be easier. You can add your logo to the receipt from inside the Shopify POS app - again, it's a breeze and makes all your receipts look so professional. The printer itself is lightening fast. The next part of the set up we wanted to consider was how to mount our ipad in-store. After some research online, we settled for the Australia- based outfit Studio Proper. Their Swivel POS mount is beautifully crafted and allows for a totally secure but incredibly sleek and attractive presentation of the ipad. And they're a Shopify merchant - even better! It took us a little bit of time to fit the swivel mount to our new counter - but the final result was flawless and makes for a very professional in-store set up.
Day to day use of Shopify POS is wonderful. In particular, I'm super impressed with how selling gift cards works. When you take a sale, the system automatically prints a gift card with a QR code and a unique gift card code. This can then be placed inside our pre-printed Gift Voucher presentation cards - no more handwritten codes that tends to look a bit amateurish. The other huge advantage for us in using Shopify POS is the admin time saving. We use Kashflow for our accounts and CRM package and our Shopify website uses the Carry The One Shopify app to seamlessly import web sales into Kashflow. Now, thanks to Shopify POS, our in-store sales also come directly into Kashflow, marked as paid and sitting in our accounts. It's particularly easy when we don't need to take any customer details - ie we're just ringing a sale through the till. It's a little more time consuming when we have to set up the customer on Shopify (usually for custom print orders or where we are delivering) but again, there are distinct advantages to doing all this on the Shopify POS rather than through Kashflow which is what we were doing previously. The primary advantage is that because the customer is now set up on Shopify, we can re-market to them and send them account invites, thus encouraging them to shop again with us online.
Are there any disadvantages or drawbacks to Shopify POS? Not really - even where you don't have a webstore product set up, you can easily take a custom sale on Shopify POS so really there are no obvious situations where Shopify POS won't work in-store. The bit that takes the most getting used to is probably being confident enough to add customers to the system in real time while they are standing in front of you. In summary then, if you're running a click and mortar set up, Shopify POS is a wonderful addition to your in-store experience. It's a head turner when combined with an attractive ipad mount like Studio Proper and I'd have no hesitation in recommending the system. Take advantage of the free two week trial to get your head around the system and make sure it's right for you. And then make sure you time your deployment correctly - do it during a quieter time of your business cycle.
Shopify POS for UK and Ireland has made a serious difference to our in-store experience for both customers and staff. Good luck with your deployment and if you want to ask us any further questions about it, don't hesitate to contact me.
]]>So the next time you're wondering whether your photo will make a good canvas print or not - just ask yourself this question: Do I like the photo and is it of sufficient quality (in terms of resolution) to enlarge? If so, nine times out of ten it will make a great canvas print and you will be delighted with the final print. Easy! If you're still not sure though, e-mail it to us and ask us the question - we'd be delighted to check it out and give you our opinion.
]]>This got me thinking recently...what one piece of advice would I give to someone - say a total novice - to help them take better photos, which in turn will make better canvas prints or framed prints or whatever. It's not easy to pick one single tip. Over the years, I've learned some of the technical "rules" of composition and I've seen what works and what doesn't. But trying to reduce it all down to just one single tip to take better photographs was (and is) pretty tricky. My guess is that if I were to ask ten keen photographers for their one single tip on taking better photos, I may well get ten different answers. And that's fine with me - there really are no rules and often when you see a great photograph you just instinctively appreciate it without fully understanding why it's such a good photo.
My tip? Well, having thought about it for a while, my tip to all the mothers and fathers and normal snappers who have a mobile phone or maybe a point and click and just want to take better photos is this: get down on the ground. Or at the very least, adjust your level - mostly downwards but often getting up high will produce an interesting photo as well. Nine times out of ten, just doing this one thing will give you a better shot than the one you were about to take. The next time you're about to take a photo of your child or your dog and you find yourself standing above them, pointing the camera down - STOP. Just drop to their level and take the shot and you will instantly have a better shot. No technical advice, no lighting issues, no other composition rules - just hit the deck!
It works great for photographing pets - I take quite a few snaps of my dog Monty and I always find the most engaging photos are the ones where I've been on his level and seeing the world the way he sees it. But it works for people of all shapes and sizes, and for buildings and even landscape shots - getting down low can bring the foreground into a shot in a more interesting way and will almost always result in a better shot. Better photos make better canvas prints, framed prints or any other sort of prints you care to mention so everyone's a winner.
What single tip for taking better photographs would you give to a beginner? Let us know and even better - tweet us with the #betterphotos and we'll tweet you back a discount code for a canvas print!
Thanks for reading!
Patrick
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For us, the canvas print itself is one part of the equation - but not the only one. We focus on several areas to ensure the overall experience of buying a canvas print is the very best one. That includes the online experience - how our website is designed and functions, the production of the canvas print itself - what materials we use and how we finish the print, the customer service experience - how we deal with our customers to ensure the canvas print is as good as it can be and finally the delivery of our canvas prints - how the canvas print arrives and how it is presented to the customer. By perfecting each one of these areas, we think we ultimately end up with the best overall experience of buying a canvas print in Ireland.
But let's start with the canvas print itself - is the physical item itself any different from some of the canvas prints offered by the competition? We haven't examined every single canvas print supplier out there, but for the purposes of this post we did get a look at one of the biggest providers in Ireland and Europe - Photobox. And yes, the difference between their canvas print and ours is massive. We looked at their Canvas Lite 40x30cm which would compete with our Classic Canvas 40x30cm and the differences are obvious. The materials they were using were clearly inferior - a flimsy, light frame made from what appeared to be pine, no backing tape on the reverse, no wedges for tensioning because the frame had been made with an underpinner and no hanging bracket. It looked cheap and unfinished. To be fair, the print itself was not bad but our version (we were able to compare the same print) was superior in places, although I am not sure the average person would pick this up.
Our Classic Canvas print is made with poplar wood which is far superior and had a much heavier feel in the hand. The back is neatly taped and our canvas prints come with wedges in the corners for re-tensioning. We also include a brass-plated hanging bracket for easy hanging on the wall. It's superior to Photobox's print in almost every way. It's also more expensive! We're not at all saying that our canvas prints are the cheapest out there - far from it. We concentrate on making beautiful canvas prints that will stand the test of time. We're not a high volume, low price type manufacturer.
So these are some of the things you need to look out for in the actual canvas print itself. But what about the other areas - how do we compare? Well, as far as the online experience of buying a canvas print in Ireland goes - we believe we have no competition. Our new, shopify-powered website is the result of a number of years of research and a 6 month development project which has culminated in one of the best user experiences in Ireland and UK for canvas prints, framed prints, collage prints and poster prints. And the user feedback we are getting confirms this - but what do you think? Have you tried using the site? How does it compare to the competition?
When it comes to dealing with customers, we also think we have an edge. That includes advising customers on image quality for the canvas prints, suggesting changes to size that better suit the image and helping customers to select and use the right image format and file quality to get the best possible canvas print. We try to go above and beyond and I'll give you one example from last week that illustrates this. We were making three framed prints for a customer of her wedding photos. One photo had been cropped very tightly on one side and we knew that when the window mount for frame went over the photo, it would encroach into one of the bridesmaids. Now, that's just the way the photo was and I'm pretty sure another company would have just made the print this way. We spotted the issue and were able to clone in a new section of photo - extending the canvas so that when the mount was positioned, the bridesmaid would still be fully in view. It's a small thing but it made a big difference to the finished print. It's that sort of attention to detail that I believe makes our canvas prints (and framed prints) far better than the competition.
I also mentioned delivery and presentation of our canvas prints. This is an area we are very focused on. Very often our canvas prints are gifts and we want the experience of unboxing a canvas print from The Canvas Works to be as pleasant was we can make it. The key issue here is to make sure it arrives in a timely fashion and safely. So our boxes are custom made and we use plenty of protective wrap to ensure the canvas print arrives in perfect condition. But we also brand the boxes nicely and ensure prints come with attractive gift tags, notes and branding on the reverse. We're not Apple - we can't go that far but we aspire to that sort of an experience when one of our canvas prints come out of the box.
I hope this gives you a flavour of what we're trying to do with our canvas prints and why we believe we can justify our claim to make one of the best, if not the very best canvas prints in Ireland. We know we're not for everyone - some people will only buy canvas prints based on price and we know the likes of Photobox and some others will always try to offer a cheaper canvas print than The Canvas Works. But for those who want a superior canvas print in Ireland for a great value price, The Canvas Works remains the destination of choice.
]]>The first thing to do on the site is to select the product type you want - just mouse over the PRODUCTS link at the top of the site and you'll see all the available products. You can choose from canvas, framed, wood mount or poster. Whichever product type you choose, the approach is the same so for the purposes of this post, I'm going to assume we are ordering a framed print. Once you click on ORDER NOW, from the product page you are taken straight into our custom printing app - this is the heart of the site and is where all the product customisation and image editing takes place. Our grid collages are based on square images so to keep things simple, the final print is only available as a square - so to order a grid collage, you must make sure to select SQUARE as your final print shape.
Once you've chosen your size, you'll then be asked to select the grid layout. You can choose from 2x2, 3x3 or 4x4 in the framed prints. So this means you can have two rows of 2, three rows of three images or four rows of four images. Remember, the total print area is always the same (30x30cm) so the more photos you want to print, the smaller they all are. Having chosen your layout style, you will then be asked to select and upload your images. For the quickest and easiest upload experience, we recommend using instagram images. Why? Because they are already square so you don't have to crop them. Connecting to instagram is a breeze thanks to our Filepicker integration.
Now, here's another important tip - you can tick multiple images to upload all at once. Just tick all the images you want to use and then hit upload - no need to do it one at a time. Once your photos are all uploaded - look out for the tool-tip icon at the top left corner of each image. Clicking on this opens up the image in the Aviary image editor and from here you can get really creative on editing. Apply filters, adjust contrast, sharpness and much more. You can also re-crop (always a square) to reframe the composition of each photo. This is very handy with some instagram photos which have black or white borders around them. We generally advise removing these borders as our grid style adds a white border around each image anyway. Finally, once the editing is complete you can then simply drag and drop your photos into the position you prefer. Want a particular photo in the top left? No problem - just pull that photo over to that position. It's so easy.
You're framed grid collage is now ready for preview - hitting continue at this stage will present you with the preview screen, showing how your finished print will look in the frame (or as a canvas). All these preview photos were taken by us at the gallery in Kinsale - they are absolutely real and give you a very accurate and true to life visual representation of how your finished print will look.
That's it! Your grid collage print is ready to be placed in your basket and you can move onto checkout. From start to finish, you can create a grid collage in under a minute if you already have your images set up as square files on instagram. Allow 5-7 days and the print should be in your hands. Happy shopping!
]]>First off, some background on "bleed". This confuses some people - so let's clear it up now. It's called "bleed" because, as the name suggests the image "bleeds" off the face of the canvas and onto the edges. It's a printing term - used widely in the industry with respect to finish on items like business cards and brochures as well.
Now, the bleed finish is available on both the Classic Canvas and the Canvas Block. So here's where it can get tricky. If you want a natural bleed, you must allow for the bleed when you are cropping your image in photoshop or whatever photo editing software you are using. For the Classic Canvas (19mm deep) we advise a bleed area of 25mm on every side. So if you're ordering a 40x30cm canvas print with bleed, the total print area would be 45x35cm with the first 2.5cm destined for the edge and back. For the Canvas Block, allow 40mm on every side, so the equivalent print area would be 48x38cm. Remember, this extra bleed area will not be on the face of the canvas! We've lost track of the amount of times this throws customers - even professional photographers sometimes don't allow for the bleed.
So when does an image suit a bleed and when does it not? Well, that's fairly straightforward - you would think....Our advice is that if there are people in your shot and they are right at the edge of your image, then don't order a bleed. You don't want half their head or face going around the sides of the canvas print. Bleeds work best for landscape images or portraits where the subjects are not edge to edge. So look at your photo an think - will my canvas print look good if what's on the edge of the image goes around the sides? If you think it's tight, don't order the wrap.
Now, that said, there are ways around this problem so that we can add a bleed type effect to your canvas print WITHOUT compromising the composition on the front. We call this a "mirror bleed". In this case, we clone a section of image and flip it horizontally and vertically as if we are holding a mirror up to your photo. It's this part that then bleeds around the edges. If you look closely at your canvas print, you'll see that it's a duplicated section but at a glance, it tricks the eye into thinking it's a natural bleed. We employ the mirror bleed effect regularly on our photo to canvas prints and the results are excellent.
One other point: we generally advise against bleeds on collage prints and itunes prints - they tend not add all that much to the finished look. Where they are required, we will do them as mirror bleeds by default but our preference is to not do bleeds on these products. Where the bleed finish works best, in our opinion, is on the Block Canvas at the bigger sizes - it's a lovely finish here and generally enhances the finished look of your photo on canvas.
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