The Papertoy Network!

The Idea Thread

Hi everyone!

We're all passionate about paper toys. After all, that's why we're here. But as awesome as paper toys are, there's always room for improvement and innovation.

Plus I'm sure that many people here would like to improve their techniques, establish a stronger presence, get more publicity, get more customs and etc.

That's why I created this thread. This can be a place to discuss and exchange ideas to improve the creation, distribution and maybe even marketing of paper toys.

So feel free to share your ideas, lessons learnt, resources or whatever that you think is worth sharing, for a better generation of paper toys!

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by A|S|H|+ on November 28, 2011 at 11:52pm

Right, so let me get the ball rolling.

I think it might be a good idea to put quick response (QR) codes on templates. This will bring people straight to our website without having to type in the link.

Microsoft Tags are probably a good place to start because you can change the appearance and content of the code at anytime. What's nice about them is that we can add our logo to the code.

I've played a bit with the idea and here's what I've got. It's easy and free so it might be worth looking into.

The only thing is, it's still pretty new so people might not really use it yet.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by andy barker on November 29, 2011 at 3:43pm

nice idea by the way

unfortunately i dont have many tips or anying like that,

but i do like your idea of putting tags on our work

can you give me some more info on how to do this please

thanks

andy

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by A|S|H|+ on November 29, 2011 at 10:30pm

The website pretty much explains it all: http://tag.microsoft.com/home.aspx

Oh, and worry about not having ideas or tips. You can still contribute by just stating what you'd like to see in more paper toys or giving suggestions. I'm sure it'll be helpful.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by A|S|H|+ on December 7, 2011 at 10:34pm

Here's a few resources for making patterns.

Pattern cooler is great place for free, customizable pattern templates. I've used some of them and they worked nicely. I'm sure the creat0or went through a lot to create the awesome site. http://www.patterncooler.com/

Repper is a tool for creating your own patterns. It lets you easily make patterns which would normally be a pain to do in illustrator (well, for me anyway).
It costs $43 but the demo is free so you can check it out if its for you. http://repperpatterns.com/

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steo on January 22, 2012 at 9:39am

I like the idea of QR codes alot, and now that you mention it I'm probably going to look into it for my templates. I know very well how people hate to be bugged with typing in a website, since we're all just that lazy. XP