Threadless

alexmdc
alexmdc aka Alex Solis is a 28.62 year old boy, has been a member since June 24, 2007, has scored 139,577 submissions, giving an average score of 2.26, helping 1,591 designs get printed.
Alumni Club Member
I know I heard a lot of people complain about the website with the new Atrium Challenges.

I as an artists want to see a few things that work differently for example:

Easier way to link to your subs.
Maybe have them as thumbs on your account.
Subs scored to be added to the scoring total in your account etc etc.

I wanted to create a new blog to gather all those comments and suggestions to bring them up and hopefully can be changed in the new atrium pages in one blog, so please post away, would like to hear specially from those who subbed or scored there for previous challenges.

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More insight on Atrium, behind the scenes info from our fearless leader Jake

xiv
   xiv on Jul 31 '11 at 10:55pm
- Main issue is that it doesnt look anything like the rest of this site.
- Having to log-in again is kind of annoying.
- I want to see the number of votes, score, etc like on the regular subs.


The only thing I love about it is the way the designs are displayed.
alexmdc
   alexmdc on Jul 31 '11 at 11:01pm
I think the way it looks will change, remember Sean posted a blog about the whole site redesign :)

and thats weird I dont have to login again when I go to that site
skindapple
skindapple on Jul 31 '11 at 11:01pm
log-in again is annoying.
at work, like i am now, our firewalls always limit me...but i can't participate in the Atrium at all. i just find it weird since i almost have full access to everything else that Threadless has to offer.
the Atrium subs definitely need more accessibility in general.
i agree that the displays are pretty cool.
Jellyes
   Jellyes on Jul 31 '11 at 11:02pm
it's laggy or something for me on chrome, i voted for 2 designs and haven't gone back.
it's also too busy and frustrates my retinas
Outlaw01
Outlaw01 on Jul 31 '11 at 11:02pm
I have no idea what the atrium is. I never go there.
psherman42
psherman42 on Jul 31 '11 at 11:04pm
When you reach the high five page from powerscore, it would be nice to display some links to voting pages in atrium. I don't check the subs there, but I check powerscore often enough that when there isn't anything on the main site to vote on, I might go vote in the atrium instead.
alexmdc
   alexmdc on Jul 31 '11 at 11:04pm
yeah once you log in once you should be able to stay logged in just like the site here
spacesick
   spacesick on Jul 31 '11 at 11:08pm
it could use more fatheed, I think
parallelish
   parallelish on Jul 31 '11 at 11:12pm
i think atrium should just be done away with and make it to where whenever you go to participate score designs it takes you to a page with links to all designs and whatever challenges are going on

i do like the how the designs are displayed as well
Kookaberry
   Kookaberry on Aug 01 '11 at 12:18am
You know the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" I think it was made for Atrium. I find it alienating and don't understand why it exists. And I generally like change. What is it supposed to do differently, exactly? What is its objective?
moulin bleu
   moulin bleu on Aug 01 '11 at 12:34am
The challenges are sometimes unclear. Adherence to the theme isn't really enforced.

The "one winner" format encourages downvoting from opponents since the highest scores make the front page. Thus, the person with the most friends not only gets the highest score, but also lowers everyone else's, regardless of merit or design. (your adventure time sub wasn't even on the front page while clearly far superior in quality to many of the other "top" designs) Though Jake has said that they're trying to print more than just the winner, I'd love to see an example of this happening :)

Also, most of the usual Threadless crowd doesn't bother voting on them as very little people know about them, though the emails/newsletters certainly help. Would definitely be an improvement to have the designs linked to your Threadless profile, even is separate from the regular voting section.
alexmdc
   alexmdc on Aug 01 '11 at 12:41am
yeah I think it should work closer to how threadless works as well, and it probably will in the future.
jublin
   jublin on Aug 01 '11 at 12:43am
yeah. all of that ^
jublin
   jublin on Aug 01 '11 at 12:44am
NOT YOU ALEX. YOUR COMMENT GOT IN THE WAY!
spacesick
   spacesick on Aug 01 '11 at 1:01am
yeah I rarely vote on anything over there

I don't like logging into a completely separate site. it's another world. the whole thing seems counter intuitive to the friendly, community-based, ever-evolving system threadless already has in place here

but I look forward to seeing any changes made

also not enough fatheed
quick-brown-fox
   quick-brown-fox on Aug 01 '11 at 2:40am
I posted this a bit ago.
I thought it would be good to have an atrium tab on our profiles and maybe the thumbnail to promote like we have here.
Also a link to "score at the atrium" on the score designs page.
Pull in our avatars from over here maybe.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Aug 01 '11 at 2:44am
My main issue is that I don't understand the point of or concept behind Atrium. It's unnatractive. I kinda avoid it alltogether.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Aug 01 '11 at 2:44am
My main issue is that I don't understand the point of or concept behind Atrium. It's unnatractive. I kinda avoid it alltogether.
spacesick
   spacesick on Aug 01 '11 at 2:57am
BOOBS

BUTT

WIENERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Morkki
   Morkki on Aug 01 '11 at 3:01am
I rarely vote at Atrium for a couple of reasons:

- It's filled with garbage. There appears to be little moderation in accepting the subs. For example, the Alzheimer Month challenge has a lot of designs with the Alzheimer Association logo despite the disclaimer: "The purpose of this challenge is to create a stand-alone design inspired by the theme, not a brand tee. Your design should not have brand names or logos on it."

- It's a little slow. No wonder: the old school Threadless submission accepts a single 250K image. Atrium accepts three images with no size limits.

The average score used to be visible but I guess that was removed for a good reason. The downvoting and buddy voting is rampant.
Morkki
   Morkki on Aug 01 '11 at 10:55am
Oh and also. I hate that I don't get an email confirming that my submission has been received.
rodrigobhz
   rodrigobhz on Aug 01 '11 at 11:13am
I like the way how designs are displayed in slides. But I hate the landscape layout. Of course, you can show details in another slide but if you have a vertical design you are in trouble.

I rarely vote too, the design page has too much information and the downvoting makes me sad. Idk, it doesn't seem to be a website related with Threadless :/
Manupix
Manupix on Aug 01 '11 at 11:22am
Kookaberry sums it up:
You know the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" I think it was made for Atrium. I find it alienating and don't understand why it exists. And I generally like change. What is it supposed to do differently, exactly? What is its objective?

I'd rather see fixes to the little daily annoyances on the main TL site (formatting buttons! edits!) than a new site with its own little annoyances.

Also tbh, I really, really don't like the idea of designing for brands / including brand elements in designs. I fail to see how TL can benefit from this, imagewise.

In detail, I agree with most of the previous opinions.
The login thing seems to happen for every new challenge, since the urls look like thischallenge.atrium.com. Or did, it seems changed now.

Linking subs to artists profiles seem the most urgent need. Preferably to their TL profile, or if need be to an Atrium profile.

Also (this is valid for all challenges) the winners should really be announced after a predefined, reasonable delay. And I think (but I've suggested this elsewhere and it didn't seem popular) seconds and thirds should be nominated, even if they don't get printed.


On the positive side - yeah, there's one! =)

I like the 3-sides-no-hassle thing, the TL-made thumbnails.
Manupix
Manupix on Aug 01 '11 at 11:23am
* 3-slides *
gelrev
gelrev on Aug 02 '11 at 8:27am
it's like a completely different site from threadless, the layout's busy IMO :D also, i still have to log in to the site to vote even if I'm already logged in on Threadless :D i kinda like the suggestion above to have an atrium tab on our profile page :D
Farnell
   Farnell on Aug 02 '11 at 8:30am
not sure I like the separate site - works better to have all challenges under threadless site
Morkki
   Morkki on Aug 02 '11 at 8:33am
I'd get rid of the option to sort designs by "popularity", whatever that means.
Brightwood
Brightwood on Aug 02 '11 at 8:43am
I don't understand why it needs to be excluded or segregated. What is gained from that? Why is it not just integrated like other challenges?
Manupix
Manupix on Aug 02 '11 at 9:03am
Why is there no zero vote? How do you vote on a ripoff then?
stubby43
stubby43 on Aug 02 '11 at 10:10am
I was wondering why we weren't automatically logged in with our threadless accounts?
alexmdc
   alexmdc on Aug 02 '11 at 11:52am
More insight on Atrium, behind the scenes info from our fearless leader Jake
Mya Jamila
Mya Jamila on Aug 02 '11 at 12:13pm
Alex, your bobbing bird is synced up to the song that I'm listening to (this) right now. :D
OddLilDuck
OddLilDuck on Aug 02 '11 at 12:23pm
As someone who is new to designing here and has submitted equally to the two, I definitely like the submission process in Atrium best and love the slides. I like the uniformity of layout when viewing many submissions. And I think the site feels more open and cohesive than here.

But the login thing is unfortunate and when I invited friends and family to vote last night, many could not access my atrium submissions. :(

I love working on things for a cause! If I have one complaint about Threadless general designs it is too much style and too little substance. So atirum is a nice answer to that.
WanderingBert
   WanderingBert on Aug 03 '11 at 4:13am
My main issues thus far with the atrium (and I figure it's still best to post here as opposed to Jakes blog?) are...

1- logging in again
2- the voting seems even more horrid than over here- or maybe that's just because you can see no. of 1's and 5's on every design? Not sure.
3- this is a big one for me- I hate not being able to watch designs i want to track the progress/comments on- especially my own. The last time I was over there (hasn't been recently) I was going back to find a design, but had to scroll a mile to find it. Seems a lot more annoying than over here in that respect. Also being able to link to the designs like we can already here.

So basically I just wish it was more intergrated with the main threadless site- which it sounds like it's the direction it'll be moving in hopefully.
thegoodpope
   thegoodpope on Aug 04 '11 at 10:16am
The Temporary Tattoo challenge was my first time submitting a design to the Atrium (the round trip ticket to the meet-up just couldn’t be passed up) but I probably won’t do it again:

1) I didn’t know the design isn’t added to your profile and that pissed me off!

2) When I figured out that the banner displays the top 11 designs I was watching it constantly. My design ended up 12th!
So now I wonder if I even have a shot at winning (and some of the top designs seem kind of impossible as Temp Tattoos, they’re just too big or complex.)

3) I don’t think enough people visit the atrium to vote. I didn’t see the usual commenter’s and most of the designs actually have 0 comments and that’s not very threadless.

I actually want to submit my design as a regular tee.
do you think I can do that? I know Alex’s was a re-submission (threadless - atrium challenge, but can I go atrium - threadless?)

I kinda feel like I wasted a design now…

The only think I really like about the Atrium is three slide presentations.
rhyminboy
rhyminboy on Aug 05 '11 at 4:13am
First of all, thanks for posting this on blog for us to give our 2 cents.
Pretty much all complaints or issues have been covered already by others.
1)logging in again seems redundant. needs to better sync up with threadless in all aspects. ie. artists subs
2) no ability to go to specific pages or designs. Have to navigate through each page... very tedious
3) it would be nice to be able to follow your own comments on designs as mentioned

Lastly..just a comment that someone else also addressed too. It does seem that the "stand alone Tee, with no brand etc" was completely disregarded in the "Thoughts" subs. Maybe I am missing something but why does Threadless allow the subs when they clearly ignored the rules?
4) I wish there would be a clearer understanding and "enforcing" of rules. I cant fairly vote on a design if it seems to not be within the rules/guidelines. For me, if they cant follow the rules/directions, I cant give them a deserving score... even if its a good design.

Thanks again for giving a forum to speak on this.
reags
   reags on Aug 05 '11 at 4:49am
It feels too disconnected from the main Threadless site. Eliminating the extra sign-in and better integrating it with the main site with features like Powerscore and thumbnails would solve half the problems and better entice me to vote.
agrimony
   agrimony on Aug 05 '11 at 4:54am
i havent bothered voting on atrium yet, should i start?
fatheed
   fatheed on Aug 05 '11 at 5:25am
Like many people said - at the moment it seems superfluous and divorced from the main Threadless site that we all know and love. There is no interactive/community element on that portion of the site - and that is, after all why Threadless exists.

Aesthetically, functionally, it's great - but right now, in terms of how it is used - it feels like any one of the empty Threadless imitation sites that has no community. There is no reason for me to go there other than to score designs.

FAO Sean: I don't think the title slide 'Gather Round Design' on the Atrium homepage should be animated. It's meant to be a simplified interface and that animation makes it just a little bit harder to make sense of the information. It is rationalised and less complex that the Threadless Homepage - but the bits of information that are there are all competing with each other and shouting as loudly as they can. It's kinda hard to know where to begin. Especially as by the time your mind starts to take in what's happening - the title slide is already on '3' and I ended up scrolling to the side to work out what I missed. :P

Introduction just needs 3 inanimate bullet-points, IMO! :)
fatheed
   fatheed on Aug 05 '11 at 5:30am
I think if the number of contests going on was rationed until there is better integration then you would have more discussions happening on the forum about the few contests that there are. At the moment, it's hard to keep track of the challenges and as a result - the interest and participation level seems very low.
tesco
   tesco on Aug 05 '11 at 5:41am
Seems the major issues have been covered so I'll point out some superficial ones: the white out text on the six mouse-over images doesn't always work, like the current shuttle one – it's impossible to read. And the little back space on the main Threadless logo makes me want to explode with OCD rage. Also, there doesn't seem to be any quality control on the subs, like the current GMO comp... half of those would never have entered the running on Threadless Classic.
fatheed
   fatheed on Aug 05 '11 at 5:45am
PS. if you stick with the animation - either make the pauses longer or make it one continuous, slow-paced scroll. It's all too fast for my old eyes.
tesco
   tesco on Aug 05 '11 at 5:45am
Talking of the GMO comp, everyone should read Stubby's blog post about it.
Boycey
Boycey on Aug 05 '11 at 5:57am
I like the site, but rarely go on it. People never like change, but it does look good.

There were a bunch of crappy subs on there amidst ten or twenty gems per comp- so possibly more quality control. The new Alzheimers comp. and the food fight one seem clearer in terms of instructions.

The log in is a hassle, but once you actually muster up the enthusiasm to go on there, it's really nice to look at. For me, I'd like the slides to go a smidgen quicker and for there to be a go back button. I guess it's about the same speed as Powerscore at the mo.
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