Designers chime in

[littlekiwi]

what sort of things do you look for in a CT application?

I'd love to get on one CT here at SSD but haven't succeded yet

[littlekiwi]

here is my gallery if you want to make comments about what I do specificallyhttps://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/gallery/showgallery.php?ppuser=5981

btw ct members/babes feel free to chime in too

[jacinda]

Jennifer, if there's a specific designer you would apply for, I'd take a look at her gallery, and at the style of layouts her team does. If your layouts have a similar feel (e.g. shadow work, cluster style, layering etc), then your chances of getting on the team would increase I would think. If your layouts are not of the standard her team produce, then work on whatever area you need between now and the next application. That's my 2 cents anyway.

[littlekiwi]

I'm mainly thinking Libby, Shawna & Traci (I've just applied for Traci and not got in) and if Janet had a CT her as well

[KateD]

This is a list of things that Traci looks for (from her "no, thanks" e-mail 6 months ago).


√ Stellar photography and/or post processing skills. Layouts can be gorgeously balanced and show off the kit well, but stellar photography is usually what draws the viewer in to click and see the full size.

√ Basic saving for web skills. I know it sounds silly but how you save your layout for the galleries can make or break it. If layouts are blurry/low quality because of how they are saved, it makes them unusable for advertising purposes.

√ Full use of the kit. I realize that there are a ton of scrapbooking styles out there, but I believe that every style has the ability to really showcase a kit, even the most simple styles. Did you often use more than one or two papers? Do you use a wide range of the elements included in a kit?

√ Mastery of basic layout design principles such as balance, flow, relative size.

√ No distortion of elements or photos on a page. Do you hold down Shift when resizing? Making elements bigger than they're supposed to be lowers the quality and detracts from the layout as well.

√ Shadowing: Does the layout use effective shadowing techniques and look realistic? Curly ribbons cast different shadows than papers!

[Jenn Barrette]

That is a great list from Traci. I will add positive attitude, active in community/blog/facebook etc, and a consistently active gallery.

[jessica31876]

Another thing I think designers may look for are the amount of layouts you make (so if you only make one or two layouts a month they might say you would not be able to keep up). I think they also might want someone who is active in the forums/gallery at the store which they sell at (not sure if that makes sense LOL). In other words you might get overlooked if you rarely come onto the forum/gallery. I think another thing that might make a designer overlook someone is whether that person uses their designs without being on their team. So basically if I was a designer I would go to a person's gallery and if I saw a lot of my designs being used to make layouts that would be a plus for me. I of course am not a designer BUT those are things I think would be important to a designer as well as what has already been mentioned above.