I've enjoyed threadless for a long time and i think there's a lot of incredible talent here and i also like the fact that anyone can give a shot at design to be shared in an online community of design peers. or so i thought.

i recently submitted my first design which i was really excited about and so i read all the instructions and made sure i didn't do any of the things listed under 'decline reasons' (which, in case you don't know, are: Duplicate Submissions, File Dimensions, File Size, Design Dimensions & Placement, Too Many Colors, Template Not Used, and Inappropriate Material) and anxiously waited for it to be posted for scoring so that i could tell all my friends to check it out.

well, a week and a half later i received an e-mail that said my design was declined due to "Poor Design." i'm not insulted, i don't claim to be a good designer, but i did feel somewhat deceived, since "Poor Design" is not listed on the website as one of the possible decline reasons. how am i supposed to get feedback on my design skills (or lack thereof) if threadless won't even post my design to be viewed and scored? more importantly, the term "Poor Design" seems to be very subjective, especially without any criteria for "Poor Design." I e-mailed threadless to inquire about what the definition and criteria of "Poor Design" are so that i can work on avoiding those things for my next design attempt, but i have not received a response.

i must admit i have been somewhat disappointed in threadless ever since this happened and don't consider it to be the great design forum that i had previously considered it to be. i don't think its wrong to decline designs for "Poor Design" but i do think threadless needs to make it clear that this is a possible decline reason and specifically outline what the criteria are for "Poor Design" (or "Good Design") so that amateur designers like myself can consider those and hopefully do better and hopefully get a design on threadless one day!