Playing with the Lovely Items Prototype and Exploring Turnkey E-merchant Options

Fireworks, so far, has been a great tool to use to design the layout for the Lovely Items website.  I made a 3-page prototype complete with links to get a feel for how it will look and navigation.  So far I’ve discovered that I don’t like navigation at the bottom of the page, the red motif distracts from the items, and the gallery has too much emphasis on horizontal.  I like the cherry blosson motif for the main theme though, so I think I’ll see how I can work it without having the theme detract from the contents.

One another note, I’ve been doing some preliminary research into turnkey e-merchart options.  So far I’ve looked at services from Amazon, Yahoo, and Paypal.  The Amazon service looks like it would be the easiest to implement and it has some nice features to the help the business manage inventory.   This is probably the best option to protect the merchants and buyers from fraud, plus, the merchant shows up in Amazon searches which means they will have access to a huge available customer base.  The big draw back is the cost at $60/mo plus 7% commission and the Terms of Service which basically says “What’s Yours is Amazon’s” and Amazon can give your artwork and code to  anyone it wants.  There are also limitations with respect to what you can sell.  Basically,  Amazon makes it difficult for e-merchants to undercut Amazon on items that Amazon sells.   I couldn’t really tell what Yahoo was offering other than it being cheaper than Amazon.  Paypal has a a few different options that range from hosting e-commerce directly on the merchant’s website to having all purchases routed to Paypal via an API.  There’s also an option that looks like an hybrid in which the merchant’s customer is routed to Paypal only at the time of purchase.  It seems that Paypal is interested in skimming the pennies off each transaction through credit card service fees rather than from hosting the service all together.  My current inclination is to explore the Paypal options more thoroughly.  I also plan to check out the offerings from Go Daddy and maybe give Yahoo a second look.

You are probably asking what it is that I want to sell … hahaha … beyond the stated potential services … I do have my eye on something else as well .  My goal is to have this all going by the end of October independent of whether I’m employed (dear God I hope I’m employed by then…)

Anyhow, for now I will be concentrating on tightening up my HTML for searchability (doing a pretty good job so far ;p) and continuing to learn PHP and Javascript.  BTW:  Google will find Flash Objects if you make good use of the alternate text and naming the SWF.

Lovely Items

“Lovely Items” is a concept that I got from years of watching anime and reading manga.  It’s the idea that a character needs a lovely item to endear them to the other characters within the story and with the viewing audience.  There’s a good discussion of this in “Ouran High School Host Club” in which the Host club tries to make the son of a yakuza boss more approachable.   The idea of a lovely item can be as abstract as a personality quirk and as concrete as a signature piece of jewelry.   In essence, a lovely item is something that gives an object or and individual a distinct personality and facilitates approachability.   And so, that is what I want to do with my Lovely Items website.  I want to share the lovely little graphics that I make with who ever wants them so they can add some personality and friendliness to whatever web or print project they are doing.

This idea was born out of a little discussion I had with my Dad last week.  I had just finished redoing my personal website and I was feeling very empowered.  I wanted to do more work on websites and expressed to him that I’m willing to do it voluntarily for the experience.  Our concern, though, had to do with my “cute affliction” in that if I can’t get passed it, the range of customers I can design for will be limited.  My feeling is practice, practice … but at the same time, I should get the most out my cute affliction and develop it.  So here are some short term and long term goals for myself with this website:

1. Give away lovely graphic items I design for web and print (practice makes perfect and spread the joy while building a portfolio and credibility as a designer).
2. Do some voluntary design work — web, print, and vanity books to get experience and recognition
3. On a limited basis take on web, print, and vanity book projects for actual paying customers.

This is something that I would like to do on the side while having full-time career.  I figured that now while I’m looking for a job and while jobs are scarce I should use the time to learn new skills and develop my innate talents.  I would love to do this sort of thing, too, for a company, focusing on the usability and visual appeal of web, web-to-print, and print-to-web projects.

So please stay tuned as my Lovely Items adventure begins.  One of my good friends suggested that I start by making some lovely wallpapers for mobile devices like the iPhone and cell phones … .

www.lovely-items.com coming soon to bring loveliness one pixel at a time.